GST Council meet concludes; decides to allow Aadhaar for registration

In her opening remarks at the meeting, the Finance Minister said that GST Council has done tremendous work since it's inception in the post-Independence era of the country.

New Delhi: In its first meeting after the general elections to the Lok Sabha, the Goods and Services Tax (GST) council has brought relief to businesses by simplifying the process of registration in the GST Network Portal.

The Council, which has State Finance Ministers as members, decided to allow Aadhaar number for registration.

The all-powerful GST Council Friday also extended the tenure of the anti-profiteering authority by two years and approved imposing a penalty of up to 10 per cent on entities not passing on benefits of GST rate cuts to consumers.

Briefing reporters after the 35th meeting of the Council, Revenue Secretary A B Pandey said it has been decided to allow the use of Aadhaar by businesses to register with GST-Network.

Also, it extended the date for filing annual returns under the Goods and Services Tax (GST) regime by two months to August 30, he said, adding the one-form new GST return filing system will be applicable from January 1, 2020.

The Council, which is headed by the Union Finance Minister and comprises representatives of all states and UTs, also approved an electronic invoicing system and e-ticketing in multiplexes.

Pandey said the proposal to reduce GST rate on EVs to 5 per cent from the current 12 per cent and that on the electric charger to 12 per cent from 18 per cent to the fitment committee for fine-tuning.

The tenure of National Anti-Profiteering Authority (NAA) has been extended by two years till November 30, 2021.

Soon after the GST was rolled out from July 1, 2017, the government had approved setting up the NAA for two years to deal with complaints by consumers against companies for not passing on GST rate cut benefits.

The NAA came into existence on November 30, 2017, after its Chairman BN Sharma assumed charge. So far, the NAA has passed 67 orders in various cases and complaints still keep coming in.

Important decisions of the GST Council meeting -

• GST Council decides to use Aadhaarby businesses for registration.
• GST Council approves electronic invoicing system, e-ticketing in multiplex.
• GST Council decides to extend tenure of GST Anti-Profiteering Authority by two years.
• GST Council extends date for filing annual returns under GST by 2 monthsto Aug 30, 2019.
• New GST return filingsystem to be applicable from Jan 1, 2020.
• GST Council sends proposal to reduce GST rate on Electric Vehicles (EVs) to 5% from 12% and on electric charger to 12% from 18% to fitment committee.
• GST registration limit threshold limitwas raised from Rs 20 Lakh to Rs 40 Lakh.
• Dealers with turnover upto Rs 5 Cr will be filing quarterlyand those above Rs 5 Crwill be filing monthly returns.
• Composition schemefor service providers, decision which was taken in GST Council few months back and done through a notification will be made a part of law.