GST Council Meeting Today: SMEs to Get Huge Relief

The Two Day GST Council Meeting that kicked off yesterday would be considering to remove around 100 items from 28% tax slab. A major change can be seen in return filing for SMEs as well.

SMEs May Now have to file Only GSTR-3B

If this gets approval, these would certainly be a huge relief for Small Scale Businesses that fall under the turnover of Rs 1.5 crores. The GST council will be discussing to do away with GSTR 1, 2 and 3 respectively. Now the SMEs will only have to file one return GSTR-3B stating only the casual summary of the business done of each month. In the last meeting, the council has already exempted SMEs from monthly filing as they will file only quarterly returns. At present, businesses have to file GSTR-3B, GSTR-1 for outward supplies, GSTR-2 for inward supplies and GSTR-3 for finalization of inward and outward supply followed by an annual return.

The GST council may approve this given the glitches faced by dealers while filling these series of returns. Dealers have reported that there are lots of confusion and that is leading to huge mess. The government has already extended deadlines for filling GSTR-2 for the month of July from October 31 to November 30.

Common Buyers to Get Relief Many Items Would be removed from 28% Tax Slab

It’s been reported that around 72% of the items falling in 28% tax slab may be put into 12 or 18% tax slab. Out of 227 items that fall in 28% tax slab, 165 items may be removed and put into the lower tax slabs leaving behind only 62 items. This would give huge benefits to the customers as many reported difficulty in buying products that sounded common and cheap before GST era. Items that may see the trim are chocolate, beauty products, skin care creams, aftershave lotion, marble, granite, non-alcoholic drinks, perfume, paints and many more. This will give immediate benefit to the customers.

Other points that can be discussed is reducing tax slab on AC restaurants from 18 to 12%. The council will also discuss on bringing Real Estate under the ambit of GST which we have already covered earlier.

Digitalization will also get a push from the government and it may offer some incentives for both dealers and customers on various grounds. The PMO has pushed for few of these changes in order to ensure rationality and simplification under GST. If the above proposals are approved, it is likely that the BJP government may benefit in Gujarat elections to be held on December 09 and 14 respectively.