Hyderabad: The Goods and Services Tax Council on Saturday decided to exempt agriculturists and small traders with a turnover of less than Rs 20 lakh from registering under the GST regime.
The Council also agreed to provide a composition scheme to dhabas and small restaurants, with less than Rs 50 lakh turnover. This will put them under the five per cent tax bracket as against the general rate applied for other restaurants.
Clearing hurdles for the implementation of the law from July 1, the Council approved the contours of two key legislations — Central GST (CGST) and Integrated GST (IGST). The final approval to the enabling laws could be given after the Council clears State GST and Union Territory GST in mid-March. The C-GST will give powers to Centre to levy GST on goods and services after levies like excise and service tax are subsumed.
Centre accepts demands of states
The I-GST is to be levied on inter-state supplies. They will go to Parliament for approval in the second half of the Budget Session beginning March 9, finance minister Arun Jaitley said.
The S-GST, which will allow states to levy the tax after VAT and other state levies are subsumed in the GST, will have to be passed by each of the state Assemblies.
“As many as 26 changes sought by states have been accepted by the Centre. This shows the federalist character of India,” West Bengal finance minister Amit Mitra said.
During the meeting, the Centre agreed to incorporate a clause to enable levy of up to 40 per cent tax (half by the Centre and an equal amount by the states), but the effective tax rates will be kept at the previously approved levels of 5, 12, 18 and 28 per cent.
The equal levy of IGST has been one of the contentious issues as states insisted on legislative backing while the Centre preferred the notification route. The Centre, however, conceded to the states' demand.
