GST Council Meeting Highlights: Tax Exemption On Platform Tickets, 12 Per Cent Tax On Carton Boxes And More

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman chaired the 53rd GST Council meeting on Saturday. The meeting saw the participation from state finance ministers and culminated in various announcements regarding tax amendments, GST slabs, biometric authentication, etc. Let’s take a look at the major highlights of the meeting.

• The officials reduced the GST rate on several kinds of carton boxes from 18 per cent to 12 per cent.
• The Council announced a uniform 12 per cent GST rate for all milk cans, irrespective of whether they are made of steel, iron, or aluminium.
• The government stressed again on its intention to include petrol and diesel in the GST system, however, the Centre stated that the tax rate would be decided based on the consensus amongst states. 
• The Council further exempted platform tickets from GST to help the passengers.
• The Finance Minister announced that the government will roll out an Aadhaar authentication on a pan-India level to help curb the frauds related to input tax credit claims. “There is going to be a rolling out of biometric-based Aadhaar authentication on an all-India basis. This will help us to combat fraudulent input tax credit claims made through fake invoices in the cases,” Sitharaman informed.
• The Council also exempted services related to hostel accommodation outside educational institutions from GST up to Rs 20,000 per person each month. This exemption was announced with an intention to make accommodation more accessible.
• The FM announced that the GST Council has proposed setting monetary limits of Rs 20 lakh crore for the GST Appellate Tribunal, Rs 1 crore for High Court and Rs 2 crore for the Supreme Court for filing appeals by departments. 
• The Council also recommended waiving off interest and penalties for demand notices issued under Section 73 of the GST Act.
• The Council also proposed an extension in timeline to submit details and returns in the GSTR 4 form to June 30. The earlier deadline for the form was April 30. The extended timeline would be applicable from the 2024-25 fiscal year (FY25) onwards.