Goods and Services Tax
DH photo
New Delhi: The first meeting of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) Council after the Narendra Modi-led government took charge at the Centre for the third consecutive term, will be held on June 22 in New Delhi, which is likely to review online gaming taxation and discuss further rationalisation of indirect tax structure.
“The 53rd meeting of the GST Council will be held on 22nd June, 2024 at New Delhi,” the GST Council, which is responsible for recommending tax rates, exemptions and other GST related issues, said in a social media post on X on Thursday.
This will be the first meeting of the GST Council in over 8 months. Nirmala Sitharaman, who took charge as the Union Finance Minister on Wednesday, will chair the meeting.
“The council is likely to reach conclusions on matters pertaining to the GST that necessitate legislative modifications, including the taxation of online gaming activities and the designation of a date for the mandatory implementation of Input Service Distributor (ISD) provisions,” said Saurabh Agarwal, Tax Partner, EY.
The previous GST Council meeting was held on October 7. The council, which is a joint forum of the Centre and the states, normally meet once in every quarter. However, no meeting was held in the past eight months due to the Lok Sabha elections. Finance ministers of states are members of the council while Union Finance Minister is the ex-officio chairperson.
MS Mani, Partner, Deloitte India, said the upcoming GST Council meeting would be keenly watched for rate rationalisation discussion. In addition, a preliminary effort to include low impact petroleum products such as natural gas within the GST ambit would be highly beneficial to business, he said.
"The stability established in GST collections together with the fact that GST changes are outside the Union Budget proposals should provide an impetus to the GST Council in addressing various issues that need to be addressed," Mani added.
Rajat Bose, Partner, Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas & Co, said the council is likely to take up key industry issues like the taxation of online gaming and the promised review of the valuation rules introduced in October 2023.
“Other agenda items could include discussion on the inverted duty structure (IDS) for various sectors, such as textiles and fertilisers and rationalisation of GST rates on certain items which are used by popular masses in India,” said Bose.