The Union Finance Ministry on the 24th of August, made important announcements regarding the Goods and Service Tax (GST) in India.
The Union Finance Ministry announced the same on the 24th of August as the occasion marks the first death anniversary of Arun Jaitley, the Former Finance Minister of India.
Remembering the contribution of late Arun Jaitley, who played a key role in the implementation of the GST, the Finance Ministry of India posted a series of tweets.
Earlier number of assessees covered by the GST at the time of its inception were about 6.5 millions and now the assessee base exceeds 12.4 millions, double of initial tax payers.
One such tweet read, “As we remember Arun Jaitley today, let us acknowledge the key role he played in the implementation of GST, which will go down in history as one of the most fundamental landmark reforms in Indian taxation.”
In another tweet, the Finance Ministry tweeted about the reduced rate of GST.
GST has reduced the rate at which people have to pay tax and the revenue neutral rate as per the RNR (Revenue Neutral Rate) Committee was 15.3 % is now 11.6 %.
In addition, businesses with an annual turnover of up to Rs. 40 lakh are GST exempt. Previously, the limit was upto Rs. 20 lakh.
Meanwhile, businesses with a turnover up to Rs. 1.5 crore can apply for the Composition Scheme and pay only 1 % tax.
The Finance Ministry tweeted, “Once GST was implemented, the tax rate on a large number of items was brought down. As of now, the 28% rate is almost solely restricted to sin and luxury items. Out of a total of about 230 items in the 28% slab, about 200 items have been shifted to lower slabs.”
The Union Finance Ministry also put the housing sector in the 5 per cent slab, while GST on affordable housing has been reduced to 1%.
To make GST processing transparent, the Finance Ministry of India announced the processes in GST to be fully automated.
According to the Union Government, till now 50 crore returns have been filed online and 131 crore e-way bills were generated.
Stay tuned for further updates.
