GST Council Meet Today: Major Decisions Expected On Setting Up Appellate Tribunals, Curbing Tax Evasion

The 48th Meeting of the GST Council will be held on 17 December 2022 by video conference, the Finance Ministry tweeted on Friday.

GST Council Meet Latest Update: Nearly after a gap of nearly six months, the meeting of GST Council, headed by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, would be held on Saturday through video conferencing. “The 48th Meeting of the GST Council will be held on 17th December, 2022 by video conference,” the Finance Ministry tweeted on Friday.

The previous meeting of the GST council was held in Chandigarh between June 28 and 29 this year.

 GST Council Meet: Here’s what to expect

The GST Council during the meeting on Saturday is expected to decide on a number of issues such as decriminalisation of offences under the GST law, setting up appellate tribunals and mechanism to curb tax evasion in pan masala and gutkha businesses.

Apart from this, GST on online gaming and casinos may come up for deliberations as the Group of Ministers (GoM), chaired by Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad Sangma, submitted its report on the issue to Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Thursday.

The GST Council is also likely to consider a report of tax officers and give clarity on the rate applicability in certain goods and services.

Regarding the decriminalisation of offences, the law committee of the GST Council, comprising tax officers from the Centre and states, has suggested to the Council to increase the monetary threshold for launching prosecution for GST offences.

About setting up of Goods and Services Tax Appellate Tribunals (GSTATs), the GoM has suggested that the tribunals should consist of two judicial members, and one technical member each from the Centre and states, besides a retired Supreme Court judge as President, sources told a news portal.

Last month, former West Bengal Finance Minister Amit Mitra had exhorted the Union Finance Ministry to “urgently” convene a meeting of the GST Council, saying that it had not met for almost six months.

In its previous meeting, the Council had raised GST on various items like LED lamps, solar water heaters etc. It had also hiked GST from 12 per cent to 18 per cent on tetra packs. The rate changes recommended by the GST Council had become effective on July 18, 2022.

Meanwhile, the panel of state ministers set up by the GST council to look into taxation of online gaming and casinos, had on Thursday submitted its report to Sitharaman. The GST council is likely to take up the report in Saturday’s meeting.