The Goods and Service Tax Council’s meeting on Friday ended without a decision on how the Centre and states would divide the authority on implementing the new regime. The finance ministers of the various states will now meet on November 20 to discuss the subject again at an informal session. The next official GST Council session has been postponed from November 9-10 to November 24-25, The Hindu reported.
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said that two competing authorities cannot assess the same taxpayer, and that the council still has to decide on how these duties will be divided. He also said that at this week’s meetings, 10 important facets of the new GST regime were resolved, The Indian Express reported.
On Thursday, the Council decided on a four-tier rate structure of 5%, 12%, 18% and 28%. Items of mass consumption will attract the lowest rate, while luxury goods and demerit items such as aerated drinks, paan masala, luxury cars and tobacco products will be taxed at 28%.
The GST Bill got President Pranab Mukherjee’s approval on September 8, after being ratified by 16 states. It was passed by the Rajya Sabha on August 3. It seeks to replace India’s complicated tax regime comprising 17 different charges with a single levy.
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