GST Council to decriminalise three types of offences

The GST Council decided to decriminalise three types of offences and also clarified that insurance companies’ no-claim bonus would not attract tax.

It also said the goods and services tax (GST) rate on ethyl alcohol supplied to refineries for blending with petrol would be cut to 5 percent from 18 percent. GST Council could only take up eight of the 15 items on its agenda.

Items which were not taken up included capacity-based taxation of tobacco and setting up of GST appellate tribunals. The meeting will likely meet in-person next after the Budget for 2023-24 is presented on February 1.

The Goods and Services Tax (GST) GoM has met for the first time to review the current slabs and expand the tax base. There is a proposal to conduct a pilot in Gujarat for biometric-based Aadhaar authentication and risk-based physical verification of registration applicants.

PAN-linked mobile numbers and email addresses would be captured and recorded and OTP-based verification conducted at the time of registration.