Highlights of 38th GST Council Meeting dated 18th December,2019

Looking for the updates of the 38th GST Council Meeting? Here are the most important ones-

The 38th GST Council meeting was held on 18th December, 2019 Smt Nirmala Sitharaman, the Union Finance Minister chaired the said Council meeting which was conducted at New Delhi.

As all expected there would be changes in the rates of GST, this particular point remained undiscussed in the 38th GST Council meeting was held on 18th December, 2019. Hence there is no rate hike as of now. Moreover, the decision is taken to extend the due date for filing of GSTR 9 & GSTR 9C. Also the due date for filing of GST return is extended. Following are the Key highlights of 38th GST Council meeting.

• Due date for GSTR 9 & GSTR 9C extended:

GST Council has extended the due date for filing of GSTR 9 and GSTR 9C for Financial year 2017-18 to 31st January, 2020. The decision was supposedly taken to allow more time to taxpayers to use the offline tool of GSTR 9C which is going to be made available on 21st December, 2019. Also the due date for GST returns extended till 31st December, 2019. for certain category of taxpayers of some North Eastern States for the month of November 2019.

We mentioned the expectation of the decision on the due date extension to come earlier in Expectations from 38th GST Council meeting

• GST Council to waive late fees for filing of GSTR 1:

GST Council has decided to waive late fees for taxpayers who have not filed returns from July 2017 to November 2019 if all the returns are filed by January 10, 2020. This has been done to facilitate filing all past returns as GSTR-1 is important for invoice matching. In case the taxpayer do not file GSTR-1 by January 10, 2020, the e-way bill for them will be blocked for them.

• Waiver of GST payable for Industrial & Financial Infrastructures:

GST Council decided to waive GST payable for industrial and financial infrastructure plots by entity with 20% or more ownership of Centre or state government. This change will be effective from January 1, 2020.

• GST Council voted for single tax rate for lottery:

The GST Council voted on a matter for the first time during its meeting. The panel voted in favour of a single GST rate of 28% on both state run and state authorized lottery. The same shall become effective from 1st march, 2020.

• Input Tax Credit restricted to 10%:

Input tax credit to the recipient in respect of invoices or debit notes that are not reflected in his FORM GSTR-2A shall be restricted to 10% of the eligible credit available in respect of invoices or debit notes reflected in his FORM GSTR-2A.

• Standard Operating Procedure to block fake ITC availed:

A Standard Operating Procedure for tax officers would be issued in respect of action to be taken in cases of non-filing of FORM GSTR 3B returns. These will help in blocking or reversal of fake ITC availed.

• Rationalisation of GST rates to remove inverted tax structures:

The GST Council also imposed the uniform GST rate of 18% which earlier was 12% on Woven and Non-Woven Bags and sacks of polyethylene or polypropylene strips or the like, whether or not laminated, of a kind used for the packing of goods including Flexible Intermediate Bulk Containers (FIBC). Which effectively removes the inverted tax structure. This change shall become effective from 1st January, 2020.

• Law amendments to be introduced in Budget 2020:

The Council also approved various law amendments which will be introduced in Budget 2020.

Hope this article was helpful. Refer to the topics discussed in the 37th GST Council meeting 

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