35th GST Council Meeting held on 6th june, 2019 in New Delhi

The 35^th GST Council meeting (the first to be chaired by the new finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman) was held recently

• NAA - The Council has decided to extend the tenure of National Anti-profiteering Authority (NAA) by another 2 years, till November 2021.
• It was originally scheduled to end this year. Click here to know more on National Anti-Profiteering Authority,
• The council also made the rules more stringent to enssure companies pass on the benefit of lower taxes to consumers.
• It thus approved the imposition of an additional penalty of up to 10% of the profiteered amount if companies do not pay fine in 30 days.
• At present, companies have to deposit a penalty of Rs 25,000.

• Electronic Invoicing - The council decided to introduce e-invoicing in a phased manner for business-to-business (B2B) transactions.
• E-invoicing would help tax authorities in combating the menace of tax evasion.
• Phase 1 is proposed to be voluntary and will be rolled out in January 2020.
• The council also gave in principle nod to an electronic invoicing system for companies and e-ticketing for multiplexes.
• E-tickets issued by registered multiplexes shall be deemed to be tax invoices.

• Aadhaar - Aadhaar has been approved as sufficient proof to obtain GST registration.
• Returns filing - The council extended the deadline to file annual GST returns for 2017-18 by 2 months to August 31.
• EV tax rate - Proposals to cut GST on electronic vehicles (EVs) to 5% from 12% and on electric chargers to 12% from 18% have been referred to the fitment committee.
• The issue over fixing the GST rate on leased EVs has also been assigned to the committee.
• The taxation of lotteries has been referred to the attorney general, seeking his view on the issue.
• [There has been a Calcutta High Court judgment and there is a petition before the Supreme Court in this regard.]
• Right now private and state-run lotteries face differential rates.
• A state-organised lottery attracts 12% GST while a state-authorised lottery attracts 28% tax.
• There is a dispute on whether a uniform tax rate should be imposed on lotteries or the current differential tax rate system should be continued.
• An eight-member group of state finance ministers could not reach a consensus on this.
• The attorney general will thus see if a product (being one good) can be taxed differently or not under the GST.
• GSTAT - The council decided on the location of state and area benches for the GST Appellate Tribunal (GSTAT) for various states and UTs with legislatures.
• It has been decided to have a common state bench for Sikkim, Nagaland, Manipur and Arunachal Pradesh.