53rd GST Council meeting : Tax Rates changed for certain Goods and Services, here is all you need to know

The 53rd meeting of the GST Council took place in New Delhi on Saturday. State finance ministers were present, with Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman serving as the meeting's chair.

The GST Council made several decisions to lessen taxpayer complaints and the burden of compliance. "Today's GST Council meeting has taken many decisions on trade facilitation, easing taxpayer relief in terms of compliance easing out, and easing the burden of compliance," the finance minister stated.

Here are some important decisions by the GST Council

1.  Railways- GST will not be applied to services provided by Indian Railways, including platform ticket sales, retiring room amenities, waiting areas, cloakroom facilities, and battery-operated automobile services.
2. Services by way of hostel accommodation outside educational institutions have been exempted from GST for charges up to Rs 20,000 per person per month. However, this exemption applies only if the student has stayed in the hostel for a continuous period of 90 days. This condition aims to prevent hotels from misusing the exemption.
3.  Services provided by battery-operated vehicles and intra-railway services will no longer attract GST.
4. For the fiscal years 2017–18, 2018–19, and 2019–20, the GST Council has suggested waiving interest on penalties associated with tax demand notices issued under Section 73 of the GST Act. This waiver will be available to taxpayers who, by March 31, 2025, pay the entire tax amount asked in the notice.
5. Taking another important step, the GST Council has recommended the reduction of GST on all kinds of carton boxes from 18 percent to 12 percent. 6. The council recommended that Single or dual-energy source solar cookers should be subject to a consistent 12 percent GST rate.
6.  For the Aluminium, steel, or stainless steel milk cans, the GST Council suggested a standard 12 percent GST charge for all milk cans.
7. For, the sprinklers, there will be a consistent 12 percent GST rate applied to all types of sprinklers, including water and fire departments.     

 The Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman also announced the pan-India rollout of biometric-based Aadhaar authentication. “There is going to be a rolling out of biometric-based Aadhaar authentication on an all-India basis. We ran a pilot in Gujarat and Puducherry. There have been very good inputs coming out of it. This will help us combat fraudulent input tax credit claims made through fake invoices in the cases. So the GST council has recommended to roll-out biometric-based Aadhaar authentication of registration of applicants on an all India basis in a phased manner”, the finance minister said.