The GST Council has also decided to put many items out of 28 per cent tax.
The GST Council meet on Saturday decided to keep the sanitary napkins out of GST ambit which means there won't be any tax levied on the sanitary anymore. Previously, Sanitary napkins were kept under 12 per cent GST slab. Besides this, the Council has also decided to put many items out of 28 per cent tax.
Earlier, defending the 12 per cent tax, finance ministry had said the tax incidence on sanitary napkins before and after the goods and services tax (GST) is the same or less and reducing the current 12% rate will put domestic manufacturers at a greater disadvantage compared to imports.
In an official statement, the ministry earlier had said that sanitary napkins attracted a concessional excise duty of 6% and 5% VAT pre-GST and the estimated total tax incidence on sanitary napkins was 13.68%.
Therefore, 12% GST rate had been provided for the sanitary napkin.
Major raw materials for the manufacture of sanitary napkins and their respective GST rates were as follows: 18% GST rate for the super absorbent polymer, polyethylene film, glue and LLDPE– Packing Cover. While 12% GST rate has been done for thermo-bonded non-woven, release paper and wood pulp, the statement said.
As raw materials for the manufacture of sanitary napkins attracted GST of 18% and 12%, even with 12% GST on sanitary napkins, there used to be an inversion in the GST structure.
It also gave its nod to the process of simplification of filing returns.
However, Delhi's Finance Minister Manish Sisodia clarified that no decision over sugar cess has been taken yet.
It is also to be noted that the interim Finance Minister Piyush Goyal will chairing his first meeting as Arun Jaitley is recovering from the surgery performed in May.
The format for annual returns and audit has, as mentioned earlier, has also been approved by the GST Council in its meeting today and the industry expects that there could be some reconciliation with annual IT returns as the government aims to check tax evasion.
Goods and Services Tax (GST) was rolled out on July 1, 2017, and this is the first year when businesses will have to file annual returns (GSTR-9) for 2017-18 fiscal by December 31, 2018. Also those businesses with turnover of more than Rs 2 crore will have to file audit reports along with the annual returns.
Notably, a final confirmation on the items can only be confirmed after an official briefing, which is scheduled at 6 pm.
(More details awaited)
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 "28th GST Council meet: Good news for women, no tax to be levied on sanitary napkins")
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