GST Council agrees to decriminalise certain offences, no new taxes brought

The GST Council has agreed to decriminalise certain offences under GST law while also increasing the threshold for prosecution. Meanwhile no new taxes have been brought by the council. 

The council has also clarified what kind of cars will be categorised as SUVs and will be levied with tax as per the automobile category. The Council had 15 items on the agenda in the latest meeting but could only discuss 8 of them due to time constraints. 

Among the items discussed at the 48th meeting, the GST Council decriminalised some offences under GST. The threshold for launching prosecution under GST has been doubled to Rs 2 crore from current Rs 1 crore, Revenue Secretary Sanjay Malhotra confirmed.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman shared that the GST Council has not brought any new taxes. It also has clarified on what is an SUV in terms of the categories of automobiles and the appropriate tax it would attract. Furthermore, the GST applicable on the husk of pulses has been decreased to zero from earlier 5 percent. 

Issues that could not be discussed include setting up of GST appellate tribunals, GST on casinos and online gaming, curbing tax evasion in gutkha and pan masala business 

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