GST Council Meet to cut tax on e-vehicles | Fusion - WeRIndia

The first GST Council meeting under the leadership of new Finance Minister is going to be held today.

The meeting considers slashing the GST rate on electric vehicles to 5 per cent from the existing 12 per cent.

The cut on GST rate on electric vehicles will encourage the manufacturing of more environment-friendly vehicles.

In addition to that, the extension of tenure of the anti-profiteering authority will also be considered. The tenure would be extended for a year up to November 2020.

This is the 35th meeting of the GST Council and the first meeting under Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman.

The meeting will also consider taking steps to prevent tax evasion. These include the integration of e-way bill with NHAI’s FASTag from April 1, 2020, making e-ticketing mandatory for all movie halls with the cooperation of states and asking all businesses with a turnover of more than ₹50 crore to issue e-invoice for B2B sales.

The GST Council is also mulling to alter the existing GST rate on lottery. The discussion will be held on whether a uniform tax rate is imposed on lotteries or the existing differential tax rate system be continued.

At present, 12 per cent GST rate is applicable on a state-organised lottery whereas 28 per cent GST is applicable on a state-authorised lottery.

Besides that, the GST would discuss easing the GST refund process. It will discuss a suitable mechanism for single-point sanctioning and processing for those refunds.

Currently, there is no proper track and trace mechanism to share information among various agencies. As a result, e-way bills are being misused.

In order to put a check to this, the Council is proposing the integration of e-way bill with NHAI’s FASTag mechanism from the next financial year.

This integration would help trace the location of the vehicles whenever the vehicle crosses the NHAI’s toll plazas. Thus, it can control tax evasion if a vehicle generates a single e-way bill and transports multiple times.

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