Within a week of its constitution, the group of ministers, set up to review the Goods and Services Tax composition Scheme, held its first meeting in Delhi on making the scheme more attractive.
The five-member GoM, led by Assam Finance Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, has also been tasked to revisit GST rates for restaurants.
1st mtng of GOM to examine measures to make Composition Scheme more attractive & revisit #GST Tax Str on Restns today in Delhi @arunjaitley pic.twitter.com/PLyTrt4Prd
— Himanta Biswa Sarma (@himantabiswa) October 15, 2017
With only about 15.50 lakh businesses of the 98 lakh registered under the GST regime opting for the composition scheme, the GST Council decided to set up the GoM to examine ways of making it more attractive.
Businesses with a turnover of up to Rs 1 crore can opt for the composition scheme and they can pay taxes in the range of 1-5 percent and file returns quarterly.
The GST Council, chaired by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and consisting of his state counterparts, had on October 7 constituted the GoM, which will submit its report by the end of November.
The other members of the GoM are Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Modi, Jammu and Kashmir Finance Minister Haseeb Drabu, Punjab Finance Minister Manpreet Singh Badal and Chhattisgarh Minister of Commercial Taxes Amar Agrawal.
To make the composition scheme more attractive, the GoM would look into whether turnover of exempted goods can be excluded from the total turnover threshold for levying tax under the composition scheme.
It will also consider whether the scheme can be extended to taxpayers dealing in inter-state supplies of goods.
Besides, the panel will look at whether manufacturers opting for the scheme can be given the benefit of input tax credit.
BQ
