GST Council sets exemption limit at Rs 20 lakh

24 Sep '16

2 min read

The GST Council has decided to exempt businesses from the Goods and Services Tax (GST) if their annual turnover is less than Rs 10 lakh for northeastern hill states, and Rs 20 lakh for rest of India. Businesses with annual turnover less than Rs 1.5 crore would be assessed by states (in case of goods), while others would be assessed under dual control.

“For GST, the exemption threshold is fixed at Rs.20 lakh,” the Council's chairman and Union finance minister Arun Jaitley told reporters after conclusion of the second day of the panel's first meeting. “So those with a turnover of below Rs.20 lakh annually will be exempted from GST. With the north-east states, the exemption threshold is Rs 10 lakh,” Jaitley said.

On the issue of administrative control over indirect tax assessees, it was decided that states would have sole jurisdiction over businesses having a turnover of Rs 1.5 crore or less, while the jurisdiction for businesses exceeding that limit would be jointly with the Central and state governments, Jaitley informed.

In another major decision, the Council agreed that base year of compensation would be 2015-16. The Council also decided that service tax assesses would be vetted by the Centre. However, since the GST allows the states to also tax services, over time state revenue officials would be trained so they can begin assessing assessees in the service sector.

The Council would meet again on September 30 to approve draft rules, and again from October 17-19 to decide rates and slabs. (RKS)

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