The GST Council will meet on 18th February, 2022 to discuss a host of issues including states’ revenue position and setting up new GST Tribunals. This 49th meeting is being held after about two months since the last one was held on 17th December 2022. The GST Council recently made this announcement on its official Twitter handle.
The meeting is being held after the presentation of the union budget earlier this month which offered to extend the 50-year interest free loan to states for another year to enable their capital spending. The Council is expected to discuss the issues that were on the agenda at its last meeting but could not be taken up.
This 49th meeting shall be the third such meeting which is happening almost immediately after the presentation of the Union Budget 2023 in February. Similar post-budget Council meetings last happened in 2019, before the pandemic and for the first time in 2017.
However, the issue of taxation of gaming, casinos and horse facing is unlikely to figure in the next meeting. A ministerial panel which examined the taxation regime for these industries could not arrive at a consensus. It is also being speculated that Group of Ministers (GoMs) may table its report on taxation of ‘Gutkha’ and ‘Pan Masala’ businesses at the 49th GST Council meeting. All these GoM reports were on the agenda at the 48th GST Council meeting held last on 17th December 2022.
The Centre is keen to explore if the GST rate on cement could be lowered from the current 28%. Union FM Nirmala Sitharaman said earlier this month that a panel of officers will look into it. This, however, is unlikely to be taken up at the upcoming meeting on Saturday. The next meeting is expected to take up items for tax corrections which are already examined by the panel of officers. A few law related changes and some tax rate related changes are expected at the meeting.
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