The GST on e-waste will be raised from 5% to 18%, whereas the Hotel accommodations costing less than Rs 1,000 will be taxed at a rate of 12%.
Digital Desk: Pre-packaged and labelled food items such as meat, fish, curd, paneer, and honey will now be subject to 5% GST, a tax that will also be levied on the fee charged by banks for the issuance of cheques. Unbranded food products were previously excused from GST.
On the first day of the two-day meeting, the panel, chaired by Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and comprised of representatives from all states and UTs, accepted the GoM's recommendation to review the current GST exemption for packed and labeled food items.
As a result, pre-packaged and labelled meat (except frozen), fish, curd, paneer, honey, dried leguminous vegetables, dried makhana, wheat and other cereals, wheat or meslin flour, jaggery, puffed rice (muri), all goods, and organic manure and coir pith compost are no longer exempt from GST and will now be subject to a 5% tax.
Similarly, an 18% GST will be levied on bank fees for issuing cheques (loose or in book form). A 12% tax will be levied on maps, charts, and atlases. Unpacked, unlabeled, and unbranded goods will continue to be subject to GST.
In addition, a 12% tax on hotel rooms less than Rs 1,000 per day will be levied. GST rate rationalization is critical to increasing the weighted average GST rate, which has fallen to 11.6 percent from 14.4 percent at the launch time.
The GST Council also suggested that the inverted duty structure be corrected for various items, including edible oil, coal, LED lamps, printing/drawing ink, finished leather, and solar water heaters.
On Wednesday, the Council is expected to discuss the demand for an extension of compensation paid to states for revenue lost as a result of their taxes, such as sales tax (VAT), being subsumed into a national GST, as well as a 28 percent tax on casinos, online gaming, and horse racing.
Non-BJP-ruled states want the compensation regime to be extended or the states' share of GST revenues to increase from 50 percent to 70-80 percent.
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