The 53rd GST Council met under the Chairpersonship of Union Minister for Finance & Corporate Affairs Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman in New Delhi today i.e. June 22, 2024. The GST Council inter alia made the following recommendations relating to changes in GST tax rates, measures for facilitation of trade, and measures for streamlining compliances in GST.
Recommendations relating to GST rates on services
1. To exempt the services provided by Indian Railways to the general public, namely, the sale of platform tickets, facility of retiring rooms/waiting rooms, cloak room services, and battery-operated car services and to also exempt the Intra-Railway transactions. The issue for the past period will be regularized from October 20, 2023, to the date of issue of exemption notification in this regard.
2. To exempt GST on the services provided by Special Purpose Vehicles (SPV) to Indian Railway by way of allowing Indian Railway to use infrastructure built & owned by SPV during the concession period and maintenance services supplied by Indian Railways to SPV. The issue for the past will be regularized on ‘as is where is’ basis for the period from July 01, 2017, till the date of issue of exemption notification in this regard.
3. To create a separate entry in notification No. 12/2017- CTR dated June 28, 2017, under heading 9963 to exempt accommodation services having the value of supply of accommodation up to Rs. 20,000/- per month per person subject to the condition that the accommodation service is supplied for a minimum continuous period of 90 days. To extend similar benefits for past cases.
Other changes relating to Services
1. Co-insurance premium apportioned by the lead insurer to the co-insurer for the supply of insurance service by the lead and co-insurer to the insured in coinsurance agreements, may be declared as no supply under Schedule III of the CGST Act, 2017 and past cases may be regularized on ‘as is where is’ basis.
2. Transaction of ceding commission/re-insurance commission between insurer and re-insurer may be declared as no supply under Schedule III of CGST Act, 2017 and past cases may be regularized on ‘as is where is’ basis.
3. GST liability on reinsurance services of specified insurance schemes covered by Sr. Nos. 35 & 36 of notification No. 12/2017-CT (Rate) dated June 28, 2017, may be regularized on ‘as is where is’ basis for the period from July 01, 2017, to January 24, 2018.
4. GST liability on reinsurance services of the insurance schemes for which total premium is paid by the Government that are covered under Sr. No. 40 of notification No. 12/2017- dated June 28, 2017, may be regularized on ‘as is where is’ basis for the period from July 01, 2017, to July 26, 2018.
5. To issue a clarification that retrocession is ‘re-insurance of re-insurance’ and therefore, eligible for the exemption under Sl. No. 36A of the notification No. 12/2017-CTR dated June 28, 2017.
6. To issue a clarification that statutory collections made by the Real Estate Regulatory Authority (RERA) are exempt from GST as they fall within the scope of entry 4 of No.12/2017-CTR dated June 28, 2017.
7. To issue a clarification that further sharing of the incentive by acquiring bank with other stakeholders, where the sharing of such incentive is clearly defined under the Incentive scheme for promotion of RuPay Debit Cards and low-value BHIM-UPI transactions and is decided in the proportion and manner by NPCI in consultation with the participating banks is not taxable.
The Press Release can be accessed at: https://a2z-bucket.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/PIB2027982.pdf