The 49th GST Council Meeting was held on February 18, 2023 in New Delhi under the Chairmanship of Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman. This meeting is being conducted within a span of three weeks from the Union Budget 2023. The GST Council has inter-alia made the recommendation to approve the report of the Group of Ministers (“GoM”) on Capacity based taxation and special composition scheme in certain sectors on GST with a view to plug the leakages and improve the revenue collection from the commodities like pan masala, gutkha, chewing tobacco including, inter alia, that-
- The capacity levy not be prescribed and the compliance.
- Tracking measures to be taken to plug leakages/evasions.
- Exports of such commodities to be allowed only against LUT with consequential refund of accumulated ITC.
- Compensation cess levied on such commodities to be changed from ad valorem to specific tax based levy to boost the first stage collection of the revenue.
The Press Release can be accessed at: https://www.pib.gov.in/PressReleasePage.aspx?PRID=1900376