Finance Minister announces GST exemption for businesses with an annual turnover of up to Rs 40 lakh - (24 Aug 2020)

Goods and Services Tax

The Finance Minister said that now, the businesses with an annual turnover of up to Rs 40 lakh are GST exempt. Earlier, this limit was Rs 20 lakh. In a tweet, the Finance Ministry said, additionally those with a turnover up to Rs 1.5 crore can opt for the Composition Scheme and pay only 1 per cent tax. The composition has been increased from Rs 75 lakhs to Rs 1.5 crores. The composition scheme has been extended to services as well. Further, after the implementation of GST, the tax rate on a large number of items was brought down. As of now, the 28 per cent rate is almost solely restricted to luxury items. Out of a total of about 230 items in the 28 per cent slab, about 200 items have been shifted to lower slabs.

The Ministry has also informed that, significant reliefs have been extended to the construction sector, particularly the housing sector which has been placed at the 5 per cent tax rate. GST on affordable housing has been reduced to 1 per cent. It said that, the taxpayer base has almost doubled since the rollout of GST. GST has been instrumental in Breaking Barriers to build an Aatma Nirbhar Bharat and taking forward the motto of One Nation One Tax One Market. GST has come a long way in simplifying the GST Tax Administration. The decision aims to make the tax administration simple for taxpayers ensuring Ease of Doing Business.

Further, there is a need to foresee the issues faced by business community and proactively address same during COVID 19 situation. Return filing process needs to be made easier and processing of return and allowing Input Tax Credit needs to be made faster. Assistance is to be provided to taxpayers in order to resolve their grievances.

Tags : EXEMPTION GST BUSINESSES