Arun Jaitley, Indian finance minister along with the GST members has recommended changes in the Composition Scheme at its 23rd GST meeting held at Guwahati on November 10, 2017. The meeting unveils major relief in GST rates on some goods and services, spread across many sectors and commodities. The Council recommended a uniform tax rate @ 1 per cent for manufacturers and traders (for traders, turnover will be counted only for supply of taxable goods). These recommendations by GST Council would become effective from November 15, 2017.
The council has recommended reduction rate on certain goods that is from 28 per cent to 18 per cent include articles of apparel and clothing accessories of leather, guts, furskin, artificial fur and others.
The list of 28 per cent GST rated goods be clipped substantially as recommended by the GST Council, from 224 tariff headings to only 50 tariff headings including 4 headings which have been partially reduced to 18 per cent (about 4 per cent of total tariff headings at 4-digit).
The specified parts of sewing machine, hand bags and shopping bags made from jute and cotton, hats (knitted or crocheted) has been reduced from the earlier 18 per cent to 12 per cent. Similarly, the rates on narrow woven fabric has been reduced from 12 per cent to 5 per cent.
There will be an increase in annual turnover eligibility under this scheme to Rs 2 crore from the present limit of Rs 1 crore under the law further recommended by the Council. However, the recommendation will be implemented only after the necessary amendment of the CGST Act and SGST Acts.
The GST Council has further made simplification of the return filing process. Taxpayers with annual aggregate turnover upto Rs 1.5 crore now need to file GSTR-1 on quarterly basis till March 2018, and a Committee of Officers will work out the time period for filing GSTR-2 and GSTR-3.
– Apparel and Textile News, Apparel Talk, Indian Apparel
