Rollout of GST won’t be postponed, says Jaitley
New Delhi, June 18: India will turn into one market at the stroke of mid-night between June 30 and July 1, with the rollout of the unified GST along with liberal tax filings rules for first two months to tide over any teething issues.
Rejecting demands for deferment of the biggest tax reform since Independence, finance minister Arun Jaitley assured the nation that the IT network backbone has been adequately tested and systems are in place for implementation of GST.
Mr Jaitley said: “We don’t have the luxury of time to defer GST implementation... The official launch of the GST will take place on the midnight of June 30 and July 1.”
The GST Council, which met here for the 17th time on Sunday, also decided to fix the tax rate for AC hotels at 18 per cent where the billed amount is up to `7,500.
Earlier, it had proposed to levy 28 per cent on hotel bills exceeding `5,000.
Giving details, Mr Jaitley said this would mean that now 18 per cent GST will be levied on bills of `2,500-7,500. The council also decided to tax lotteries in two segments — with state-run ones attracting 12 per cent GST and the stateauthorised but run by private entities at 28 per cent.