Jaitley warns businesses: Pass on GST benefits or face action

NEW DELHI: Finance minister Arun Jaitley on Saturday urged businesses to pass on the benefits of the goods and services tax (GST) to consumers.

Underlining that many businesses have not been passing on the input credit benefit to the consumers, Jaitley said state screening committees will be set up in the next 15 days to monitor the situation and act as deterrents.

“We hope we are not pushed to constitute the authority immediately,” the minister said after chairing the 20th GST Council meeting, the first one after the rollout of the new tax structure in the country.

The GST council gave its in-principle approval for the e-way bill that mandates pre-registration for movement of goods for more than 10 km for sale.

The bill, which will be generated electronically, will be applicable for consignments of over ~50,000 only, but not for exempt goods.

Jaitley said that there will be no check posts and the process will be technology driven. “Human interface will be minimised,” he said, adding that the date of application of the e-way bill will be notified soon.

“Currently, taxpayers are facing difficulty in the absence of centralised e-way bill, as every state has made its own rules. But after e-way bill rules are notified, there will be common procedure all over India,” Vishal Raheja, senior consultant, Taxmann said.

He said the major relief was that dealers engaged in supply of only exempted goods would not be required to pre-register movement of their goods.

The council also decided to reduce the tax slab of a few tractor parts to 18% from 28%. The rate on job works throughout the textile chain which includes carpets and shawls has been reduced to 5% instead of 18% fixed earlier.

The minister said that about 86 lakh registrations — including more than 15 lakh new tax payers and over 71 lakh migra- tions — have been made under GST.

The new tax structure was rolled out on July 1. There are four main tax slabs under the new structure — 5%, 12%, 18%, 28%, but there are many items which attract nil tax rate while other items like tobacco and aerated drinks attract the highest tax rate of 28% along with cess.

The next GST council meeting will be held in Hyderabad on September 5.