The  successful implementation of E-way bill and the lower than expected Goods and Services Tax (GST) under the composite scheme is set to be the main agenda for the GST Council meeting scheduled on Saturday.“Two things will be on the top of agenda in the next GST Council meet on Saturday. First is the timely implementation of the E-way bill and secondly the falling GST collection under the composite scheme. Both issues had already been flagged by the revenue secretary,” a senior finance ministry official said.

The government had decided to start the inter-state movement of goods worth more than Rs 50,000 through e-way bill mechanism with the implementation of GST. However, the E-way bill, which was to be launched on February 1, was postponed as the IT network crashed. Consequently, the system continued on a trial mode  with full implementation deferred until April 1.

“Now that there is less than a month for implementation, the GST Council wants to ensure that this time there is no technical glitch. The finance secretary had already sought a report on the reasons for technical failure and a progess report. The report will be discussed in the meet,” the official said.

The second issue on the agenda is falling GST collections under the composite scheme. The collection of GST slipped marginally to Rs 86,318 crore in January, from Rs 86,703 crore in December, less than expected by the government. As many as 7.28 crore GST returns have been filed so far on the GSTN portal since the implementation of the GST. For the month of January, 56.72 lakh returns were filed.

However, 1.23 lakh companies registered under the scheme have opted out and become regular taxpayers.
“The response has not been as expected. The government expected better revenue. These things will be taken up in the meeting,” the official said, adding that there will be no major overhaul in the tax slabs.
Also, while the Council will discuss the simplification of the return filing process, GSTR-3B will continue for some time.The GST Council, in its meeting in November, had extended GSTR-3B filing till March end.

 

 

 

Source: Indian Express

 

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