New Delhi: Your restaurant bills may come down after the latest overhaul to the Goods and Services Tax.
The GST Council has agreed in principle to slash tax rates on air-conditioned restaurants from 18 percent to 12 percent with a majority of members backing the proposal.
Finance minister Arun Jaitley has appointed a committee to reform the tax regime.
Attempting to set right a flawed roll out, the GST reforms of Friday sought to address the changes that has impacted growth in the manufacturing sector.
Finance minister Jaitley said that taxes have been cut for 27 products.
The council also agreed to raise the annual turnover limit for composition scheme from Rs 75 lakh to Rs 1 crore.
Restaurants with up to Rs 1 crore annual turnover are supposed to pay 5 percent tax but they are not allowed to pass on the burden to customers.
The establishments have to display on the premises that they have opted for the composition scheme. These restaurants can cut down prices and attract more customers.
Businesses with up to Rs 1.5 crore as turnover can submit taxes and returns once in three months.
Tax on coir, coir products and unbranded ayurvedic products has been cut to 5 percent. The government also agreed to fast-track the process to allow exporters to avail of tax benefits.
Businesses with up to Rs 20 lakh annual turnover will not have to pay interstate taxes. The electronic way bill will be implemented from April 1.
A decision to impose tax on goods worth above Rs 5,000 when brought from abroad is expected to affect Keralites, which has been asking for the cap at Rs 20,000.
Kerala finance minister T M Thomas Isaac said that the state would make it compulsory to have the e-way bill from next month. The experience of Kerala and Karnataka will be analyzed before introducing the system to all states.
Read more at: Latest in GST indepth | GST reforms leave Kerala with an appetizing takeaway