REDUCTION OF GST ON CERTAIN SERVICES WITH EFFECT FROM 1.1.2019 IN INDIA
The Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017 came into force in
India with effect from 1.1.2017.
The Central Government is
reducing the rate of tax on certain services or granting exemption on certain
services in the GST Council Meetings held time to time.
GST Council in the 31st meeting
held on 22nd December, 2018 at New Delhi, took following decisions relating to
changes in GST rates, ITC eligibility criteria, exemptions and clarifications
on connected issues in respect of Services as shown below:
Decisions
taken by the GST Council in the 31st meeting held on 22ndDecember 2018 regarding GST rate on services
GST Council
in
the
31stmeeting held
on
22nd December, 2018 at
New Delhi
took
following decisions relating to changes in GST rates, ITC eligibility criteria, exemptions and clarifications on connected issues. The decisions of the GST Council have been presented in this
note in simple language for easy
understanding. The same would be given effect to through
Gazette notifications/ circulars which shall have force of
law.
Reduction in GST rates/exemptions on services:
1.
GST rate on cinema tickets above Rs. 100 shall be reduced from 28% to 18% and on
cinema tickets
upto
Rs. 100 from 18% to 12%.
2.
GST rate on third party insurance premium of goods carrying vehicles shall be reduced from
18% to 12%
3. Services supplied
by banks to Basic Saving Bank Deposit (BSBD) account holders under
Pradhan
Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY) shall be exempted.
4. Services supplied by rehabilitation professionals recognised under Rehabilitation Council
of India Act,
1992 at medical establishments,
educational
institutions, rehabilitation centers established by Central Government / State Government or Union Territories or entity registered
under section 12AA
of the Income-tax Act shall
be exempted.
5. Services provided
by GTA to Government departments/local authorities
which have
taken registration
only
for the purpose
of
deducting tax under
Section
51
shall
be excluded
from payment of tax under
RCM and the same
shall be exempted.
6. Exemption on services provided
by Central or State Government or Union Territory
Government to their undertakings or PSUs by way of guaranteeing loans taken by them from financial institutions is being
extended to guaranteeing of such loans taken from
banks.
7. Air travel of pilgrims by non-scheduled/charter operations, for religious pilgrimage facilitated by
the
Government of India under bilateral arrangements shall attract the same
rate
of GST as applicable to similar flights in Economy class (i.e. 5% with ITC of input
services).
Rationalization
8. Parliament and State legislatures shall be extended the same tax treatment with regard to payment of tax under RCM (reverse
charge mechanism)as available to Central and State
Governments.
9. Security services (supply of security personnel) provided to a registered person,except Government Departments which have taken registration for TDS and entities registered under
composition scheme, shall be
put under RCM.
10. Services
provided by unregistered
Business
Facilitator
(BF) to
a bank and
agent of
Business
correspondent
(BC) toa BC shall be put under RCM.
Clarifications
11. To clarify that with effect from 31st January, 2018 degrees/ diploma awarded by IIMs
under IIM Act,
2017 will be exempt from GST.
12.
To clarify that the services provided
by IFC and ADB are exempt from GST in terms of
provisions
of IFC Act,
1958 and ADB Act, 1966.
13. To clarify
to West Bengal
that
services provided by
Council/
Board
of
Primary/ Secondary/ Higher Secondary
Education for conduct of examination to its students
are exempt.
14.
To clarify that “printing of pictures”
falls
under service code “998386: Photographic and
videographic processing services” of the scheme of classification of services and attract GST
@18% and not under “998912: Printing
and reproduction services
of recorded
media,
on a fee or
15. To clarify that leasing of pumps and reservoirs by the OMCs to petrol pump dealers is a mixed supply and the Licence Fee Recovery (LFR) charged for the same shall be leviable
to GST @ 28%, the rate applicable to pumps. Leasing of
land and buildings along
with equipment shall fall under heading 9972 (real estate services) and attract GST rate of
18%.
16. To clarify that the incentives paid by RBI to Banks under “Currency Distribution and
Exchange Scheme” (CDES) are taxable.
17. To clarify under section 11(3) of the CGST Act, 2017 that scope of entry
for multi-modal transport with GST rate of 12% inserted w.e.f. date 26.07.2018, covers only
transport of goods from a
place
in India to another
place in India, that is, only domestic multi-modal transport.
18. To clarify that the nature of business establishment making supply of food, drinks and
other articles for human consumption will not determine whether the supply
by
such establishments is a supply of goods or services. It will rather depend on the constituents of
each individual supply and whether same satisfies the conditions / ingredients
of a
„composite supply‟ or „mixed supply‟.
19. To clarify that GST is exempt on supply of food and drinks by an educational institution
when provided by
the institution itself to its students, faculty and staff and is leviable to
GST of 5% when provided by any other person based on a contractual arrangement with
such institutions.
20. To clarify that the banking
company is liable to pay GST on the entire value of
service charge or fee charged to
customers whether or not received via business facilitator or the business
correspondent.
21. To issue a clarification to
Food
Corporation of India (FCI) that the service provided by godown owner in case of lease with services, where
the
godown owner, besides leasing
the
warehouse,
undertakes to carry out activities of storage and preservation of stored food grains, is the service of storage
and warehousing of agricultural produce and the same is exempt.
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