Dual control & cross empowerment issue to be discussed in the next GST Council Meet

New Delhi, Dec 26 (KNN) At the recently conducted 7th GST Council Meet, the Council reached a broad consensus on the draft of CGST and SGST laws, however decision over dual control issue is yet to be taken.

The residual issues left for discussion in the next meeting are the Interstate GST law, the issues of dual control and cross empowerment, and the approval of the legally vetted language.

The 7th GST Council Meet was held on December 22-23, 2016. Since notification of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) Council on September 12, 2016, six meetings of the GST Council have been held.

Some of the important decisions on GST such as threshold limit for exemption from levy of GST, GST rates etc. (as mentioned in the report card issued by the Government on December 14, 2016), have been taken.

In a series of events for GST implementation and amidst recent demonetisation of high-value currency by the Government which has led to lot of tussles in the Parliament, 7th GST Council meeting started with the agenda to build consensus on various major issues on 22-23 December, 2016, for early rollout of GST.

During the 7th GST Council Meet, the members debated over the provisions of the Draft Central/State legislation and finally, the Council reached a broad consensus on the draft of CGST and SGST Laws. The legally vetted copy of the drafts will be circulated to the States.

The GST Council agreed to a revenue sharing formula for compensating States losing out on account of GST rollout.

Regarding the Compensation Law, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley who headed 7th GST Council meet, had said that a few issues are left to be settled such as the source of the compensation fund but the said Law will be placed for approval, along with the Draft CGST/SGST Law, in legal language in the next meeting of the GST Council going to be held on January 3-4, 2017.

He said the states will be compensated 100 per cent loss for 5 years and the compensation to the States for the loss of revenue, if any, from the rollout of GST would be paid every two months.

The Council, however, failed to arrive at consensus on Integrated GST Law and dual control regarding division of jurisdiction and administrative powers over tax assesses with an annual turnover of INR 1.5 crores, between the centre and the states.

The GST Council will meet again on January 3-4, 2017, to build a consensus on the contentious issue of dual control, cross-empowerment and Draft IGST Law.

Jaitley had said that, “So, if I were to list the residual issues left for the next meeting, then they are the Interstate GST law, the issues of dual control and cross empowerment, and the approval of the legally vetted language”. (KNN Bureau)