New Delhi: Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in the 53rd GST Council Meeting announced that biometric authentication will be implemented nationwide in phases to curb fake invoicing. For efficient GST registration the council recommended making Aadhaar biometric authentication mandatory for all new registrations across the country.
Here are the key announcements made by the Finance Minister after the GST Council meeting:
“There is going to be a rolling out of biometric-based Aadhaar authentication on an all-India basis. This will help us to combat fraudulent input tax credit claims made through fake invoices in the cases,” the minister announced at a briefing following the 53rd GST Council meeting.
“The council has recommended to prescribe a uniform rate of 12 per cent on all milk cans. This will be the rate applicable. They have a standard shape so that will determine what is a milk can and what is not. The council has also recommended to prescribe a uniform GST rate of 12 per cent on all carton boxes and cases. This will particularly help the apple growers of Himachal Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir,”the Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman.
“On services, there are just two points which I will highlight. Services provided by the Indian Railways to common man, sale of platform tickets, facility of retiring rooms and waiting rooms, battery operated car services are being exempted from GST. Further intra-railway supplies are also being exempted. The other, which is very important, service by way of hostel accommodation is presently not exempted, which are provided to students if they are outside of educational institutions. If they are within the educational institutions, then they are already exempted. Hostels which are for students which are within an educational institutions are already exempted. Now hostels which are for students but are not in an educational institutions are also getting exempted,” says Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman.
“The measure of relief for students and working professionals, the council has recommended to exempt accommodation services having a value of supply up to Rs 20,000 per person per month. The condition of course is those provided these services are supplied for a minimum a continuous period of 90 days,” says Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman. (With Agency Inputs)