New Delhi, Dec 17, 2022: On Saturday, the GST Council decided to decriminalise certain offences and doubled the threshold for launching prosecution to ₹ 2 crore, Revenue Secretary Sanjay Malhotra stated.
Owing to the paucity of time, the Council could decide on only 8 out of the 15 agenda items due to paucity of time, said Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said. The items not considered included one related to setting up of appellate tribunals for GST.
The issue of mechanisms to curb tax evasion in pan masala and gutkha businesses also could not be taken up by the GST council. No new taxes have been brought, noted Ms Sitharaman said in the deliberations at the GST Council’s 48th meeting.
Mr Malhotra further added that GST pertaining to online gaming and casinos was not discussed as the report of a Group of Ministers (GoM), chaired by Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad Sangma, on the issue submitted its report only a couple of days back.
He said that the report of the GoM was not even circulated to GST Council members.
He also said that the Council had decided upon doubling the threshold of launching prosecution to ₹ 2 crore from the present ₹ 1 crore. Furthermore, the GST on the husk of pulses was reduced to nil from 5 per cent.
