GST Council meet: Here are 5 things to expect

New Delhi, Aug 04: The 29th GST Council (GSTC) meeting on 4 August is expected to focus its energies on the MSME sector.

The Goods and Service Tax Council (GST) may replace 12 percent and 18 percent slabs with 14-15 percent, Bihar Deputy Chief Minister and GST Council member Sushil Modi said on Thursday.

Modi added that the GST Council can think of bringing the petroleum products under the new tax regime only after the monthly revenue target of Rs 1 lakh crore is achieved. The GST revenue collections for the month of July stood at Rs 96,483 crore.

Modi said there could be a shortfall in revenue in the next 3-4 months due to rate cuts on various items but added that the revenue would increase in the long term due to more compliance. The GST Council in its last meeting had reduced rates of 88 items.

Last month, GST Council had announced the biggest rate cut since last November and slashed the levy on several white goods and commonly used kitchen appliances like mixer-grinders and juicers by 10 per cent - from the highest tax bracket of 28 per cent to 18 per cent.

The GST Council may also decide on increasing import duty on white goods with an aim to create a level playing field for domestic manufacturers.

If the GST Council decides to merge 12 per cent and 18 per cent tax slabs into a single slab of 14-15 per cent, the number of GST rates would be reduced to four.