13th GST Council Meeting

MINUTE BOOK

CONFIDENTIAL

Minutes of the $13^\text{th}$ GST Council Meeting held on $31^\text{st}$ March 2017

The thirteenth meeting of the GST Council (hereinafter referred to as ‘the Council’) was held on 31 March 2017 in Vigyan Bhavan, New Delhi under the Chairpersonship of the Hon’ble Union Finance Minister, Shri Arun Jaitley. The list of the Hon’ble Members of the Council who attended the meeting is at Annexure 1. The list of officers of the Centre, the States, the GST Council and the Goods and Services Tax Network (GSTN) who attended the meeting is at Annexure 2.

2. The following agenda items were listed for discussion in the $13^\text{th}$ Meeting of the Council –

• 1. Confirmation of the Minutes of the $12^\text{th}$ GST Council Meeting held on 16 March 2017
• 2. Approval of the Draft GST Rules on:
  • (a) Input Tax Credit
  • (b) Valuation
  • (c) Transitional Provisions
  • (d) Composition
• 3. Approval of amendments to the following Draft GST Rules approved in the $2^\text{nd}$ Meeting of the GST Council held on 30 September 2016:
  • (a) Registration
  • (b) Return
  • (c) Payment
  • (d) Refund
  • (e) Invoice, Debit/Credit Note
• 4. Any other agenda item with the permission of the Chairperson
• 5. Date of the next meeting of the GST Council

3. The Hon’ble Chairperson welcomed all the Members to the Council meeting. He extended a warm welcome to the four new Members of the Council from Goa, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand. He then commenced discussion on the various agenda items.

Discussion on Agenda Items

Agenda Item 1: Confirmation of the Minutes of the $12^\text{th}$ GST Council Meeting held on 16 March, 2017:

4. The Hon’ble Chairperson invited comments of the Members on the draft Minutes of the $12^\text{th}$ Meeting of the Council (hereinafter referred to as ‘Minutes’) held on 16 March 2017 before its confirmation.

4.1. The Hon’ble Minister from Karnataka stated that the version of the Secretary to the Council (hereinafter referred to as ‘Secretary’) in paragraph 12.6 of the Minutes, in regard to levy of Value Added Tax (VAT) on ‘Bidi’, though recorded correctly, created an impression that VAT was charged only in six States. He stated that upon further inquiry, it had come to his notice that VAT on ‘Bidi’ was levied in about 21 States, namely, Rajasthan (65%), Jammu & Kashmir (40%), Himachal Pradesh (22%), Delhi (20%), Tamil Nadu (14.5%), Punjab (14.3%), Uttar Pradesh (14%), Madhya Pradesh (65%), Chandigarh (20%), Haryana (13.125%), Maharashtra (13.5%), Andhra Pradesh (exempt), Telangana (exempt), Karnataka (exempt), Chhattisgarh (5%), Odisha (10%), Assam (30%), West Bengal (exempt), Jharkhand (5%), Bihar (15%), Uttarakhand (20%), Goa (25%), Puducherry (14.5%), Kerala (14.5%) and Gujarat (22.5%). The Secretary stated that in order to avoid any confusion, his version recorded in this paragraph could be slightly modified and the word ‘like’ (before the word ‘Rajasthan’) in the $5^\text{th}$ line could be replaced by the words ‘for example’. The Council agreed to this suggestion.

5. In view of the above discussion, for Agenda item 1, the Council decided to adopt the Minutes of the $12^\text{th}$ Meeting of the Council with the change as recorded below:

5.1. In paragraph 12.6 of the Minutes, to modify the version of the Secretary recorded in the $5^\text{th}$ line by replacing the word ‘like’ (appearing before the word ‘Rajasthan’) with the words ‘for example’.

Agenda Item 2: Approval of the Draft GST Rules on: (a) Input Tax Credit; (b) Valuation; (c) Transitional Provisions; and (d) Composition:

6.1. Introducing this agenda item, the Secretary informed that he had a very constructive meeting with the officers of the Centre and the States in the morning lasting from 11 A.M. to 4.30 P.M. during which all the nine Rules on the agenda were discussed in detail and the officers made certain suggestions to amend the various provisions of the Rules. He stated that the Rules would be revised on the basis of these suggestions and circulated to the States within a day. He then invited Shri Upender Gupta, Commissioner (GST Policy Wing), Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC) to make a brief presentation on these four Rules. In his presentation, the Commissioner (GST Policy Wing), CBEC, outlined the salient features of the GST Rules on (a) Input Tax Credit; (b) Valuation; (c) Transitional Provisions; and (d) Composition. The presentation is attached as Annexure 3 to the Minutes.

6.2. The Secretary informed that the comments of the officers on these four Rules had already been taken note of and invited further comments of the Hon’ble Members of the Council. The Hon’ble Minister from Kerala pointed out that Rule 5 of the Valuation Rules relating to supply of lottery tickets was complex and enquired whether this stood deleted in light of the officers’ level discussion today. The Secretary stated that during the discussion in the officers’ meeting, it was decided that the proposed Rule 5 on valuation of supply of lottery tickets would be deleted and the lottery tickets would be taxed on the face value of its sale. The Hon’ble Minister from Uttar Pradesh stated that the language of the Rules was complex and this could cause problems in interpretation. He observed that simple and clear words should be used while formulating the Rules.

6.3. The Hon’ble Deputy Chief Minister of Delhi observed that while the GST law provided a broad framework, the GST Rules dealt with the nitty-gritty of procedures and they needed more time to study the Rules. The Secretary stated that the industry and business had been demanding three clear months after the finalisation of the GST Laws and Rules to prepare themselves for the change-over to the GST regime. He recalled that the five GST Rules on Registration, Return, Payment, Refund and Invoice and Debit/Credit Note had been put in the public domain earlier and the four new Rules also needed to be put in the public domain at the earliest. He suggested that the Council could approve the four new Rules and authorise the Law Committee of Officers to make minor changes and inform the Council. The Hon’ble Chairperson stated that a more appropriate approach would be for the Council to approve these four draft Rules along with the changes agreed upon today by the officers. These Rules could then be circulated to the States and also put in the public domain and after taking note of the comments received from the public, final version of the Rules would be brought to the Council for its approval. The Council agreed to this suggestion.

6.4. The Hon’ble Minister from Jammu & Kashmir stated that the Goods and Services Tax Network (GSTN) should be open to incorporating small changes that might arise in the Jammu & Kashmir GST Rules drafted in exercise of the powers conferred under their Constitution. The Hon’ble Chairperson stated that presently the Central Goods and Services Tax (CGST) Act would apply to all States except Jammu & Kashmir but once the Jammu & Kashmir law on GST integrated itself to the CGST, the existing exception in regard to the State of Jammu & Kashmir in CGST would be removed by exercising the power under Section 172 of the CGST Act regarding removal of difficulties. The Hon’ble Minister from Jammu & Kashmir informed that Section 173 and 174 of the Model SGST Bill relating to amendments and repeal and saving of existing law would not apply to his State as there were no such provisions in their legislation to be deleted. He further added that his State would draft its SGST Law in consultation with the Law Committee of officers and the Council and that they hoped to enact their SGST law by the end of May, 2017.