Mid-sized and luxury cars as also SUVs will cost more after the GST Council today decided to levy an additional 2 to 7 per cent cess on them but exempted small and hybrid cars from any hike.

The council also lowered the Goods and Services Tax (GST) rates for a number of daily-use products ranging from idli/dosa batter to kitchen gas lighter.

A 2 per cent additional cess will be levied on mid-sized cars, 5 per cent on large cars and 7 per cent on SUVs, taking the total incidence of taxation to pre-GST levels, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said after an 8-hour long meeting of the panel here.

The council, headed by Jaitley, however, decided not to levy any additional tax on small petrol and diesel cars of up to 1200 cc as well as on hybrid ones.

The date of implementation of the additional cess will be notified later.

“Small petrol and diesel cars enjoyed a tax advantage of 3 per cent post GST. But status quo will be maintained on small petrol diesel cars, so even if it has got cheaper let consumers enjoy the benefit,” Jaitley said.

Tax on mid segment cars had gone down from 48 per cent to 43 per cent and the council today decided to increase cess by 2 per cent to 45 per cent, he said.

Large cars got an advantage of 8 per cent, but the council hiked cess today by 5 per cent, he said adding SUVs got benefit of 11 per cent post GST, but cess is being hiked by only 7 per cent.

“cess on cars with seating capacity above 10 but up to 13 as well as hybrid cars will remain unchanged,” he said.

The council, he said, decided that in large vehicles where affordability of consumers is high, the pre-GST rate has not been restored.

“Even though we had a headspace of hiking cess by 10 per cent, it has been hiked by 7 per cent,” the finance minister said.

Unbranded food

Jaitley said GST on about 30 items have been lowered after anomalies in the fixation of rates were pointed out.

To deal with businesses which are de-registering brands post GST to avoid taxes, the panel decided May 15, 2017 as the cut-off date for considering as a registered brand for the purpose of GST levy, irrespective of whether or not the brand is subsequently de-registered.

Unbranded food items are exempted from the GST, whereas branded and packaged food items attract 5 per cent rate.

Hence, many businesses are de-registering their brands to avoid the levy.

The tax has been lowered on dried tamarind, custard power, oil cakes, dhoop batti, dhoop and other similar items, plastic rain coast, rubber bands, rice rubber rolls for paddy de-husking, computer monitors and kitchen gas lighters and brooms and brushes.

Filing deadline

Also, the deadline for filing of sales return or GSTR-1 for the month of July, the first month of implementation of the new tax regime, has been extended by a month to October 10.

Deadlines for other three returns to be filed under the GST regime have also been extended.

Jaitley said overall GST collections have been robust with over 70 per cent of eligible taxpayers filing returns of about Rs 95,000 crore.

The meeting, the second since the implementation of GST, reviewed the functioning of GST Network —— the IT backbone and portal for registration and tax returns under the GST regime.

GSTN on “two-three occasions got overloaded. These are transient challenges and glitches in technology. The council has decided to appoint a committee to interact with GSTN for smooth transition”, the finance minister said.

Since the work is huge, the period of filing of returns has been extended, he said.

Khadi fabric sold through KVIC stores would be exempted, he said adding inter-state sales where turnover is less than Rs 20 lakh as also for artisans will not need registration.

Similar dispensation for certain categories of job work, excluding gold, has also been approved.

Disappointment

Luxury automobile makers, Audi, Mercedes- Benz and JLR India today expressed disappointment over GST Council’s decision to hike cess on mid-sized and large cars and SUVs by up to 7 per cent saying it totally overlooked their contribution to the industry and economy.

Reacting to the hike in cess, Audi India Head Rahil Ansari said: “Even if the rumoured cess hike of 10 per cent was not concluded, the prices will go up again, which is disappointing. We will need to study the impact of this hike on the buyer sentiment“.

The Mercedes-Benz India MD & CEO, Roland Folger said: “The decision to increase the cess yet again is very unfortunate and totally overlooks the contribution we make to the industry and to the economy“.

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