‘Work needed to prune GST exemptions’: Revenue Secretary

More exemptions will probably be withdrawn below the Goods and Services Tax (GST) regime, particularly within the companies sector, Revenue Secretary Tarun Bajaj stated on Tuesday.

The effort is to take away the “rough edges” in GST over the subsequent two-three years, he stated, addressing a CII interactive session.

On rationalisation of GST charges, the Revenue Secretary stated a gaggle of ministers is trying into it. “We will have to wait for some time,” he stated. Exemptions nonetheless stay, a big quantity on the companies aspect, Bajaj stated, including that “work needs to be done to prune it”.

Bajaj stated the 28 per cent slab in GST contributes 16 per cent to the gross GST income, whereas the foremost chunk of 65 per cent comes from the 18 per cent slab.

The slabs of 5 per cent and 12 per cent contribute 10 per cent and eight per cent of the entire gross GST income.

“In the 47th GST Council meeting we have taken away a lot of exemptions, but exemptions still remain. Work needs to be done on that. On the services side, we still have a large number of exemptions. The CBIC, GST Council, in collaboration with the trade and industry, will continue to work on that if we can prune this list of exemptions,” Bajaj stated.

On representations that 5 per cent GST on non-ICU hospital rooms above Rs 5,000 is in opposition to inexpensive healthcare, Bajaj stated the proportion of rooms in hospitals which cost greater than Rs 5,000 is “minuscule”. “If I can spend Rs 5,000 on a room, I can pay Rs 250 for GST. I don’t see any reason for such a messaging that 5 per cent GST is hitting affordable healthcare,” he famous.