Exemption Limits, Service Tax, Cess Addressed By GST Council: What Next?

The suspense over some of the key aspects of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) regime has ended. The GST council concluded its two-day meet in the national capital on Friday. Let’s first look at the key announcements:

• The Council announced Rs 20 lakh as the threshold limit. For north-eastern and hilly states, the threshold is Rs 10 lakh. This means than any trader whose annual turnover is below these thresholds will be exempt from the GST regime.
  
• On the matter of dual control, the Council has decided that the state authorities will have jurisdiction where annual turnover is less than Rs 1.5 crore. Anything above Rs 1.5 crore will be assessed either by the state or the Centre.
  
• Existing 11 lakh service tax assessees will continue to remain under the Centre. Any new assessees that get added will be divided between the Centre and states.

L Badrinarayanan, a partner at Lakshmikumaran & Sreedharan spoke to BloombergQuint on the impact of these announcements on the government and industry.