New Delhi: Union Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will chair the forty fourth GST Council assembly by way of video conferencing at 11 am in New Delhi in the present day, knowledgeable the Finance Ministry on Friday. The assembly will probably be attended by MoS Finance Anurag Thakur moreover Finance Ministers of States and Union Territories and senior officers from central and state governments.
The assembly is being held to determine on Goods and Services Tax price reduce on medical provides for Covid administration and black fungus drugs. The GST Council is predicted to think about the suggestions of a gaggle of ministers (GoM) set as much as look into calls for for tax aid on medical provides to deal with the coronavirus illness or Covid-19.
At its assembly on May 28, the GST Council had really useful full exemption from IGST on quite a few specified COVID-19 associated items equivalent to medical oxygen, oxygen concentrators, and different oxygen storage and transportation tools, sure diagnostic markers check kits, and COVID-19 vaccines even when imported on fee foundation for donating to the federal government or on the advice of state authority to any aid company. The exemption is legitimate as much as August 31 this 12 months.
Though 5% GST is levied on vaccines and cotton masks, most of this stuff fall within the 12% tax slab. Testing kits, medication, medical oxygen, oxygen concentrators, and ventilators fall below the 12% tax bracket. Alcohol-based sanitisers, hand wash gels, disinfectants, and thermometers entice 18% GST.
The group of ministers was constituted after a number of member states of the council, equivalent to West Bengal and Punjab requested for exempting GST on all Covid-essential supplies. During the GST Council assembly on May 28, the physique left taxes on Covid-19 vaccines and medical provides unchanged after the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and opposition-ruled states sparred over whether or not the tax reduce advantages will attain the widespread man. However, GST was exempted on the import of Amphotericin B—a medication used for the therapy of black fungus.
