GST Council Raises Tax on Mobile Phones to 18 Percent From 12 Percent

The GST Council on Saturday decided to increase GST rates on mobile phones to 18 percent from 12 percent with effect from April 1, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said. The Council also decided to slash GST on maintenance repair overhaul (MRO) services for aircraft to 5 percent from 12 percent while the tax rate on handmade and machine-made matchsticks has been rationalised to 12 percent.

The Council in its meeting chaired by the Union finance minister decided to waive late fee for delayed filing of annual returns for FY2018, FY2019 by entities with a turnover of less than Rs. 2 crores. The minister also said that interest will be levied on net tax liability from July 1 for delayed GST payments.

Sitharaman said the GST Council has asked Infosys to deploy more skilled manpower, increase capacity of hardware of GST Network to ensure that the system is glitch-free. The council has asked Infosys, which has designed the GSTN, to provide a better groomed GSTN system by July 2020, she added.

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