The Goods and Service tax council decided to exempt agriculturist and small traders with a turn over of less than 20 lakh from registering under GST regime. The council also agreed to provide a composition scheme to Dhabas and Small Restaurants, with less than 50 lakhs turn over. The GST council fixed a 5% tax rate on small hotels and restaurants. This new indirect tax regime from july 1.

The all powerful council approved the final draft of central GST(CGST) and integrated GST (IGST) and will take up for approval the State GST had Union Territory GST (UT GST) Laws at its next meeting. Some of the features are

A State wise single registration for a tax payer for filing returns, paying taxes and to fulfill other compliance requirements.

A tax payer has to file one single return state wise to report all his supplies, whether made within or outside the state or exported out of the country and pay the applicable taxes on them.

A business entity with an annual turnover of uo to Rs.20 lakhs would be required to take registration in the GST regime.

Most of the compliance requirements would be fulfilled online, thus leaving very little room for physical interface between the taxpayer and the tax official.

Taxes which need to be paid by the assessee under GST regime can be Central Goods and Services Tax (CGST), State Goods and Services Tax (SGST) , Union Territory Goods and Services Tax (UTGST) and integrated goods and services Tax (IGST).

A business entity with turnover up to Rs.50 lakhs can avail the benefits of a composition scheme under which it has to pay a much lower rate of tax and has to fulfill very minimal compliance requirements.

The composition scheme is available for all traders, select manufacturing sectors and for restaurants in the services sector.

In order to prevent cascading of taxes, ITC would be admissible on all goods and services used in the course or furtherance of business, except on a few items listed in the law.

In service sector, the existing mechanism of input service Distributor (ISD) under the service tax law has been retained to allow the flow of ITC in respect of input services within a legal entity.

An agriculturist, to the extent of supply of produce out of cultivation of land, would not be liable to take registration in the GST regime.

To provide certainty in tax matter, a provision has been made for an Advance Ruling Authority.

Detailed transitional provisions have been provided to ensure migration of existing taxpayers and seamless transfer of unutilized ITC in the GST regime.

In order to mitigate any financial hardship being suffered by a taxpayer, commissioner has been empowered to allow payment of taxes in installments.