Centre asks state governments to consider increasing GST threshold limit

The goods and services tax (GST) bill that seemed reaching a conclusion finally may get delayed further, as the Centre is against keeping the threshold limit at Rs 10 lakh for levying GST and wants the committee on dual control to take a final view on the matter after detailed discussions. Earlier, an empowered committee of state FMs after its meeting has insisted that threshold turnover for levying GST be retained at Rs 10 lakh and petroleum be kept out of the purview of the new tax regime. However, the Centre in its recent communication to the state Finance Ministers has suggested that the meeting of the Committee on Dual Control, Threshold and Exemptions be convened at the earliest for 'detailed discussion and analysis'. It has argued that keeping the threshold limit at Rs 10 lakh would mean that any dealer with a daily turnover of Rs 2,800 would come under the GST net. Meanwhile, the law ministry has cleared the GST bill brought to it for legal consultation and now the finance ministry will take the proposed constitutional amendment to the Cabinet in the coming week for its approval before it is tabled in the winter session of Parliament. The GST Constitutional Amendment Bill, which was introduced in the Lok Sabha in 2011 had lapsed and the government needs to bring a fresh bill. The proposed GST regime will have dual tax structure where one will be the central component levied by the Centre, called the central GST, and the other to be levied by the states, called the state GST. It will subsume indirect taxes like excise duty and service tax at the central level and VAT on the states front.