Recommendations of 53rd GST Council Meeting

1. waiving interest and penalties for demand notices issued under Section 73 of the CGST Act (i.e. the cases not involving fraud, suppression or wilful misstatement, etc.) for the fiscal years 2017-18, 2018-19 and 2019-20, if the full tax demanded is paid upto 31.03.2025.
2. the time limit to avail input tax credit w.r.t. any invoice or debit note under Section 16(4) of CGST Act, through any GSTR 3B return filed upto 30.11.2021 for FY 2017-18, 2018-19, 2019-20 and 2020-21, may be deemed to be 30.11.2021
3. Council has recommends monetary limit of Rs. 20 lakh for GST Appellate Tribunal, Rs. 1 crore for High Court and Rs. 2 crore for Supreme Court, for filing of appeals by the Department, to reduce litigation
4. reduction of the quantum of pre-deposit required to be paid for filing of appeals under GST
5. amending provisions of CGST Act to provide that the three-month period for filing appeals in GST Appellate Tribunal will start from a date to be notified by the Government
6. To ease the interest burden of the taxpayers, to not levy interest u/s 50 of CGST Act in case of delayed filing of return, on the amount which is available in Electronic Cash Ledger (ECL) on the due date of filing of the said return
7. sunset clause from April 1st, 2025 for receipt of any new application for Anti-profiteering
8. exemption from Compensation Cess leviable on the imports in SEZ by SEZ Unit/developer for authorised operations from 1st July, 2017
9. 12% GST on milk cans (steel, iron, aluminum) irrespective of use; Carton, Boxes And Cases of both corrugated and non-corrugated paper or paper-board; Solar cookers whether single or dual energy source; and sprinklers including fire water sprinklers.
10. exemption of certain services provided by Indian Railways to common man and also intra railway supplies
11. certain exemptions related to accommodation services, providing relief to students and working professionals
12. roll-out the biometric-based Aadhaar authentication of registration applicants on pan-India basis in a phased manner

Note: The recommendations of the GST Council have been presented here containing major item of decisions in simple language for information of the stakeholders.