On February 18, 2023, the 49th Goods and Service Tax ( GST ) Council meeting is scheduled. The council meeting will be presided over by Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman. The GST Council is convening for the first time since the government unveiled its budget for 2023.
The Ministry of Finance has established a Group of Ministers (GoM) to examine the problems and carry out the regulations relating to the establishment of the GST Appellate Tribunal under the Central Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017, also reported by Taxscan. In light of this, the Deputy Chief Minister of Haryana, Shri Dushyant Chautala, served the convenor of a Group of Ministers on Goods and Services Tax Appellate Tribunal.
Group of Ministers (GoM) for the levy of GST on Online Gaming, Casinos, and Horse Racing, which is presided over by Meghalaya Chief Minister (CM) Conrad Sangam was also formed.
It is unlikely that the Group of Ministers will present its eagerly awaited report at the upcoming meeting on online gambling and the GST appeal tribunal.
The council was anticipated to decide on the measures to prevent tax evasion in the pan masala and gutkha business as well as the appellate tribunals. To guarantee equity in membership, these tribunals will contain one judicial and one technical member from either the Center or the states.
The 48th GST Council meeting was held through virtual mode in which the GST Council suggested decriminalising three separate offences, including tampering with tangible evidence.
The key decision also upped the threshold for filing a Tax offence to Rs. 2 crore, with the exception of false invoice cases. Moreover, the Tax on ethyl alcohol used in ethanol blends was waived. With just one day left, we must wait and see what the council has in store for us.
Since the Supreme Court and the High Court are both overburdened and find it difficult to handle their heavy workloads, it is anticipated that this council meeting would put an end to the waiting period for a GST appellate tribunal. The response from the Centre has been requested by the Supreme Court bench of Justices DY Chandrachud and Hima Kohli as it considers a number of petitions calling for the urgent creation of the GST Appellate Tribunals.
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