The most powerful GST Council in its 20th meeting held on 5th August at New Delhi had took some important decisions including finalizing the rates on textile job works like stitching and embroidery, and tractor parts were cut and the E-Way Bill provisions.
Apart from this, it also recommended the Central Government to move legislative amendments required for increase the maximum ceiling of cess leviable on motor vehicles falling under headings 8702 and 8703 including SUVs, to 25% instead of present 15%.
It also fixed GST rate for textile job works at 5 percent, and cut the rate for government works contract to 12 percent with benefits of input tax credit. The tax rate of job work for printing books and newspapers will be 12 percent if the service is supplied by someone else, while the GST rate will remain 5 percent if it is printed by the same organization.
For agriculture services, tax rate of post-harvest and storage has been brought down to 12 percent from the current 18 percent. Similarly, tax rate for entry into planetariums has been reduced to 18 percent from 28 percent.
In case of “rent a cab service”, GST rate will be 12 percent if the service provider does not wish to claim input tax credit (ITC), while it will be 5 percent if ITC is taken.
It also clarified that for the purpose of imposing GST on legal service, a Partnership firm includes a Limited Liability Partnership (LLP).
With regard to the hot topic of GST liability of advocates, the Council examined the issue and clarified that reverse charge mechanism is applicable to all legal services including representational services provided by Senior Advocates under the new Goods and Service Tax (GST) law.
