The next meeting of the Good and Services Tax (GST) Council is scheduled to be held on 9 September. Many things including GST rates can be discussed in this meeting. According to sources, the Finance Ministry may review the Goods and Services Tax (GST) rates applicable on digital news subscription. It is known that the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting had recommended to the Finance Ministry to reduce the GST rate on digital news subscription.
The Finance Ministry has taken this step after the recommendation of the Information and Broadcasting Ministry. In such a situation, the GST rates on digital news subscription can be reviewed in the next GST Council meeting to be held on 9 September 2024. This meeting will be held in New Delhi. The GST Council meeting was announced through a post on August 13. It said that the 54th GST Council meeting will be held on 9 September 2024 in New Delhi under the chairmanship of Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman.
For which services is tax levied?
At present printed newspapers, magazines and paper-magazines are exempted from GST. Under the IGST Act, online news subscriptions are taxed at 18% in the form of online information database access and retrieval (OIDAR) services. This means an Internet service in which there is no physical interface between the provider and the service users. Online news subscription is included in the subcategory of services for “providing the supply of images, text and databases”.
These things can also be discussed
In this meeting, rationalization of rates, reduction of tax ‘slabs’ and removal of duty under GST are expected to be discussed. It is noteworthy that the last GST Council meeting was held on June 23. The GST Council, comprising the Finance Ministers of the Center and the States, is the highest decision-making body regarding GST. It is working from July 1, 2017.
This much GST collection happened in July
Central and state governments have collected ₹ 1.82 trillion GST in July, which is 10.3 percent more year-on-year. According to the Finance Minister’s data, GST receipts have also increased compared to June’s ₹1.74 trillion. However, GST collection was the highest in April at ₹ 2.1 trillion.