25th GST Council meeting today: Fuel prices, real estate on key agenda

New Delhi: An important Goods and Services Tax (GST) Council meet ahead of the Union Budget is scheduled in New Delhi on Thursday.

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley will be chairing the 25th meeting of the GST Council that is expected to hold talks on bringing real estate, stamp duty on a property before registration, petrol and diesel products under the ambit of the taxation scheme.

Discussions are expected to take place on Prime Minister Narendra Modi`s mission for having a digital-based economy, with a focus on incentivisation of digital payment of taxes under the GST.

The Council is also likely to make changes in the GST Law to facilitate the release of locked input tax credit in tourism and hotel industry.

Jaitley is also expected to examine, with state counterparts, representations received from various sectors regarding a reduction in GST rates for goods and services.

A key agenda for the meeting, as discussed earlier, will be to deliberate on reasons for the fall in GST revenue collection, flagged as a major matter of concern for the finance ministry.

As per sources, the GST Council is also likely to give nod to rationalisation of rates on over 60-70 items.

Apart from this, th, e council is likely to review the preparedness of GST Network (GSTN) in handling the return filing process.

The GST Council in its 24th meeting approved the inter-state e-way bill compliance, to be effective from February 1, and compulsory intra-state e-way bill compliance effective June 1.

As per Finance Ministry sources, the GST Council approved e-way bill implementation roadmap in its 24th meeting chaired by Jaitley via video conferencing.

This is also likely to be considered for discussion during today`s meeting.Ahead of the Union Budget, Jaitley will also hold a pre-budget meeting with the state finance ministers.