GST rates: Tax on Gold not yet decided

The GST Council had proposed four per cent as a consensus but a decision could not be taken.

The Goods and Services Tax Council on Friday could not decide tax on Gold following differences between consuming and producing states.

The council postponed the decision to June 3 on the GST rate for gold. The consuming states wanted a two per cent GST on jewellery, while other states stuck with five per cent. According to reports, the GST Council had proposed four per cent as a consensus but a decision could not be taken.

Kerala Finance Minister Thomas Issac presented a case for taxing the gold at 5 per cent instead of 4 per cent. In the meeting, he had argued that gold is not a daily use commodity and placing it under lower tax slabs will not benefit those belonging to the lower economic strata. At present, one per cent is the effective excise duty, while valued added tax is 1-1.25 per cent in most states.

The GST regime sees 1211 items under various tax slabs with a broad range of tax rates between 5 and 28 per cent, with some essential goods including food items and other goods such as stamps, judicial papers, printed books, newspapers, etc are exempt according to the government announcements.

OneIndia News