The 33rd GST Council Meeting was held on 20th February 2019 through video conferencing under the Chairmanship of the Union Minister of Finance & Corporate Affairs, Shri. Arun Jaitley.
Check the GST calendar
On 20th February 2019, the Government decided to extend the due date for filing January 2019 GSTR-3B return by 2 days to 22nd February 2019. This decision was taken to improve the ease of doing business, as thousands of returns were being filed every hour and the deadline extension would ensure prompt GST return filing compliance.
For the State of Jammu & Kashmir, the deadline for filing GSTR-3B return has been further extended upto 28th February 2019, considering the recent disturbances.
The GST Council met on 20th of February but deferred the meeting to Sunday, 24th February 2019.
On 24th February, 33rd GST Council Meeting Continued and took the major decisions.
GST on Real Estate
The GST council said, “Real estate sector is one of the largest contributors to the national GDP and provides employment opportunity to large number of people. ‘Housing for All by 2022” envisions that every citizen would have a house and the urban areas would be free of slums.
-They changed the definition of affordable housing.
New Definition of Affordable Housing:
- In case of Metro cities: Flats with value of up to Rs.45 lakhs, with the carpet area of upto 60 sq.m.
- In case of Non-metro cities: Flats with value up to Rs.45 lakhs with the carpet area of upto 90 sq.m.
Metropolitan cities are Bengaluru, Chennai, Delhi NCR (limited to Delhi, Noida, Greater Noida, Ghaziabad, Gurgaon, Faridabad), Hyderabad, Kolkata and Mumbai (whole of MMR).
– The GST Council has decided:
a) GST shall be levied at effective GST rate of 5% without ITC on residential properties outside affordable segment.
b) GST shall be levied at effective GST of 1% without ITC on affordable housing properties.
The changes will come into effect from April 1.
Besides, GST exemption on Transferable Development Rights (TDR), long-term lease (premium), FSI will be exempted only for such residential property on which GST is payable, a move that is expected to solve the cash flow problem for the sector.
Houses which receive construction certificate do not face GS T and homebuyers only need to pay the stamp duty for registration. The GST Council’s decision will benefit buyer who are currently on construction-linked payment schemes but not those who have already made 95% down payment.
The panel headed by Gujarat Deputy Chief Minister Nitin Patel, had earlier this month suggested cutting GST on under-construction residential properties to 5% without input tax credit (ITC) from the present 12% on under-construction or flats without completion certificate. On affordable housing segment, it suggested that GST be slashed to 3%, from 8%.
GST on Lottery
The Council has asked the GoM on lottery to meet once again to work out a possible consensus. A panel headed by Maharashtra Finance Minister Sudhir Mungantiwar on the uniformity of taxation on lottery under GST and had recommended 18 or 28 percent tax rate. Currently, if a lottery is state-organised, it attracts 12% GST and if a lottery is state-authorised, it attracts 28% GST rate.
A decision on GST on lottery was deferred by the council as a ministerial panel will hear the arguments of Kerala and Punjab before taking a final decision.
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