Tag Archives: GST Council

IATO has thanked Finance Minister, GST Council and the Chairman CBIC for favourably considering  two of its recommendations- removal of, GST on services provided outside India to foreign tourists if they take combined package of India and neighbouring countries and  secondly GST for the ferry service hired for transport of passengers including tourists used as public transport from point to point transport in Andaman & aNicobar Islands,  in the GST Council meeting held in Chandigarh.

In a written appeal, IATO has urged the Union Finance Minister to ask the GST council to consider rationalisation or lowering of GST on various tourism related services at their upcoming meeting. In a statement, IATO has said that this would help boost the sector as and when the revival happens.  Rajiv Mehra, President IATO, said “The inbound tourism has been the worst hit and if we were to get these financial relief it will help us give us some strength to bounce back. Sincerely hope that our requests will be given serious consideration by the GST council. I would also request the Ministry of Home Affairs to start planning on opening an E-Tourist Visa in phases as Vaccination in many source markets like USA, UK and other European Markets are almost complete. This can be done in stages and on reciprocal basis, so that inbound tourism business can start which will not only revive economic activities but also will bring back jobs lost during the last 14 months.”

Kapil Kaul, CEO, CAPA India, has suggested that leadership and governance will be essential in making structural changes in tourism. “Since tourism is going to be very dynamic going forward, we may require a specialised Tourism Administrative Service, which has policymakers on the lines of IAS. Since tourism covers so many aspects, unless we have policymakers who specialise in tourism, institutional foundations can’t be fed. There is also a need for a legally empowered tourism council on the lines of GST council, which can comprise of union minister of tourism, state tourism minister, secretaries and all other experts whose job should only be focused on policy and regulatory effectiveness, competitiveness, ease of doing business, financing, education and training,” he recommended.

The Indo-American Business Chamber of SME in association with Lords Hotels & Resorts recently organised a comprehensive forum on Goods & Service Tax (GST) for the Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) at Hotel Sahara Star, Mumbai. The forum witnessed a number of entrepreneurs from various industries including manufacturing, real estate, hospitality and banking. Shiv Pratap Shukla, Minister of State (MoS) for Finance, Government of India who was the chief guest for the evening addressed many concerns expressed by the attendees and clarified nuances around the latest GST resolutions announced last month. While applauding the Govt. and its revolutionary tax reform, P R Bansal, Chairman & Managing Director, Lords Hotels & Resorts, also raised a few concerns affecting the real estate and hospitality sectors. In his speech, he appealed to the Minister to consider the pleas and convey the concerns to the GST Council for deliberation. “The reduction in GST rate for restaurant was made by the GST Council based on the feedback we received from people. We are happy that we not only reduced the GST rate from 18 per cent to 5 per cent but also made it uniform for all restaurants,” Shiv Pratap Shukla concluded.  

The GST Council has recommended slash in GST rate for AC restaurants to 12 per cent from previous 18 per cent. This recommendation was made during the Council’s 22nd meeting held on October 6 in Delhi under chairmanship of the Union Minister of Finance and Corporate Affairs, Arun Jaitley. The federal tax body has set up a five-member panel of state ministers to make the quarterly tax filing and payment scheme for small businesses more attractive and to rework the tax rate on restaurants.

The Goods and Service Tax (GST) Council has considered revision of tax on hotel rooms and decided that while those in the range of Rs 2,000-Rs 7,500 a day tariff would face 18 per cent tax, rooms with daily tariff above Rs 7,500 would be taxed at 28 per cent. This comes as a slight relief for the hospitality and travel industry, especially in comparison with the initial rate of 28 per cent being levied for hotels charging over Rs 5000 per night. However, Arun Jaitley, Union Finance Minister, has said that the GST on restaurant service in 5-star hotels would attract 18 per cent tax.

According to the GST Council, there will be 5 per cent GST on tours, said P.P. Khanna, President, ADTOI. However, he added that it is not clear whether this rate is applicable on value addition or gross amount. “In a way, the 5 per cent rate is good as we were already paying 4.5 per cent tax on the packages, and it is only 0.5 per cent more than that, which is tolerable. The service tax amendment of 9 per cent tax was more cumbersome for us, as applying for CENVAT credit was an issue, especially with small tour operators and small hotels not being systematic in generating proper invoices in our country. I think the government has taken special consideration for tour operators, as this process was difficult for us,” he shared.

The Government of India’s GST Council finalised the tax rates on services under the Goods and Services Tax (GST) regime at their meeting held in Srinagar, Jammu & Kashmir. The GST regime is scheduled to kick-in from July 1, and the council has approved the GST rates for services at Nil, 5%, 12%, 18% and 28%. According to the current rate, the 5% rate of GST will be levied on transport of passengers by rail (other than sleeper class); transport of passengers by air in economy class; transport of passengers with or without accompanied  belongings, by air, embarking from or terminating in a Regional Connectivity Scheme Airport;  as well as supply of tour operators’ services. There is 12 per cent GST rate levied on transport of passengers by air in other than economy class. These rates will be further subjected to vetting and would undergo some changes.