The GST Council is an advisory body responsible for amending, resolving, or adopting any statute or policy relating to the taxation of products and services in India. It was established in accordance with Article 279A of the Constitution of India. The chairperson of the GST Council shall be the Union Finance Minister, aided by other leaders including the Union Minister of State for Revenue or Finance of all State Governments.

The Committee has the authority to make certain proposals to the central and state governments in terms of the GST, such as the addition and removal of services or goods under the GST, rate revisions, and more. Nevertheless, the national government maintains one-third of the entire votes, while the state government retains the rest of the two-thirds of the overall votes.

The primary function of the GST Council is to make sure that the rules and regulations relating to GST are implemented properly. A standardized tax rate is to be charged throughout the nation. They are also the main decision-makers of the GST. They enforce tax exemption regulations, tax rates, deadlines for GST returns, and much more in respect of all categories of goods and services.

Why Is The GST Council Required?

The GST Council is a vital decision-making body that will end up taking all critical decisions on the GST. The GST Council shall lay down the tax rate, the tax exemption, the tax deadline of the applications, the tax regulations and the tax schedules, taking into account the special rates and regulations for certain States. The main duty of the GST Council is to guarantee that there is a consistent tax rate for products and services around the country.

GST Council Structure

The Goods and Services Tax (GST) is subject to the provisions of the GST Council. Article 279(1) of the revised Indian Constitution provides that the chairman of the GST Council must be appointed within 60 days of the initiation of Article 279A. The chairperson of the GST Council is the Union Finance Minister Of India, the Union Minister in charge of FInance is a member in the GST Council. And other members appointed by the state government.

GST Council Responsibilities

The GST Council seeks to meet and lay down GST laws that will profit businesses across the country. The result of the prior GST Council meeting was that the committee decided to introduce GST regulations on e-way bills requiring products of more than Rs.50,000 in price to be registered before they are moved. They also lengthened the time limit for filing GSTR-1.

The committee will also establish anti-profit inspection committees to strengthen the National Anti-Profiting Authority under the GST Act.

The GST Council makes decisions such as

The GST exemption threshold will be fixed at Rs.20 lakh each year for every State (with the exception of special category States)
Ice cream, cigarettes, pan masala as well as ice cream suppliers shall not be liable for a formulation tax (with the exception of restaurant services)
The composition system is fixed at Rs. 75 lakh for any and all States (with the exception of the North East States and Himachal Pradesh – fixed at Rs . 50 lakh each year)
The limit for special category states is set at 10 lakh for each year.

The GST Council also examines the creation of GST rules on enrollment, reimbursement, valuation, credit for input tax, composition, GST return, payment, and receipt among many other things.

Article 279A(4) explicitly states that the Council shall offer suggestions to the Union and the Member States on critical topics relating to GST, such as whether products and services are susceptible to or excluded from the Goods and Services Tax.

This goes without saying that the burden of making vital decisions and choices that affect the whole country is a magnanimous task, but well handled by the GST council, they make sure that all the indirect taxes are streamlines and the see to that the tax burdens are reduced. This makes the conducting of business activities much easier in the nation, which ultimately leads to an economic boost for our country.