GST Council gives relaxation of 2 months for filing of GST returns

India’s tryst with its most comprehensive indirect tax reform, the goods and services tax (GST), will begin on July 1. The GST Council, the apex decision body for the new tax, has stuck to the scheduled rollout. 

GST seeks to bundle state and central levies into one and create a seamless national market throughout the country. But the norms for filing returns have been relaxed until September to ensure that the transition doesn’t hurt small traders and others who may not be ready for the new regime. It set the rate on lotteries at 12% of face value for those run by state governments and at 28% for those authorised by state governments but run by private entities. It revised the levy for restaurants inside five-star hotels to the standard rate of 18% from 28%.