GST Council cuts rates on 27 items: Find out how the experts reacted

The Goods and Services Tax (GST) Council met on October 6 for the 22nd time in the national capital in which they cut rates for 27 items and approved sweeping changes in rules to calm the nerves of millions of small enterprises and exporters that have been battling with procedural irritants, delayed refunds and technical glitches on returns filing.

Reacting to the development, Pratik Jain, Leader-Indirect Tax at PWC India, said: "Life will become easier for small businesses having a turnover of Rs 1.5 crore as they have the option of filing a quarterly return and payment of quarterly tax."

He further added that the composition levy limit hike to Rs 1 crore from Rs 75 lakh will result in more businesses opting for it with less paperwork and filing returns on a quarterly basis.

Also reacting to the development, MS Mani, Tax Expert at Deloitte India. said that compliance has been made easier and there was hope that the facility of filing quarterly returns should have been extended to Rs 5 crore from Rs 1.5 crore provided by the GST Council.

The load on the GSTN system will go down significantly as more people will now file returns on a quarterly basis, added Mani.

Rohan Shah, a tax expert, said the announcement made in the GST Council meet will address the issues that have been shadowing the system for last few months.

He further said the government has been sensitive to small and micro sector that creates employment and the development is a huge positive.

Sachin Menon, Head - Indirect Tax at KPMG India, said that the issues faced by the majority of the taxpayers have been addressed by the GST Council.

Ajay Sahai, DG & CEO of FIEO, said that he was very happy with the decision taken by the government as it addresses most of the concerns raised by exporters. The liquidity problem faced by the exporters will soon get resolved as they will get the refund for the months of July and August by October 10 and October 18 respectively.