The 44th GST Council met under the Chairmanship of Union Finance & Corporate Affairs Minister Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman via video conferencing today i.e. 12th day of June 2021, Saturday, via video conferencing in New Delhi.
Union minister of state (MoS) for finance Anurag Thakur and finance ministers of states and Union territories (UTs) attended the virtual meeting, which was held to finalize modalities to compensate states for their revenue shortfall of Rs 2.35 lakh crore in the current financial year.
Proposal at this meeting: To reduce the GST rates on the specified items being used in Covid-19 relief and management like hand sanitizers, face masks, gloves, PPE Kits, temperature scanners, and others and to take a decision on relief in respect of COVID-19 related individual items based on the report of Group of Ministers.
Previous Meeting (43rd GST Council Meeting): It held on the 29th day of May 2021, where the GST Council referred the decision over the tax rates on COVID vaccines to a group of ministers (GoM) and took several decision to help the industries affected by Covid-19. The Council had also decided in the previous meeting to reduce the compliance burden of small taxpayers and medium-sized taxpayers and recommended an amnesty scheme for reducing late fee payable, to provide relief to small taxpayers.
Recommended Read: 9 Key highlights of 43rd GST Council meeting
44th GST COUNCIL MEETING KEY HIGHLIGHTS
1. The tax rate on ventilators, medical-grade oxygen, COVID-19 testing kits, oxygen concentrators, and BiPAP machines has been brought down to 5 percent from 12 percent at present.
2. The GST on anti-coagulants like Heparin, high flow nasal cannula (HFNC) device, and pulse oximeters have been reduced to 5 percent from 12 percent at present.
3. The GST on hand sanitizers and temperature check equipment has been reduced to five percent from 18 percent at present.
4. 5% GST on vaccines will stay.
5. “GST rates have been decided for 4 categories of products- medicines, oxygen, oxygen-generation equipment, testing kits and other machines and other COVID19 related relief material.
6. GST Council approved all recommendations of GoM on rate rationalization.GST on ambulances reduced to 12 percent.
7. The Centre will buy the 75 percent vaccine as announced and will pay its GST too. But 70 percent of income from GST will be shared with States.
The details of recommendations on GST Rates are given below :
| S. No. | Description | Present GST Rate | GST Rate recommended by GST Council |
| A. Medicines | |||
| 1. | Tocilizumab | 5% | Nil |
| 2. | Amphotericin B | 5% | Nil |
| 3. | Anti-Coagulants like Heparin | 12% | 5% |
| 4. | Remdesivir | 12% | 5% |
| 5. | Any other drug recommended by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW) and Dept. of Pharma (DoP) for Covid treatment | Applicable Rate
|
5% |
| B. Oxygen, Oxygen generation equipment, and related medical devices | |||
| 1. | Medical Grade Oxygen | 12% | 5% |
| 2. | Oxygen Concentrator/ Generator, including personal imports thereof | 12% | 5% |
| 3. | Ventilators | 12% | 5% |
| 4. | Ventilator masks / canula / helmet | 12% | 5% |
| 5. | BiPAP Machine | 12% | 5% |
| 6. | High flow nasal cannula (HFNC) device | 12% | 5% |
| C. Testing Kits and Machines | |||
| 1. | Covid Testing Kits | 12% | 5% |
| 2. | Specified Inflammatory Diagnostic Kits, namely D-Dimer, IL-6, Ferritin, and LDH | 12% | 5% |
| D. Other Covid-19 related relief material | |||
| 1. | Pulse Oximeters, incl personal imports thereof | 12% | 5% |
| 2. | Hand Sanitizer | 18% | 5% |
| 3. | Temperature check equipment | 18% | 5% |
| 4. | Gas/Electric/other furnaces for the crematorium, including their installation, etc. | 18% | 5% |
| 5. | Ambulances | 28% | 12% |
Validity of these revised rates:
The new rates will remain in effect till September 30, 2021, and can be extended further upon nearing the deadline.
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