Major decisions at GST Council meeting; small scale entrepreneurs can sell products online, tax irregularities up to Rs 2 crores not criminal offence

NEW DELHI: GST Council takes major decision to allow small scale traders without registration to sell goods through e-commerce from October 2023. This will benefit lakhs of small-scale entrepreneurs including Kudumbashree units. For this the rules of GST will be amended and the portal revised.

There are 8 crore small scale businesses. GST registration will be received only if there is Rs.20 lakh turnover. Therefore, most of them could not use e-commerce to sell their products. This will change now and these small-scale business owners can sell their products through e-commerce. They can sell through their own platforms as well.

Meanwhile, criminal cases involving tax irregularities up to Rs.2 crores will be withdrawn. Currently, the criminal case limit is up to Rs.1 crore. This is not applicable to fake invoice crime.

Also, blocking the duty of income tax officer, destroying evidence voluntarily, and not giving exact information will not be considered as crime.

The 48th GST Council meeting was held through video conferencing presided over by Union Finance Minister, Nirmala Sitharaman. The discussion to impose tax on tobacco leaf and gutka will be discussed in the next meeting. Also, the sub-committee report on the GST of casinos, online gaming, and horse betting, will be discussed in the next meeting.