Jaitley confirms GST roll out on July 1, revises rates for hotels, lotteries

Good and Services Tax will be rolled out on July 1 despite concerns raised by Infosys about technical preparedness, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said on Sunday. 

Stressing the importance of meeting the deadline, the FM said, "We don't have the luxury of time to defer implementation of GST. Council decided categorically it will be implemented from 1st July onwards."

The GST Council discussed the IT preparedness at length, 65.6 lakh tax payers have already taken provisional registration, Jaitley told media in New Delhi.

The official launch of the GST will take place on the midnight of June 30 and July 1 at a function in Delhi, Jaitley said.

The meeting also saw the revision of some items in various tax slab: 

#Tax rate on state-run lottery will be 12 per cent, while Govt-authorised private lottery will be taxed at 18 per cent

#28% limit in hotels will start from Rs 7,500; between Rs 2,500- Rs 7,500 the rate will be 18%

#GST on restaurants in these hotels will be at par with other air-conditioned restaurants (18%)

The GST Council also notably relaxed return filing timelines for July and August along with clearing anti-profiteering, e-way bill rules.
 BJP leader Subramanian Swamy on Sunday said that Infosys informed about its inability to complete the computer program necessary for GST roll-out by July 1. Swamy said that it is a big setback for them.

"Infosys says it can't complete the computer program necessary for GST by July 1, its a big setback for us. So I think GSTN should be taken over by the Government and the GSTN chairman be removed," said Subramanian Swamy.