GST Council meet: Relief for exporters, tax exemption extended by 6 months

E-way Bill will be implemented from April 1 for inter-state movement of goods: Finance Minister Arun Jaitley.

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Saturday announced that the e-way bill will be implemented from April 1 for inter-state movement of goods. While speaking to media after the crucial GST Council meet, Jaitley also said that the tax exemption for exporters has been extended by six months. Among other key decisions, intra-state e-way bill will be rolled out from April 15 in a staggered manner and the entire country will be covered by June 1. The present system of GST return-filing has also been extended by three months.

"Intra-state e-Way Bill will be rolled out in phased manner with four groups of states. Each group will come under it every week after April 1 and efforts will be made to implement it across the country by April end," Jaitley said after the 26th GST Council meet. In its February 24 meeting, a group of ministers headed by Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Modi recommended April 1 as the date for compulsory implementation of the system for inter-state goods movement.

Under the GST regime, an e-way bill needs to be generated and carried for movement of all goods valued at over Rs 50,000. Jaitley also said the Council has discussed two alternate ways of return filing processes. But no concrete decision has been taken on it yet. "The current process of return filing has been extended for another 3 months," Jaitley said.

He said the Group of Ministers and the IT experts would explore the models discussed today and decided on the implementation. Implementation of reverse charge mechanism has also been extended by three months. (Source: The Business Standard)