In the GST Council meeting on 10th November, ’17, various decisions were taken with the view to make compliance easier for small tax payers, make composition scheme more attractive for tax payers and reduce the household expenditure for consumers. Let us understand the GST Council’s recommendations in detail:
 

Return filing

Updated on 2nd February, 2018 with latest information available on E-way Bill.
Update: At the 26th GST Council meeting, it has been decided to implement he inter-state e-way bill from 1st April, 2018. For intra-state movement, the e-way bill will be rolled out in a phased manner starting from 15th April, 2018, such that all states are covered by 1st June, 2018.  
Stay prepared with Tally.ERP 9 and manage your E-way bills easily. Know More

On the 18th of January, 2018, the GST Council conducted its silver jubilee meeting. The 25th meeting was a much awaited one, as it was being held days before the annual budget, and many were expecting some major GST Council updates in terms of returns being simplified, introduction of some sectors into GST and most importantly further rate cuts.
 

1st of February indeed turned out to be a landmark day in Indian Economy. Not only did this day witness the rollout of the e-way bill (and unfortunately the deferment of the same as well), but also the first ever budget to be announced in the GST era – Budget 2018.
 

On the 10th of March, 2018, the GST Council under the leadership of Finance Minister Mr. Arun Jaitley, met for the 26th time to discuss various policies and strategies in a bid to simplify GST. While some constructive decisions were taken, especially in the light of exports and the e-way bill, the major expectations with regards to a simplified return filing system were not met in this meeting as well. Let’s go through the major 26th GST Council meeting updates:
 

GST Council meeting updates – Major decisions
 
 
 
 
 
 

Language

Language

The value of all the goods and services consumed in an economy is arrived at based on certain metrics. In the current tax regime in India, this value is calculated in different ways. An overview is provided in the table below:

Tax

Value of goods/services

Excise

Based on transaction value or quantity of goods or MRP

VAT

Based on sale value

Service Tax

Based on taxable value of service rendered

Valuation of goods and services

This post has been updated on 24 April 2017 to incorporate latest changes.
The current state indirect tax regime has provided a simpler compliance for small dealers known as the Composition Scheme. Under this scheme you,

Under the current indirect tax structure, the taxable event differs for each type of tax. The taxable events under the current indirect tax structure are captured below:

Type of Tax

Taxable Event

Central Excise

Removal of excisable goods

VAT

On sale of goods

Service Tax

Provision of taxable services