Industry body AIFPA pushes for lower GST rate on packaged snacks and foods

 Food processors have asked for lower and equitable goods and service tax rates on packaged snacks such as potato chips and pickles ahead of the GST Council meeting next month.


The industry has reiterated its request through the All India Food Processors’ Association (AIFPA), which represents large firms such as Haldiram’s, PepsiCo, Marico, Britannia, ITC and Bikanervala.

In a letter to the finance ministry, the association has sought lower tax rates for what it calls “commonly used food products" such as packaged or branded pickles, chutneys, sauces and fruit drinks, along with branded snacks such as namkeen, bhujia, and potato and banana chips.


Currently, the GST on these is 12%, but processors want them to be put in the 5% slab.

The letter comes amid reports that the government is considering merging the GST rates of 12% and 18% into a single slab. This was reported by Mint on 19 February.


The companies fear that the creation of a new tax bracket could increase their tax burden and invariably their cost to consumers.

India has four primary GST rates of 5%, 12%, 18% and 28%, apart from a cess on luxury and demerit goods such as automobiles, tobacco and aerated drinks.


Source:https://www.livemint.com/industry/retail/industry-body-pushes-for-lower-gst-rate-on-packaged-snacks-foods-11614076477304.html

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Centre appeals against ruling on levy of GST on maintenance charges to resident welfare associations

Image
  The Centre has preferred a writ appeal before the Madras High Court against a single judge's order that flat or villa owners paying more than ₹7,500 a month towards maintenance charges to their residents’ welfare associations must pay Goods and Services Tax (GST) at the rate of 18% only for the amount exceeding ₹7,500 and not for the entire monthly contribution. Justices T.S. Sivagnanam and Sathi Kumar Sukumara Kurup on Wednesday allowed an application filed by the Centre to dispense with production of a certified copy of the judgment passed by Justice Anita Sumanth recently and directed the Registry to list the appeal for admission in the usual course. Justice Sumanth had in July this year quashed an order passed by the Authority for Advance Ruling (AAR) on June 21, 2019 as well as a consequent circular issued by the Department of Revenue under the Union Finance Ministry on July 22, 2019 since both of them had insisted upon collecting GST for entire monthly contribution. The jud
Read more

Seven key things to know before filing income tax return (ITR) for FY21

Image
  The last date to file income tax return for the financial year 2020-21 has been extended to September 30, 2021. Although there is more than two months left for the deadline to end, it is always recommended to complete the task as soon as possible and not to wait for the last minute. Worth mentioning here is that the income tax department last month launched a new e-filing portal (www.incometax.gov.in) to speed up the processing of tax returns. The I-T department will soon launch a mobile application, having all the features of the new portal. This year taxpayers have to take care of the following changes in the ITR filing process. 1) A new utility named JSON has been launched for filing tax return forms for FY21. At present, only three forms, ITR 1, 2 and 4 have been released. These new forms will import pre-fill data such as personal details, salary income, dividend income, interest income, capital gains and all the information available in Form 26AS. 2) Taxpayers will have the opti
Read more

Income Tax Return or ITR for FY20 Can Be Filed Till May 31

Image
  n the wake of severe Covid-19 pandemic, the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) has decided to extend timelines of various tax compliance dates on Saturday. “In view of the adverse circumstances arising due to the severe Covid-19 pandemic and also in view of the several requests received from taxpayers, tax consultants & other stakeholders from across the country, requesting that various compliance dates may be relaxed, the Government has extended certain timelines today," the ministry of finance said in a statement. The move is aimed at mitigating “the difficulties being faced by various stakeholders," it further added. The “relaxations are the latest among the recent initiatives taken by the government to ease compliances to be made by the taxpayers with the aim to grant respite during these difficult times," it mentioned in a notification. “It’s a welcome move to extend the timeline of various tax compliances as the country is struggling with severe second wave
Read more