Recommendations made on GST Rate changes on services by the 25th GST Council Meeting: Ministry of Finance

(i) To exempt service by way of  transportation of goods from India to a place outside India by air;

(ii) To exempt service by way of transportation of goods from India to a place outside India by sea and provide that value of such service may be excluded from the value of exempted services for the purpose of reversal of ITC.

The above exemptions may be granted with a sunset clause upto 30th September, 2018.

To exempt services provided by  the Naval Insurance Group Fund by way of  Life Insurance to personnel of Coast Guard under the  Group Insurance Scheme of the Central Government retrospectively w.e.f. 1.7.2017.

To exempt IGST payable under section 5(1) of the IGST Act, 2017 on supply of services covered by item 5(c) of Schedule II of the CGST Act, 2017 to the extent of  aggregate of the duties and taxes leviable  under section 3(7) of the Customs Tariff Act, 1975 read with sections 5 & 7 of IGST Act, 2017 on part of consideration declared under section 14(1) of the Customs Act, 1962 towards royalty and license fee includible in transaction value as specified under Rule 10 (c) of the Customs Valuation (Determination of Value of Imported Goods) Rules, 2007.

To reduce GST rate (from 18% to 12%) on the Works Contract Services (WCS) provided by sub-contractor to the main contractor providing WCS to Central Government, State Government, Union territory, a local authority, a Governmental Authority or a Government Entity, which attract GST of 12%. Likewise, WCS attracting 5% GST, their sub-contractor would also be liable @ 5%.

To enhance the exemption limit of Rs 5000/- per month per member to Rs 7500/- in respect of services provided by Resident Welfare Association (unincorporated or nonprofit entity) to its members against their individual contribution.

To reduce GST rate on transportation of petroleum crude and petroleum products (MS, HSD, ATF) from 18% to 5% without ITC and 12% with ITC.

To exempt dollar denominated services provided by financial intermediaries located in IFSC SEZ, which have been deemed to be outside India under the various regulations by RBI, IRDAI, SEBI or any financial regulatory authority, to a person outside India.

To  exempt  (a) services by government or local authority to governmental authority or government entity, by way of lease of land, and (b) supply of land or undivided share of land by way of lease or sub lease where such supply is a part of  specified composite supply of construction of flats etc. and   to carry out suitable amendment in the provision relating to valuation of construction service involving transfer of land or undivided share of land, so as to ensure that buyers pay the  same effective  rate of GST on property built on leasehold and freehold land.

To expand pure services exemption under S. No. 3 of 12/2017-C.T. (Rate) so as to include composite supply involving predominantly supply of services i.e. upto 25% of supply of goods.

To exempt services by educational institution by way of conduct of entrance examination against consideration in the form of entrance fee.

To enhance the limit to Rs 2 lakh against Sl. No. 36 of exemption notification No. 12/2017-C.T. (Rate) which exempts services of life insurance business provided under life micro insurance product approved by IRDAI upto maximum amount of cover of Rs. 50,000.

To exempt reinsurance services in respect of insurance schemes exempted under S.Nos. 35 and 36 of notification No. 12/2017-CT (Rate).

[It is expected that the premium amount charged from the government/insured in respect of future insurance services is reduced.]

To exempt the service provided by way of renting of transport vehicles provided to a person providing services of transportation of students, faculty and staff to an educational institution providing education upto higher secondary or equivalent.

To extend the concessional rate of GST on houses constructed/ acquired under the Credit Linked Subsidy Scheme for Economically Weaker Section (EWS) / Lower Income Group (LIG) / Middle Income Group-1 (MlG-1) / Middle Income Group-2 (MlG-2) under the Housing for All (Urban) Mission/Pradhan MantriAwasYojana (Urban) and low-cost houses up to a carpet area of 60 square metres per house in a housing project which has been given infrastructure status, as proposed by Ministry of Housing & Urban Affairs, under the same concessional rate.

To levy concessional GST @12% on the services provided by way of construction, erection, commissioning, installation, completion, fitting out, repair, maintenance, renovation, or alteration of building used for providing (for instance, centralized cooking or distributing) mid-day meal scheme by an entity registered under section 12AA of IT Act.

To exempt services provided by and to FédérationInternationale de Football Association (FIFA) and its subsidiaries directly or indirectly related to any of the events under FIFA U-20 World Cup in case the said event is hosted by India.

To provide inCGST rules that value of exempt supply under sub-section (2) of section 17, shall not include the value of deposits, loans or advances on which interest or discount is earned (This will not apply to a banking company and a financial institution including a non-banking financial company engaged in providing services by way of extending deposits, loans or advances).

To defer the liability to pay GST in case of TDR against consideration in the form of construction service and on construction service against consideration in the form of TDR to the time when the possession or right in the property is transferred to the land owner by entering into a conveyance deed or similar instrument (eg. allotment letter). No deferment in point of taxation in respect of cash component.

To tax renting of immovable property  by government or local authority to a registered person under reverse Charge while renting of immovable property by government or local authority to un-registered person shall continue under forward charge

To define insurance agent in the reverse charge notification to have the same meaning as assigned to it in clause (10) of section 2 of the Insurance Act, 1938, so that corporate agents get excluded from reverse charge.

To insert a provision in GST Rules under section 15 of GST Act that the value of lottery shall be 100/112 or 100/128 of the price of lottery ticket notified in the Gazette (the same is currently notified in the rate notification).

To add, in the GST rate schedule for goods at 28%, actionable claim in the form of chance to win in betting and gambling including horse racing.

Notwithstanding anything contained in this chapter, value of supply of Betting & Gambling shall be 100 % of the face value of the bet or the amount paid into the totalizator.

To clarify that leasing or rental service, with or without operator, of goods, attracts same GST as supply of like goods involving transfer of title in the said goods. Therefore, the GST rate for the rental services of self-Propelled Access Equipment (Boom. Scissors/Telehandlers) is 28%.

1) Services provided by senior doctors/consultants/technicians hired by the hospitals, whether employees or not, are healthcare services which is exempt.

2) Hospitals also provide healthcare services. The entire amount charged by them from the patients including the retention money and the fee/payments made to the doctors etc., is towards the healthcare services provided by the hospitals to the patients and is exempt.

3) Food supplied to the in-patients as advised by the doctor/nutritionists is a part of composite supply of healthcare and not separately taxable. Other supplies of food by a hospital to patients (not admitted) or their attendants or visitors is taxable.

1. admission to entertainment events or access to amusement facilities including casinos, race-course

2. ancillary services provided by casinos and race-course in relation to such admission.

3. services given by race-course by way of totalisator (if given through some other person or charged separately as fees for using totalisator for purpose of betting,
are taxable at 28%. Services given by race-course by way of license to bookmaker which is not a service by way of betting and gambling, is taxable at 18%.