Pre-packed Labelled & Unbranded food items to attract GST

Pre-packed Labelled & Unbranded food items to attract GST Unbranded & Pre-packed Labelled food items will now attract a 5 % GST. The GST Council adopted the recommendations of a panel of ministers on Tuesday decided to correct several tax rates and to remove exemptions on a variety of goods and services, including some labelled and unbranded packaged food items, which was leading to widespread duty evasion. Food items like meat, fish, curd, paneer, and honey that are pre-packaged and labelled (but not frozen) will now be subject to a 5 percent GST. If unbranded goods are pre-packaged and labelled, such as flour and rice, a 5 percent GST will apply. Currently, only branded versions of these items attract 5% GST. According to sources, non-ICU hospital beds above a certain price barrier and hotel rooms with nightly rates under Rs 1,000 may fall under the GST's five-year-old taxation provisions. All hotel rooms will now attract a 12% levy. Similar to that, banks' fees for issuing checks will now be subject to an 18% GST (loose or in book form). Atlases and other maps and charts will be subject to a 12% charge. All commodities, organic manure, and coir pith compost will now be subject to a 5% tax, as will dried leguminous vegetables, dry makhana, wheat and other cereals, wheat or meslin flour, jaggery, and puffed rice (muri). On commodities like ink for writing, drawing, and printing, as well as some knives, spoons, and tableware, dairy equipment, LED bulbs, and drawing supplies, the GST rate will increase from 12 to 18 percent. For finished leather and solar water heaters, a rate increase of 5% to 12% is anticipated. Unpacked, unlabeled, and unbranded goods will continue to be exempt from the GST. On the second day of the two-day meeting of the all-powerful council composed of state and Union finance ministers, the sensitive issues of extending the compensation period for states beyond five years and the 28 percent levy on casinos and online gambling will be debated. Given that GST has historically been susceptible to evasion, a number of procedural adjustments were also explored in order to improve checks and make the system more robust.