Cabinet notifies constitution of GST Council

New Delhi, Sep 12 (PTI) The Cabinet today cleared theprocess, formation and functioning of the GST Council, whichwill decide on the rate of tax under the new indirect taxationregime. The Council, to be headed by Finance Minister Arun Jaitleyand comprising of representative of all 29 states and twounion territories, will have to be set up by November 11. It will decide on the tax rate, exemptions and thresholdlimits in the new indirect tax regime, which is expected tokick in from April 1, 2017. The government has notified September 12, as the date fromwhich the procedure for setting up of the GST Council will beinitiated and which will be completed within 60 days. According to sources, the Cabinet headed by Prime MinisterNarendra Modi today approved the process, formation andfunctioning of the GST Council. The Cabinet also decided on the constitution of the GSTSecretariat and the officers who will implement the decisionsof the Council. The GST Council will be chaired by Union Finance Ministerand have a Minister of State for Finance and all state financeministers as its members. While the Centre will have one-third vote, states togetherwill have a two-third say. To adopt a resolution, three-fourthmajority would be required. The approval came on the day when the ConstitutionAmendment Act on GST came into effect. President Pranab Mukherjee gave his assent to the billlast week, paving the way for setting up of a GST Council. GST is a single indirect tax, which will subsume most ofthe central and state levies such as Value Added Tax (VAT),Excise Duty, Service Tax, Central Sales Tax, additionalCustoms Duty and special additional duty of customs. (MORE)PTI JD ANZABK