GST Council Meeting 2021: Finance Minister chaired the 44th GST Council virtuallyThe concessional rate of goods and services tax (GST) applicable on the COVID-related essential items will be validSeptember 30, 2021, said the Ministry of Finance.
On Saturday, June 12, the GST Council, chaired by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, reduced the tax rates on most of the COVID supplies and announced that no tax will be levied on the medicines for treating Black fungus.
TheRevenue department of the finance ministry stated that the GST rates are lowered for18 COVID-related supplies and concessional rates are applicabletill September 30 (Also Read:GST Council Cuts Rates On COVID Supplies, No Tax On Black Fungus Medicine)The GST Council, in its 44th meeting held on June 12, decided that no tax will be levied on theCOVID-19 drug Tocilizumab and black fungus medicine Amphotericin B.
Earlier, the GST rates on these medicines stood at five per cent.The Council also cut rates on anti-coagulants such as heparin andRemdesivir - a drug for treating COVID-19,from 12 per cent to five per cent.
Additionally, tax rates on gas/electric/other furnaces for the crematorium, including their installation were reduced from 18 per cent to five per cent.
The GST rates on ambulances are reduced from 28 per cent to 12 per cent.
The tax rateson hand sanitiser is loweredfrom 18per cent to five per cent, while rates ontemperature check equipment is reducedfrom 18 per cent to five per cent.According to Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, the GST Council meeting had a single-point agenda, deliberating on the recommendations made by the group of ministers - constituted to decide on the tax rates on COVID-related supplies.
Meanwhile, the 43rd GST council meeting onMay 28after a gap of almost eightmonths.