GST Council 55th Meeting: The 55th meeting of the GST Council is being held in Jaisalmer on 20 and 21 December. For the first time, the royal dishes of Rajasthan are being served to the guests in the meeting being held in Jaisalmer. The focus of the two-day GST Council meeting at Hotel Marriott in Jaisalmer is on millet and ragi dishes. This time's meeting is also special because during this time, consideration can be given to reducing the tax rate on life and health insurance premium, increasing the tax rate on expensive wrist watches, shoes and clothes.

Considering imposing 35% tax

Apart from this, a separate 35 percent tax can be considered on some things. In the 55th meeting of the GST Council chaired by Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, there is a possibility of discussing changes in tax rates on 148 items. Apart from this, there will be talks on bringing ATF for the airline industry under the ambit of GST. There is a proposal to reduce GST from 18 percent to 5 percent on food delivery platforms like Swiggy and Zomato.

A committee of ministers formed
According to sources, the Fitment Committee has proposed to increase the rate on the sale of small petrol and diesel vehicles apart from used electric vehicles from the current 12 to 18 percent. This increase will bring old small cars and electric vehicles at par with old large vehicles. Apart from this, the GoM is likely to get a six-month extension till June 2025 to submit its report. The compensation cess system will end in March 2026 and the GST Council has constituted a committee of ministers led by Union Minister of State for Finance Pankaj Chaudhary to decide the future text of the cess.

GST rate is to be decided on health and life insurance.
In the GST system, apart from 28% tax on harmful goods, compensation cess is levied at different rates. The main issue in the meeting is to decide the GST rate on health insurance and life insurance. The GoM constituted by the council under the chairmanship of Bihar's deputy Chief Minister Samrat Chaudhary, in its meeting in November agreed to exempt the insurance premium paid for term life insurance policies from GST. Besides this, it has also been proposed to exempt the premium paid by senior citizens for health insurance 'cover' from tax.

There is also a proposal to exempt from GST the premium paid for health insurance up to Rs 5 lakh by persons other than senior citizens. The group of ministers also proposed to rationalize tax rates on garments. They have proposed 5% GST on readymade garments costing up to Rs 1,500 while 18% GST on garments costing from Rs 1,500 to Rs 10,000. At the same time, garments costing more than Rs 10,000 will be taxed at 28%.