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Two GST appellate tribunals to be set up in Kerala, says Finance Minister Balagopal

Kerala Finance Minister KN Balagopal said that each GST tribunal will have two members — one judicial and one technical.

ByPTI

Published Jul 12, 2023 | 12:29 PM ⚊UpdatedJul 12, 2023 | 12:29 PM

Two GST tribunals to be set up in Kerala. (iStock)

Kerala Finance Minister KN Balagopal has said two GST (Goods and Services Tax) appellate tribunals will be set up in Kerala in Thiruvananthapuram and Ernakulam. The decision was taken at the 50th GST Council meeting in Delhi.

Briefing reporters, he said that each tribunal will have two members — one judicial and one technical. The demand of Kerala is for having three tribunals, he added.

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Amendments to PMLA

He also said that Kerala and some other states raised concerns about the recent amendment to the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), with respect to the GST Network (GSTN).

The concerns were on whether the amended provisions could be politically misused at some point in time.

According to Balagopal, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said at the council that the amendment will be for only receiving details from the Enforcement Directorate (ED).

“GST Council is a constitutional authority. In that meeting, it has been told that this is not for giving our (GSTN) details and only for receiving the details from ED. It is not a question of assurance. The authority of the GSTN is the GST Council, and if it is decided like that, then it is binding,” he said.

GSTN handles the technology backbone of the indirect tax regime and is the repository of all GST-related information, including returns, tax filing and other compliances.

As per the amendment to the provisions of the PMLA, 2002, GSTN has been included in the list of entities with which ED will share information.

At the council meeting, various decisions, including imposing a 28 percent tax on the turnover of online gaming companies, horse racing and casinos, have been taken.

The panel, headed by Sitharaman and comprising representatives of all states and union territories, also lowered the service tax levied on food and beverages consumed in cinema halls to five percent and tweaked the definition of an SUV for attracting a cess over and above the GST rate.

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(Disclaimer: The headline, subheads, and intro of this report along with the photos may have been reworked by South First. The rest of the content is from a syndicated feed, and has been edited for style.)