GST on mobile phones raised to 18% from 1 April, MRO services for aircraft slashed to 5%

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman also decided to waive late fees for delayed filing of returns for those with a turnover of less than Rs 2 crore for 2018 and 2019.

People using smartphones | Dhiraj Singh | Bloomberg

New Delhi: The GST Council on Saturday decided to increase GST rates on mobile phones to 18 per cent from 12 per cent with effect from April 1, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said.

The Council also decided to slash GST on maintenance repair overhaul (MRO) services for aircraft to 5 per cent rom 12 per cent while the tax rate on handmade and machine-made matchsticks has been rationalised to 12 per cent.

The Council in its meeting chaired by the Union finance minister decided to waive late fee for delayed filing of annual returns for FY2018, FY2019 by entities with a turnover of less than Rs 2 crore.

The minister also said that interest will be levied on net tax liability from July 1 for delayed GST payments.

Sitharaman said the GST Council has asked Infosys to deploy more skilled manpower, increase capacity of hardware of GST Network to ensure that the system is glitch-free.

The council has asked Infosys, which has designed the GSTN, to provide a better groomed GSTN system by July 2020, she added.