If you are planning to buy smartphone or other home appliances for your home including smart TV, fridge, AC, then there is good news for you. The government has come up with a brilliant scheme to provide relief to the general public from inflation.
Now people don't need to spend much money to buy TV, refrigerator, mobile phone. In fact, the Finance Ministry has decided to reduce the tax rate for household products and mobile phones covered under GST. Along with this, people have to get relief from inflation by buying mobiles, TVs and fridges.
Seven years of GST have been completed
GST completed seven years on Monday as the new indirect tax system. GST included around 17 local taxes and cesses and was implemented on July 1, 2017. The theme of the seventh GST Day is 'Stronger Trade, All-round Development'.
The GST taxpayer base was 1.05 crore till April 2018, which has increased to 1.46 crore in April 2024, the ministry wrote on the social media platform.
Central Board of Indirect Taxes Customs (CBIC) Chairman Sanjay Kumar Aggarwal told news agency PTI, “We have seen a huge jump in taxpayer base with better compliance.” Giving a comparative chart of pre-GST and post-GST tax rates on household goods, the ministry said GST has made life easier.
It cost less
The ministry said that after the implementation of GST, spending on food items and mass consumption items in every household has come down. Before the implementation of GST, food items like non-packaged wheat, rice, curd and lassi were taxed at 2.5-4 per cent, while after the implementation of GST, the tax became zero.
Household items such as cosmetics, wristwatches, plastic sanitary products, doors and windows, furniture and mattresses are taxed at 18 per cent under the GST system, compared to 28 per cent under the earlier excise duty and VAT systems.
GST reduced on these goods
Earlier the tax on mobile phones, TVs up to 32 inches, refrigerators, washing machines, electrical appliances (except air conditioners), geysers and fans was 31.3 per cent, which has been reduced to 18 per cent under the GST regime, the ministry said.
The finance ministry said the compliance burden for small taxpayers has been reduced. The GST Council has recommended removing the requirement to file annual returns for taxpayers with an annual turnover of up to Rs 2 crore in the financial year 2023-24.
. Source
