Indian Finance Ministry will not merge GST tax rates in 2023/24

Synopsis

“Nirmala Sitharaman, the Finance Minister of India, projected 12% growth in net GST collection in the 2023/24 budget presented last week. The federal government is looking forward to collecting 8.54 trillion Indian rupees ($103.20 billion) for 2022/23.”

Indian finance currently has five tax rates applicable in its GST system, bringing several state taxes under one roof. Tax rates range from 0% to 28%. In the next fiscal year, India is not going to remodel its Goods and Services Tax (GST) regime, a senior official said on Monday. The move will be further delayed which has been in consideration for more than a year to simplify its tax rate structure and minimize the burden on consumers.

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In 2021, the finance ministry looked forward to remodeling the tax by combining two tax rates and lowering the levy on a number of items. Some have criticized the old regime of GST which was done five years earlier having too many tiers.

Revenue Secretary Sanjay Malhotra said in an interview, “Right now, we are just looking to maintain stability (in tax rates), a stable tax regime. Minor changes will always be there… major taxation change like a merger of tax rates, we are not contemplating in 2023/24,”Malhotra further added the government would surely want to have fewer tax tiers but did not provide a timeline.

The government is also looking to make its taxation system simple for custom duty which is not included in the GST regime, by having fewer rates. 

Nirmala Sitharaman, the Finance Minister of India, projected a 12% growth in net GST collection in the 2023/24 budget presented last week. The federal government is looking forward to collecting 8.54 trillion Indian rupees ($103.20 billion) for 2022/23. 

The government is also looking forward to collecting 250 billion rupees using a windfall tax on petrol, diesel, and turbine fuel that was imposed in July 2022.