The Goods and Services Tax (GST) Council will actively discourage any further tweaks in rates, following a major revamp of the indirect tax regime on Friday to help small industries and exporters.
A concept paper adopted by the council says no manufactured goods should be given outright exemption as this would hinder the Make in India initiative. States should opt for direct subsidy transfers if they want to reduce tax incidence on any item. This suggests that companies looking for such breaks like Apple would not be able to get any outright tax exemptions.
“The whole idea is to look at the issue of rate revision afresh… There should be no ad hocism in rate revision,” said a government official familiar with the thinking behind the concept paper that will guide changes to tax rates from now on.
The key principles in the concept paper include one that manufactured goods should not be placed in the nil bracket as it would then face nil customs duty, impacting the domestic manufacturing adversely.
“As a rule no manufactured good shall be exempt from GST,” according to the paper, which was approved by the council on Friday. ET has seen a copy of the paper.
On Friday, the council raised the composition scheme threshold to Rs 1 crore from Rs 75 lakh, allowed smaller businesses with a turnover of up to Rs 1.5 crore to pay tax and file returns quarterly instead of monthly and exempted exporters from payment of tax under various promotion schemes among other decisions. The changes in GST, which was rolled out nationally on July 1, were made in response to industry feedback.
Any revision will also be carried out keeping in view that there is no blockage of input tax credit or the creation of an inverted duty structure in which input is higher than the finished product, the officials said.
Further, changes in tax rates will be considered after a period of at least three months, allowing them to settle in first.
The concept paper stated that the GST rate of 28 per cent should be reviewed after three months based on the criteria that have been decided. Goods that yield high revenue, luxury goods and sin goods will not be considered for revision despite being in the highest rate bracket. Revision could be considered for goods of mass consumption or public interest; intermediate goods that are used in business-to-business supplies; goods manufactured by small and medium enterprises; and export-related items.
Apple’s tenth-anniversary iPhone, iPhone X (pronounced iPhone 10), is here. The all-new Apple iPhone is surely one of the most impressive iPhones to launch so far. It packs loads of new and cool features. These features not only enhance the appeal of the iPhone X, they also offer a glimpse into what future iPhones may look like. Here are seven new features that iPhone X brings to Apple’s smartphone range …
Radical new design
One of the defining features of iPhone X is its design. The all-new iPhone is the most complete redesign of the iPhone ever. After almost 10 years, Apple has given us something new with iPhone X. Its bezel-less edge-to-edge display and the missing Home Button gives it a look unlike any other iPhone. The stainless steel bands further enhance the appearance.
Bezel-less display
iPhone X finally brings bezel-less displays to the iPhones. The smartphone’s bezel-less edge-to-edge display is almost like an screen up front. The phone’s glass front and back makes it appear like as many say ‘a showstopper’. iPhone X features what Apple claims is “the most durable glass ever in a smartphone in silver or space gray, while a highly polished, surgical-grade stainless steel band seamlessly wraps around and reinforces iPhone X. A seven-layer color process allows for precise color hues and opacity on the glass finish, and a reflective optical layer enhances the rich colors, making the design as elegant as it is durable, while maintaining water and dust resistance.”
OLED screens
Another new feature that Apple’s top-of-the line iPhone brings to its smartphone line-up is OLED screen. Apple iPhone X is not only one of the three new iPhones launched (other being iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus) to have an OLED display, it is also the first. iPhone X’s 5.8-inch screen is the company’s highest resolution display with 2436 x 1125 pixels at 458 pixels per inch density (ppi). The company has termed its sharpest display ever (or so far) on iPhone as Super Retina.
FaceID
With iPhone X, user’s face becomes the password to unlock the phone. It is an all-new way to unlock an iPhone. The company uses its TrueDepth camera and the FaceID to make this possible. All that a user needs to do is look into his iPhone X to unlock it. The FaceID will also work as authentication for several apps as well as to validate Apple Pay. Users can set up FaceID by letting their iPhone X make a detailed digital ‘map’ of their face.
Animojis
iPhone X also brings new animated emojis to iPhones. Some people may term Animojis as ‘frivolous’, but they are also likely to be quite fun for most iPhone X users. Animojis will use iPhone X’s FaceID feature to create custom 3D versions of some popular emojis based on users’ facial expressions. This means that users can ‘use’ their face to create Animojis. These Animojis can be edited as well as are animated in real-time.
Wireless charging
Wireless charging finally comes to iPhones with iPhone X, iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus. The wireless charging in the new iPhones uses a standard called Qi, the same which is also used by Samsung. Apple also announced that it is making a charging mat called AirPower that can simultaneously charge an iPhone, Apple Watch and AirPods.
Price tag breaching Rs 100,000
Apple’s tenth-anniversary iPhone edition has left most Apple fans awestruck. However, at the same time, what has not gone well with many is its big price tag. At Rs 1,02,000 for 256GB, the Apple iPhone X sets a new high for mainstream smartphones’ pricing. In fact, at a starting price of Rs 89,000 too, iPhone X is the most expensive iPhone to launch so far.
Tax experts said this will keep the tax structure stable.
“Frequent and ad hoc changes in GST rates are definitely not desirable… This mechanism would ensure that some general guidelines are followed for deciding the rates in future, while making an exception if needed,” said Pratik Jain, leader, indirect taxes, PwC. Jain hopes that many items in the 28 per cent slab will move to the lower bracket of 18 per cent.
“Benefits of GST can only be realised if rates are moderate,” Jain said. The council had decided on fitment of goods based on the principle of equivalence–tax incidence prior to launch of GST. GST has four rate slabs—5, 12 per cent, 18 per cent and 28 per cent. There have been changes in a number of goods after the roll out based on representations received from the industry. The council moved more than two dozen items to lower slabs on Friday.
No comments:
Post a Comment