GST Council cracks the whip on profiteering, okays Aadhaar for registration

Date for filing annual returns extended by two months to August 30

Plugging tax evasion and consumer welfare took centre stage in the first meeting of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) Council under the chairmanship of Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Friday.

The Council, during the half-day meeting, imposed stiff penalties on companies not passing on rate cut benefits to consumers, besides giving a two-year extension to the National Anti-Profiteering Authority (NAA), whose term would have expired in November.

However, experts said the council should come up with a methodology of calculating the profiteered amount. Without this, there is arbitrariness.

To plug tax evasion, measures like using Aadhaar for registration, voluntary