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Informist, Wednesday, Dec. 18, 2024

 

--Govt source: GST on health insurance to be on Council meeting's agenda

--CONTEXT: GST Council to hold 55th meet on Sat in Jaisalmer 

 

NEW DELHI – The goods and services tax rate on premiums paid for health insurance products will be on the GST Council's agenda at its next meeting on Saturday in Jaisalmer, a government official said. The government levies 18% GST on premiums paid for all life insurance policies, and on premiums paid for health insurance products providing coverage of up to INR 500,000.

 

At its last meeting on Sept. 9, the GST Council had announced forming a 13-member Group of Ministers to look into the possibility of cutting the tax rate on life and health insurance premiums from the current 18?ter demands from various quarters that these premiums should not attract any tax. The Group of Ministers is headed by Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Samrat Choudhary, and includes ministers from Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, West Bengal, Karnataka, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh, Goa, Gujarat, Meghalaya, Punjab, Tamil Nadu, and Telangana.

 

The Group of Ministers had also met on Oct. 19, and had decided to recommend a complete exemption from the indirect tax. The issue of withdrawal of the 18% GST on health insurance premiums had become a bone of contention for the council after the matter led to several rounds of protests and debates during the Monsoon Session of Parliament. The matter came to the fore after a letter to Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman from Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari was leaked into the public domain seeking withdrawal of GST on insurance premiums. Gadkari wrote that the levy amounts to taxing the uncertainties of life and restricts growth of the sector.

 

Replying to the protests in Parliament, Sitharaman had suggested the Opposition bring the proposal to the GST Council through state finance ministers. She even slammed the Opposition for politicising the issue and asked if the members had written to the finance ministers of Opposition-ruled states to withdraw the tax. Sitharaman had also said that the matter was discussed thrice in previous GST Council meetings. The matter was discussed at the council's 31st, 37th, and 47th meetings.  End 

 

Reported by Krity Ambey

Edited by Ashish Shirke

 

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