New Delhi : The Goods and Services Tax (GST) Council, in its 36th meeting on July 27, slashed the GST on electric vehicles (EVs) to 5 percent from 12 percent.The Council has also slashed the tax rate on EV chargers from 18 percent to 5 percent. The new rates will be effective from August 1.”Hiring of electric buses (with a carrying capacity of more than 12 passengers) by local authorities to be exempted from GST,” the government said in a press release.
The government has been pushing for the adoption of EVs, and manufacturers had been asking for a cut in the GST rate on electric vehicles for quite some time now.The proposal to reduce the GST rate on electric vehicles and that on electric chargers was presented to the fitment committee for fine tuning, Revenue Secretary Ajay Bhushan Pandey had said in the last GST Council meeting.The Finance Minister, in the Budget, had announced sops in income tax for those who take loans for electric vehicles.The government will also reportedly hike the registration charges exponentially for petrol and diesel vehicles, thereby giving a push to EVs.”Punjab, Delhi and West Bengal were not fully in support of EV rate-cut proposals over concerns of a loss of revenue,” a government official said.The government also extended the last date for filing an intimation to avail the option of payment of tax in form GST CMP-02, and filing of details of self-assessed tax in form GST CMP-08 for the June quarter, from July to August.
