New Delhi: The Goods and Services Tax (GST) was implemented on the historic night of 1st July 2017. The GST unified India’s tax system, creating a single market that removed interstate barriers and boosted operational efficiency. It ended tax cascading by allowing businesses to claim input tax credit across the supply chain, reducing overall tax burden and simplifying compliance.
What is the GST rate for online subscriptions?
The Union Ministry of information and broadcasting (MIB) has appealed to the department of revenue to either exempt digital news subscriptions from goods and services tax (GST) or to reduce it from 18 per cent to 5 per cent.
The MIB secretary in a letter to the Revenue Secretary recommended that either the GST on digital news subscriptions be stopped or be brought down to 5 per cent.
What is the GST rate for newspaper and magazines
The issue raised by the information and broadcasting ministry may be deliberated upon in the 54th GST council meeting scheduled to be held on September 9, 2024. Information and Broadcasting (I&B) secretary Sanjay Jaju’s letter to revenue secretary Sanjay Malhotra stated that newspapers do not come under the GST because the significance of giving “correct and factual information” to Indian citizens was recognised.
According to reports, the Union I&B Ministry believes that a higher tax rate may lead to the online news sector adopting the advertising-based revenue model, which could affect the quality of news. So, the MIB wants the fast growing digital news subscriptions to be exempted from GST. Notably, print newspapers, journals, and periodicals are exempted from the GST.
The Union ministry put forward its point by giving the example of printed books and e-books. The GST Council earlier reduced the GST rate on e-books from in July 2018.
GST collections for July 2024
GST Gross and Net Collections (Amount in crores) – July 2024
Monthly
GST Collections
July 23
07/24
% Growth
YTD (July 2023)
YTD (July 2024)
% Growth
A
B
C
D = C/B-1
E
F
G = F/E-1
A.1. Domestic
CGST
29,773
32,386
1,27,637
1,41,268
SGST
37,623
40,289
1,59,155
1,74,808
IGST
44,691
49,437
1,79,725
2,06,406
CESS
10,939
11,923
43,366
47,571
Gross Domestic Revenue
1,23,026
1,34,036
8.95%
5,09,883
5,70,052
11.80%
A.2. Imports
IGST
41,239
47,009
1,57,018
1,64,756
CESS
840
1,029
3,826
4,086
Gross Import Revenue
42,079
48,039
14.16%
1,60,844
1,68,841
4.97%
A.3. Gross GST Revenue(A.1+A.2)
CGST
29,773
32,386
1,27,637
1,41,268
SGST
37,623
40,289
1,59,155
1,74,808
IGST
85,930
96,447
3,36,743
3,71,161
CESS
11,779
12,953
47,193
51,657
Total Gross GST Revenue
1,65,105
1,82,075
10.28%
6,70,727
7,38,894
10.16%
B.1. Domestic Refunds
CGST
2,881
1,972
11,205
10,672
SGST
3,587
2,448
13,800
13,482
IGST
5,140
3,231
20,756
16,651
CESS
248
161
740
937
Refund – Domestic
11,857
7,813
-34.11%
46,500
41,742
-10.23%
B.2. Export IGST Refunds
IGST
8,197
8,335
32,842
40,584
CESS
154
135
586
602
Refund – Imports
8,352
8,470
1.42%
33,428
41,186
23.21%
B.3. Total Refund (B.1+B.2)
CGST
2,881
1,972
11,205
10,672
SGST
3,587
2,448
13,800
13,482
IGST
13,338
11,566
53,598
57,235
CESS
403
296
1,326
1,539
Total Refund
20,209
16,283
-19.43%
79,928
82,927
3.75%
C.1 Net Revenue Domestic (A.1 – B.1)
CGST
26,892
30,414
–
1,16,432
1,30,596
SGST
34,036
37,842
–
1,45,355
1,61,326
IGST
39,551
46,206
–
1,58,969
1,89,754
CESS
10,691
11,762
–
42,627
46,634
Net Domestic Revenue
1,11,170
1,26,224
13.54%
4,63,383
5,28,311
14.01%
C.2 Net IGST Revenue (A.2 – B.2)
IGST
33,041
38,674
–
1,24,175
1,24,172
CESS
686
895
–
3,240
3,484
Net IGST Revenue
33,727
39,569
17.32%
1,27,416
1,27,656
0.19%
C.3 Net Revenue (C.1+C.2))
CGST
26,892
30,414
1,16,432
1,30,596
SGST
34,036
37,842
1,45,355
1,61,326
IGST
72,592
84,880
2,83,144
3,13,926
CESS
11,377
12,657
45,867
50,118
Total Net GST Revenue
1,44,897
1,65,793
14.42%
5,90,799
6,55,966
11.03%
Union Ministry of information and broadcasting (MIB) has recommended GST reduction for digital news subscriptions. Biz News Business News – Personal Finance News, Share Market News, BSE/NSE News, Stock Exchange News Today
