No plans to impose GST on UPI transactions above Rs 2000, Central Government clarifies its stand
UPI: The Centre has said that there is no plan to impose Goods and Services Tax (GST) on Unified Payment Interface (UPI) based transactions above Rs 2,000. Minister of State for Finance Pankaj Choudhary said in Rajya Sabha that "GST Council has not made any recommendation to levy GST on UPI transactions above Rs 2,000.
In response to a query about whether the government is thinking about a proposal to impose GST on UPI payments over Rs 2,000, the minister of state informed the House that GST exemption and rates are determined considering recommendations by the GST Council. The response came after Karnataka businessmen received a GST notice on the basis of data of UPI transactions.
Union Minister for Food, Public Distribution, and Consumer Affairs Pralhad Joshi had also said last week that GST notices issued to small traders in Karnataka were from the state government and not the central government. On Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar's claim that the state has no role in issuing tax notices, Joshi termed the statement as ridiculous.
Union Minister Joshi said, "It was the commercial tax officers of Karnataka who had issued GST dues notices to small traders. Yet, the state government is now misleading the public by pretending that there is no role in it." He has no involvement. This is nothing but an attempt to evade responsibility.
Union Minister Joshi questioned, if GST notices were issued by the central government, traders in many other states would have also received them. But this did not happen anywhere else. Why are these notices being sent only to Karnataka?
He explained that GST consists of two parts - CGST (Central GST) under the central government and SGST (State GST) under the state governments. These notices have been sent to small Karnataka traders by the commercial tax department of the state.
