FM Sitharaman to chair GST Council meet ahead of Union Budget 2024; meeting date announced

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will chair a meeting of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) Council, ahead of the release of Union Budget 2024 next month.

The date of the next GST Council meeting was announced by the government on Thursday. "The 53rd meeting of the GST Council will be held on 22nd June, 2024 at New Delhi," it stated.

The announcement comes a day after Sitharaman resumed the finance ministry charge, which she held for five years in the previous government headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The 65-year-old Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader was entrusted again with the crucial ministerial portfolio. The upcoming Union Budget would be the seventh consecutive in a row which she will present.

What to expect at GST Council meeting?

Headed by the Union finance minister, the GST Council includes the FMs from all states and union territories. While the agenda of the upcoming meeting is yet to be officially shared, impending subjects such as rate rationalisation and compliance measures could be discussed, News18 reported.

Other topics such as corporate guarantee taxability, retrospective GST on online gaming industry, tax on ESOPs are also expected to be taken up at the meeting, Abhishek Jain, indirect tax head & partner at KPMG, while speaking to the publication.

Notably, the GST Council meeting has been called two days before the first session of the new Lok Sabha. The session has been scheduled from June 24 to July 3, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju said on Wednesday.

The date for the release of Union Budget 2024 has, however, not been shared. As per the precedent, the full-year budget in general election years is released in the first or second week of July. The Economic Times, however, reported that the government may reconvene the Parliament from July 22 onwards and then release the budget.