38th GST Council Meeting Updates

Updated: 29-10-2025 11:07:45 AM

The 38th GST Council Meeting was held on 18th December, 2019 that was chaired by Indian Finance Minister Ms. Nirmala Sitharaman.

Below mentioned are the important decisions taken regarding GST rate changes and GSTR forms: 

New GST Rates and GST Exemptions

• Exemption on long-term lease of industrial/financial infrastructure plots: Entities with a government stake (Centre/ State) of 20% or more will be exempted from paying GST applicable to long-term lease of industrial/ financial infrastructure plots. This will be applicable from 1st January, 2020. Earlier, the exemption was provided only to entities with a government stake of 50% or more
• GST on lottery: GST will be levied uniformly at the rate of 28% on both State run and State authorized lotteries. This change will be applicable from 1st March, 2020
• GST on various types of plastic bags/ containers: GST rate on woven and non-woven bags and sacks of polyethylene/polypropylene strips or the like (HS code 3923/ 6305), including Flexible Intermediate Bulk Containers (FIBC) has been raised to 18% from 12%. The new GST rate will be applicable from 1st January, 2020

GST Return Form Announcements

• GSTR 9 and GSTR 9C: The due date to file GSTR-9 and GSTR-9C for FY 2017-18 has been extended to 31st January, 2020
• GSTR 1: Late fee for filing GSTR-1 from July 2017 to November 2019 will be waived off, if the return is filed by 10th January, 2020
• E-way bill: The e-way bill system will be blocked for taxpayers who have failed to file GSTR-1 for two tax periods
• GSTR 2A: Input tax credit for invoices/ debit notes that have not been specified in GSTR-2A will be restricted to 10% of the eligible ITC for invoices/ debit notes reflected in GSTR-2A
• GSTR-3B: A standard operating procedure will be introduced for tax officers to deal with cases related to non-filing of GSTR-3B
• Due date in November 2019 for GSTR filing has been extended for certain North Eastern States at the 38th GST Council Meeting

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