GST Council slashes rate for restaurants to 5% without Input Tax Credit from Nov 15

The GST Council, in its 23^rd meet held in Guwahati, Assam, on November 10, 2017, brought some much-awaited relief to the restaurant industry when it announced that the Goods and Services Tax on all restaurants, irrespective of their being air conditioned or not, will be brought down to 5 per cent, without Input Tax Credit. Air conditioned restaurants were earlier subject to an 18 per cent GST with Input Tax Credit, while non-air conditioned ones were taxed at 12 per cent. At the meet chaired by Arun Jaitley, Minister of Finance, Government of India, it was also announced that restaurants at hotels with room rate above Rs 7,500 will continue to be subject to a GST of 18 per cent with Input Tax Credit and those with room rates below the said limit will be charged 5 per cent GST without Input Tax Credit.