On Sunday, in a big relief to home buyers, the GST Council had slashed tax rates on under-construction housing properties to 5% without input tax credit from the currentlt prevailing 12%, said the Finance Minister Arun Jaitley.
The council had also cut GST rates on affordable housing to 1% from the existing 8% and also increased the scope of affordable housing upto the cost of Rs 45 lakhs and which measures upto 60 sq metre in metros and 90 sq metre in non-metro.
The new tax rates will come into effect from 1st April 2019. "This deduction will certainly give boost to construction sector", said Jaitley to the reporters. However it is to be noted that builders will not be able to claim input tax credit under the new GST tax regime.
When asked about tax levied on lotteries, Jaitley said that the GST Council will meet again to discuss the proposal. Presently, the state run lotteries attract 12% GST and the state authorised ones attract 28%.