The Goods and Services Tax (GST) was supposed to ease doing business in India - a point that Prime Minister 
Narendra Modi is believed to have insisted during his meeting with Finance Minister 
Arun Jaitley and BJP president Amit Shah yesterday.
Discussing the issues related to GST implementation ahead of GST Council meeting (underway at Vigyan Bhawan in New Delhi today), PM Modi asked Jaitely to ensure that GST rules were amended such as to make doing business easier in India.
It is expected that the GST Council today may approve some measures to make the compliance of GST rules easy and also give some relaxations to traders, small and medium enterprises, and entrepreneurs.
The GST Council has already tweaked GST rules several times over about 100 days of the new tax regime. Though, the frequent tweaks indicate existing confusion with regard to GST implementation but the government has explained it as teething troubles.
HOW GST RULES CHANGED SINCE ROLLOUT: THINGS TO KNOW
The GST was launched on July 1. But, with the launch sales of cars and fridges were hit due to confusion over rates.
On July 7, the government allowed revised MRP stickers on products till September 30. The next day on July 8, the government spared airlines from dual levy of GST on leased aircraft.
On July 10, the government clarified that benefits to staff by employers as part of employment contracts, occasional gifts were not subject to GST. On July 11, the government said that GST was not applicable on free food supplied by religious institutions.
On July 15, the Central Board of Excise and Customs clarified that services by lawyers and law firms would be taxed under reverse charge provisions of the GST Act.
On August 5, the GST Council lowered tax rates on a few services covering textile sector, goods transport agencies, car rentals and tractor parts among others. Two days later on August 7, the GST Council recommended raising ceiling of cess on motor vehicles to 25 per cent from original 15 per cent.
On August 17, the deadline for filing returns for July was extended to August 28 in cases where rebate for tax paid in previous regime was claimed. The deadline was further extended twice and also waived off late fee.
On August 23, the government clarified on GST rates for ad agencies offering print media space. It said that advertising agencies offering print media space to clients would be taxed at five per cent. But, if the ad agency offers its service to a media house as an for a commission, it would attract 18 per cent GST.
On September 9, the cess on medium to large cars and SUVs was increased. The cess on mid-size cars was hiked by two per cent while on large cars it increased by five per cent. On SUVs, cess was raised by seven per cent to bring tax rates on these cars at pre-GST levels.
As a result the effective GST rate on mid-size cars went up to 45 per cent. The large cars attract a combined GST of 48 per cent. The GST rate for sports utility vehicles is 50 per cent.
On September 20, the government clarified that retaining actionable claims on deregistered brand names would make packaged food taxable at 5 per cent GST. On September 29, the Consumer Affairs Ministry allowed businesses to sell their pre-GST stock till December 31.
