The GST Council in its 23rd Meeting decided to reduce tax rate on a wide range of daily use items. The meeting was held in Guwahati and was chaired by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley. The major highlights of the meeting are as under: GST on 178 items has been reduced to 18% from 28%. Only 50 demerit & luxury items now in 28% slab. All restaurants will be levied GST at 5%, without input tax credit (ITC) benefits. Five-star restaurants within starred-hotels with room rent above Rs. 7,500 will attract 18% GST and can avail ITC benefits. The council decided the tax rate for traders & manufacturing under composition will be 1%. No inter-state taxes & input tax credit for composition dealers will be levied. Filing of form GSTR-3B has been extended till March 2018. Simplified GSTR-3B to be inytoduced with indicative filing facility for those businesses which have nil tax liability or have no transactions to file in invoice. Late Fees for the months of July, August a...