GST Council meet: The GST Council on Saturday deferred the decision to reduce the tax rate on the premium of life and health insurance policies. Officials gave this information. In the 55th meeting of the GST Council, it was decided that some more technical aspects need to be removed in this regard. The work was assigned to the GoM for further deliberations in this regard.

The GoM will have another meeting.

The council, chaired by Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and attended by her counterparts from the states, took this decision. Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Samrat Choudhary said that there will be another meeting of the GoM on insurance to decide on taxation on group, individual, and senior citizens policies.

Choudhary told reporters, "Some members said that more discussion is needed. We (GoM) will meet again in January.''

Proposal to exempt premium on insurance cover

The Council has constituted a Group of Ministers (GoM) on Insurance under the chairmanship of Chaudhary, which in its meeting in November agreed to exempt the insurance premium of term life insurance policies from GST. It has also been proposed to exempt the premium paid by senior citizens for health insurance coverage from tax.

It is also proposed to exempt from GST the premium paid for health insurance up to Rs 5 lakh for persons other than senior citizens. However, 18 percent GST will continue on the premium paid for policies with health insurance coverage of more than Rs 5 lakh.