New Delhi, February 24: The Goods and Service Tax (GST) Council in a major relief to home buyers on Sunday slashed GST to 5 per cent on under construction houses from 12 per cent. The council also slashed the tax on the affordable housing segment to 1 per cent. This major relief to real state sector came after the ongoing meeting of GST council, headed by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley. GST Scam: Two Held After GST Intelligence Detects Fraud of Rs 141 Crore in Chhattisgarh.

“GST payable for under-construction flat will be now 5%. Affordable housing will have 1% GST rate,” said Jaitley, adding that, "We've adopted twin definition of affordable housing. One on basis of carpet area and 2nd on cost. In metros,60 sqm carpet area and Rs45 lakh cost of the apartment to fall in affordable housing. In non-metros, it'll be 90 sqm carpet and Rs 45 lakh cost; it'll come into effect from Apr 1." GST Collection For January 2019 Goes Above Rs 1 Lakh Crore.

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The council also altered the definition of affordable housing and said that any house built on an area of 60 square metres or less and Rs 45 lakh in the metro cities would be categorised as affordable housing. For non-metro cities, the area is 90 square metres and Rs 45 lakh. The decision was taken after considering the report of a group of ministers (GoM), headed by Gujarat Deputy CM Nitin Patel.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Feb 24, 2019 06:07 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).