GST is here: pay more for your first-class, AC train journeys

New Delhi: Passengers traveling in first-class and air-conditioned trains will have to shell out more for their journey with the rollout of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) on July 1.

According to the ministry of railways, service tax levied on tickets would go up to five percent from 4.5 percent.

However, non-AC travel, including that by local trains, metro and religious tours have been exempted from the GST.

Similarly, GST on goods transport will be five percent in place of the service tax of 4.5 percent levied earlier with the exemption for essential goods such as milk and agricultural produce.

The ministry said that it has issued a series of detailed instructions to all zonal railways and production units to ensure full compliance with GST.  

"For off-line transaction, an utility has been created by Railways ERP manager, Center for rail information system, to capture the transaction and facilitate submission of periodical returns in the GSTN portal," the ministry said.

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