Customers may gain as high-end hotels get GST options on dining

In a major change for the hospitality industry and in what could be a good news for diners, the Goods and Services Tax (GST) Council has decided to allow high-end hotels to choose between two indirect tax rates for restaurant services provided on their premises.

- MONIKA YADAV

Starting April 1 next year, according to the GST Council's decision last week, such hotels will have the option to choose between two GST rates: 5 per cent without Input Tax Credit (ITC) or 18 per cent with ITC, if the value of accommodation rented out exceeds ₹7,500 per unit a day in the previous year.

Currently, these hotels don't have the option as they have to charge 18 per cent with ITC.