Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman addresses a press conference on the 54th GST Council Meeting, at National Media Center in New Delhi. | Photo Credit: ANI The GST Council constituted a 13-member Group of Ministers (GoM) on Sunday (September 15, 2024) to suggest GST rates on premiums of various health and life insurance products. It will submit its report by October 30.Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Samrat Choudhary is the convenor of the GoM. Members of the panel include members from Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, West Bengal, Karnataka, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh, Goa, Gujarat, Meghalaya, Punjab, Tamil Nadu, and Telangana.The 54th GST Council meeting on September 9 decided to establish a GoM to examine and review the present structure of GST on life and medical insurance. A final call by the Council on the taxation of insurance premiums is likely to be taken in the next meeting in November based on the GoM report.Currently, 18% Goods and Services Tax (GST) is levied on insurance premiums.The Terms of Reference (ToR) of the panel also include suggesting tax rates for health insurance, including individual, group, and family floaters. Also under review is the rate for various categories like senior citizens, the middle class, and people with mental illnesses.It will also suggest tax rates on life insurance, including term insurance, and life insurance with investment plans, whether individual or group, and re-insurance.Report by Oct 30″The GoM is to submit its report by October 30, 2024,” said the office memorandum issued by the GST Council Secretariat on the constitution of the GoM on life and health insurance.Some opposition-ruled states, including West Bengal, had demanded complete exemption for health and life insurance premiums, while other states favoured lowering the tax to 5%. Even Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari had written to Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in July, saying “levying GST on life insurance premium amounts to levying tax on the uncertainties of life.”In 2023-24, the Centre and states collected ₹8,262.94 crore through GST on health insurance premiums, while ₹1,484.36 crore more was collected on account of GST on health reinsurance premiums.Minister Sitharaman, in her reply to a discussion on the Finance Bill in the Lok Sabha in August had said that 75% of the GST collected goes to states and the Opposition should ask state finance ministers to bring the proposal to the GST Council. Published – September 15, 2024 11:00 pm IST