Ready-to-Drink Non-Alcoholic Beverages Like Mojito to Attract 40% GST, Rules WB AAR

• West Bengal’s Authority for Advance Ruling (AAR) has ruled that ready-to-drink non-alcoholic beverages like mojito, rose lemonade, and cucumber mint will attract 40% GST.
• Iced tea preparations, extracts, essences, syrups, and beverage concentrates will be taxed at 5% GST.
• The ruling is based on product classification under the Customs Tariff Act, distinguishing between drinks with and without fruit pulp/juice.
• The applicant argued these are health-oriented, sugar-free beverages and should be taxed at a lower rate, but the tax department maintained the 40% rate for ready-to-drink beverages.
• The ruling highlights a significant disparity in GST rates for non-alcoholic beverages and calls for policymakers to reconsider the GST framework.

Source: a2ztaxcorp.net

Note that this post was (partially) written with the help of AI. It is always useful to review the original source material, and where needed to obtain (local) advice from a specialist.

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