Telangana Govt Skips GST On Bar License 

Hyderabad: The state government has decided to avoid GST on the license fee paid by bars and liquor shops so as to avoid paying tax to the Centre.

As the state governments has to pay 18 percent GST on the licence fee collected by them, the Telangana government has decided to follow the AP government which has already avoided paying GST by introducing a new registration fee and reducing the license fee.

The government collects Rs1.8 crore in licence fee from each wine shop and charges Rs40 lakh for a bar licence in Hyderabad. In the districts, the licence fee for wine shops ranges from Rs20 lakh to Rs60 lakh depending on the size of the population. For bars, there is a common licence fee of Rs40 lakh.

Liquor shop dealers have to pay 14 percent tax if their annual turnover crosses seven times the licence fee. After bifurcation, the AP government removed this condition but the Telangana government continued with it.

In the new liquor policy, the TS government is also thinking to remove this condition which will only benefit to big dealers. Once the policy is removed, big dealers will sell liquor at below MRP to increase their turnover, but small dealers cannot.