Lucknow, June 17 -- The Uttar Pradesh tax department has issued new detailed guidelines to scrutinise GST returns filed by insurance companies to ensure proper tax is collected on insurance premiums and related charges. Officers will now follow a uniform process to check if companies are paying the right GST on policies, charges, and claims-while also identifying any exemptions or misreporting. "The standard operating procedure (SOP), issued by commissioner of state tax Nitin Bansal, on Monday, aims to bring uniformity to the scrutiny process and boost tax collection," a senior official said. Insurance products attract different GST rates. Term and health insurance policies are taxed at 18% on the premium. Annuity plans attract 4.5% GST on the first premium and 2.25% on renewals, while single-premium annuity plans are taxed at just 1.8%. As per CGST Rules, only a part of the premium is treated as taxable: 25% in the first year, 12.5% in subsequent years, and 10% for single-premium annuity policies. In addition to premiums, various other charges-like late payment interest, alteration and quotation fees, duplicate policy charges, surrender fees, and income from investment sales-also attract GST. There are exemptions for certain services, such as insurance under the NPS, for armed forces, ESIC, and group insurance funds, as outlined in previous government notifications. The fresh guidelines also clarify several grey areas, including GST on investment parts of premiums, salvage value in vehicle claims, input tax credit on repair costs, and the treatment of "as-is" regularised transactions. Tax officers have been instructed to collect granular data during scrutiny-covering policy types, premium collection, taxes paid, and claims, especially in cashless and reimbursement modes. The joint commissioner (corporate) and other assessment officers have been asked to enforce these SOPs immediately to ensure legal compliance and efficient revenue recovery....