GST Connect

Keeping in view the request received from various stakeholders for allowing extension of time for filing of financial statements for Financial Year ended 31.03.2017 on account of various factors, MCA has decided to extend the time for filing of e-forms AOC-4 and AOC-4 (XBRL non-IndAS) and the corresponding AOC-4 CFC e-forms upto 28.11.2017 without levying additional fee.

Indirect taxes collection by the government may fall short of the target during the current financial year due to disruption caused by the GST rollout, Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC) chairperson Vanaja Sarna said on Sunday. For the fiscal year ending March 2018, the government had fixed a target of Rs 9.68 lakh crore for revenue collections from customs and GST. However, the CBEC chairperson said there was no plan to revise the revenue collection target for the year. The CBEC is the apex body for the administration of indirect taxes and forms part of the revenue department of the Ministry of Finance. The revenue collection target from customs and GST, which put together is Rs 9.68 lakh crore for the current fiscal, seems difficult for the department to achieve at the moment, keeping in view the recent GST rollout, the CBEC chairperson said in Mumbai.

She was talking informally to journalists on the sidelines of the half marathon organised by the customs department. Finance …

Maximum retail price of goods must include the GST component to effectively address consumer complaints that some retailers charge the new indirect tax on MRP of products, a high-level panel of state finance ministers has recommended.

The group of ministers, headed by Assam Finance Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, has in its recommendation to the GST Council on easing compliance burden on small and medium enterprises suggested that the government make it amply clear in the present law that MRP is the maximum price of a product to be sold in retail and charging anything above this is an offence.

This rule, sources said, must be applicable to establishments like restaurants, eateries and malls that sell packaged goods such as bottled beverages which already carry an MRP, but at some places, a GST is charged over and above that MRP.

However, businesses while uploading the invoice to the government in filing returns and paying taxes can separately show the GST component and the selling price of…

Govt. extended last date for filing of Forms GSTR-2 & GSTR- 3 for month of July 2017 to November 30 and December 11 for facilitation of businesses & all taxpayers;

Now Form GSTR-2 can be filed by November 30,

While Form GSTR-3 by December 11.

In a major relief to the tax payers and the professionals, the Goods and Services Tax Network (GSTN) has launched an excel based offline tool for filing GSTR 3B.
Taxpayers can download the offline utility from the GSTN portal under the download section and after fill in the data. Following this, the file can be uploaded on GST portal.
A preview of the form will be appeared after uploading of the return in the GST portal. After this, they can complete formalities like submit, offset the liability and file their GSTR-3B Return using digital signature or electronic verification code, GSTN said in a statement.
“This facility will provide an opportunity to the taxpayer to verify details of GSTR 3B before filing and minimise chances of error,” GSTN CEO Prakash Kumar said.

With a view to remove difficulties in implementing the provisions of composition scheme, the Government, extended its benefit to the persons providing exempted services under the new Goods and Services Tax (GST) regime.

An order passed on Friday in this regard, clarified that “if a person supplies goods and/or services referred to in clause (b) of paragraph 6 of Schedule II of the said Actand also supplies any exempt services including services by way of extending deposits, loans or advances in so far as the consideration is represented by way of interest or discount, the said personshall not be ineligible for the composition scheme under section 10 subject to the fulfillment of all other conditions specified therein.”

It further clarified that in computing aggregate turnover in order to determine his eligibility for composition scheme in the above case, value of supply of any exempt services including services by way of extending deposits, loans or advances in so far as the consider…

The Central Government, today notified that the implementation of provisions relating to reverse charge mechanism will be applicable from 1st April 2018.
The last GST Council meeting held at New Delhi had decided to suspend the reverse charge mechanism under sub-section (4) of section 9 of the CGST Act, 2017 and under subsection (4) of section 5 of the IGST Act, 2017 till 31.03.2018 and will be reviewed by a committee of experts. This will benefit small businesses and substantially reduce compliance costs.
The Notification issued today exempts the inter-State supply of goods or services or both received by a registered person from any supplier, who is not registered, from the whole of the integrated tax leviable thereon under sub-section (4) of section 5 of the said Integrated GST Act till the 31st day of March, 2018.
Read the full text of the Notification here.

The Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC) today extended the due date of filing return for persons providing Online Information and Database Access or Retrieval Services can file their returns (Form GSTR – 5A) for the months of July, August and September to 20th November 2017.
In GST regime ‘online information and database access or retrieval services’ is included.  Since it attracts integrated tax, the provisions relating to this services are found place in ‘Integrated Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017. The said provision defines the said service as any service provided or to be provided to any person, by any person, in relation to on-line information and database access or retrieval or both in electronic form through computer network, in any manner. The services includes, Website supply, web-hosting, Supply of software, supply of images, text, information and making available of databases, supply of music, films and games etc.

Read the full text of the Notification here.

The Central Government recently explained the concept of Electronic Way Bill (E-way Bill) under the new Goods and Services Tax (GST) law.
Electronic Way Bill (E-Way Bill) is basically a compliance mechanism wherein by way of a digital interface the person causing the movement of goods uploads the relevant information prior to the commencement of movement of goods and generates e-way bill on the GST portal. It is a mechanism to ensure that goods being transported comply with the GST Law and is an effective tool to track movement of goods and check tax evasion.
Though India has switched to the GST regime from 1st July 2017, the e-way bill provisions were not implemented due to lack of technical support. Some items such as vegetables, fruits, food grains, meat, bread, curd, books and jewellery out of its ambit. Contraceptives, judicial and non-judicial stamp paper, newspapers, khadi, raw silk, Indian flag, human hair, kajal, earthen pots, cheques, municipal waste, puja samagri, LPG, ker…

The Central Government recently issued a concept note on refund of Integrated Tax paid on account of zero rated supplies under the Goods and Services Tax (GST) regime.
Under GST, Exports and supplies to SEZ are zero rated as per section 16 of the IGST Act, 2017.  Zero Rated Supplies refers to items that are taxable under GST but the Rate of Tax is Nil. The concepts of Zero Rated Supply are covered under Section 16 of the IGST Act. This is in contrast with exempted supplies, where only output is exempted from tax but tax is suffered on the input side. The essence of zero rating is to make Indian goods and services competitive in the international market by ensuring that taxes do not get added to the cost of exports.
Rule 91 of CGST Rules, 2017 provide that the provisional refund is to be granted within 7 days from the date of acknowledgement of the refund claim. An order for provisional refund is to be issued in Form GST RFD 04 along with payment advice in the name of the claimant in …

The Central Government today notified the tenth amendment to the Central Goods and Services Tax (CGST) Act, 2017.
The amended notification says that for claiming refund in respect of supplies regarded as deemed exports, the application may be filed by either the recipient of deemed export supplies or the supplier of deemed export supplies in cases where the recipient does not avail of input tax credit on such supplies and furnishes an undertaking to the effect that the supplier may claim the refund.
It further said that the Commissioner can allow time to file bond or Letter of Undertaking in case of claiming refund of integrated tax paid on export of goods or services under bond or Letter of Undertaking. Earlier, the same shall be submitted within fifteen days after the expiry of three months from the date of issue of the invoice for export, if the goods are not exported out of India or fifteen days after the expiry of one year, or such further period as may be allowed by the Commiss…

The Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC) today notified the method for making payment of tax on issuance of invoice by registered persons having aggregate turnover less than Rs 1.5 crores under the new GST regime.
The 22nd meeting of the GST Council had made several decisions in favour of small traders. To facilitate the ease of payment and return filing for small and medium businesses with annual aggregate turnover up to Rs. 1.5 crores, it has been decided that such taxpayers shall be required to file quarterly returns in FORM GSTR-1,2 & 3 and pay taxes only on a quarterly basis, starting from the third quarter of this financial year i.e. October-December, 2017. The registered buyers from such small taxpayers would be eligible to avail ITC on a monthly basis. The due dates for filing the quarterly returns for such taxpayers shall be announced in due course. Meanwhile, all taxpayers will be required to file FORM GSTR-3B on a monthly basis till December, 2017.
The present No…

The Central Government, on the recommendation of the GST Council, today notified that persons making inter-State supplies of services having TO above 20 Lakhs are bound to obtain registration under the new Goods and Services Tax (GST) regime.
The Notification stated that the persons making inter-State supplies of taxable services and having an aggregate turnover, to be computed on all India basis, not exceeding an amount of twenty lakh rupees in a financial year as the category of persons exempted from obtaining registration under the said Act:
“Provided that the aggregate value of such supplies, to be computed on all India basis, should not exceed an amount of ten lakh rupees in case of “special category States” as specified in sub-clause (g) of clause (4) of Article 279A of the Constitution, other than the State of Jammu and Kashmir,” it said.

Read the full text of the Notification here.

Union Finance Minister, Arun Jaitley, on Wednesday hinted about bringing real estate sector under the ambit of the current Goods and Services Tax (GST) regime.
The matter will be discussed in the next meeting of the GST, which will be held on 9 November, in Guwahati, Jaitley said, while delivering a lecture at Harvard University.
Under the present system, 12 per cent tax is leviable on construction of a complex, building, civil structure or intended for sale to a buyer, wholly or partly. However, land and other immovable property have been exempted from GST.
“The one sector in India where maximum amount of tax evasion and cash generation takes place and which is still outside the GST is real estate. Some of the states have been pressing for it. I personally believe that there is a strong case to bring real estate into the GST,” Jaitley said, while delivering the ‘Annual Mahindra Lecture’ on India’s tax reforms. “In the next meeting itself, we are addressing one of the problem areas o…

The Central Government, on Friday notified that Goods and Services Tax (GST) is payable on supply of services provided by Overseeing Committee members to RBI under reverse charge mechanism.
The Government issued a notification in this regard by amending the earlier notification No. 13/2017-CT(R) which provides for the categories of services on which tax will be payable under reverse charge mechanism under CGST Act.
Recently, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) had reconstituted the oversight committee (OC) mechanism and increased the number of members to five from the earlier two.
The OC works with an expanded mandate to review, in addition to cases being restructured under the Scheme for Sustainable Structuring of Stressed Assets (S4A), resolution of other cases where the aggregate exposure of the banking sector to the borrowing entity is greater than Rs. 500 crore.

Read the full text of the Notification here.

Every registered person under GST and opts to pay taxes under Composition Scheme, must must file an intimation in FORM GST CMP- 02 for exercise option on the common portal either directly or through a Facilitation Centre notified by the Commissioner, on or before the 31st day of March, 2018, and shall furnish the statement in FORM GST ITC-03 in accordance with the provisions of sub-rule (4) of rule 44 within a period of ninety days from the day on which such person commences to pay tax under section 10.
Earlier, the time limit for Form GST ITC-3 was ninety days.
The Notification further stated that where a registered person is supplying taxable as well as exempted goods or services or both to an unregistered person, a single “invoice-cum-bill of supply” may be issued for all such supplies.
It also amends Forms GSTR-1, GSTR-1A and GSTR-4.
Read the full text of the Notification here.

The Central Government recently issued a concept note on the applicability of Goods and Services Tax (GST) on educational services.
Education Services are taxable under forward charge which means, tax shall be paid by the supplier of services.
“Education” is not defined in the CGST Act but as per Apex Court decision in “Loka Shikshana Trust v/s CIT”, education is process of training and developing knowledge, skill and character of students by normal schooling.
Under the new tax regime, Education Services are classified in heading 9992 (as per Notification No. 11/2017-Central Tax (Rate)) and are further sub-divided into six groups (as per the Annexure to the same notification) comprising of Pre-primary, primary, secondary, higher, specialised and other educational & support services.
Only such educational services are in the negative list as are related to delivery of education as ‘a part’ of the curriculum that has been prescribed for obtaining a qualification prescribed by law.
…

The Central Government, today issued a notification seeking to cross-empower State Tax officers for processing and grant of refund under the Central Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017.
As per the Notification, the officers appointed under the respective State Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017 or the Union Territory Goods and Service Tax Act, 2017 who are authorized to be the proper officers for the purposes of section 54 or section 55 of the said Acts by the Commissioner of the said Acts, shall act as proper officers for the purpose of sanction of refund under section 54 or section 55 of the CGST Act read with the rules made thereunder except rule 96 of the Central Goods and Services Tax Rules, 2017, in respect of a registered person located in the territorial jurisdiction of the said officers who applies for the sanction of refund to the said officers.
Read the full text of the Notification here

The Central Government, today day, once again extended the due date for filing of returns for the month of July, August and September by Input Service Distributor to 15th November.
Earlier, the Input Service Distributor were allowed to file July returns till 8th September. This was again extended to 13th October 2017.
Input Service Distributor under GST Model includes an office of the supplier of goods and / or services which receives tax invoices issued by supplier towards receipt of input services and/or goods and issues a prescribed document for the purposes of distributing the credit of CGST (SGST in State Acts) and / or IGST paid on the said services to a supplier of taxable goods and / or services having same PAN. Separate registration number is required for this application.
An ISD is required to furnish details of invoices in form GSTR-6 through the GST portal. Every Input Service Distributor shall, after adding, correcting or deleting the details contained in FORM GSTR-6A, f…

With GST refunds for exporters set to begin rolling out, the government on Friday announced that the refunds would be deposited in the bank accounts they have filed with the Customs department and not in accounts mentioned in the GST registration forms. Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC) has asked exporters to align their bank account details declared to the Customs with that of GST regime. GST rules mandate that these refunds are to be credited in the accounts mentioned in the registration particulars. However, exporters have also been declaring details of bank accounts to Customs authorities to facilitate drawbacks etc.   “In order to ensure smooth processing of refunds of IGST paid on exported goods, it has been decided that said refund amount shall be credited to the bank account of the exporter registered with customs even if it is different from the bank account of the applicant mentioned in his registration particulars,” the CBEC said. However, the indirect tax authori…

The tax department has sought explanations from banks and financial institutions, including multinationals, on transitional credit claimed by them in July under the goods and services tax (GST) regime, two people with direct knowledge of the matter said. Deputy commissioners and assistant commissioners (central tax) have issued ‘information summons’ in the last seven days seeking data in five specific areas “by e-mail/hard copy".  These include past sales tax records; summary of closing balance of tax (as of June); description of the nature of credits; details of vendor invoices prior to July 1; and details of payments made to vendors and service providers after July 1. Transitional credit refers to tax credits on sales tax, excise and valued-added tax accumulated before July 1 on pre-GST stock. Such credit can be set off against liabilities of the July-started GST.  Taxmen suspect some companies are misusing the provision and have filed fake returns to claim high transitional c…

Gujarat Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GCCI) officials held a meeting on Saturday in the wake of the problem being faced by traders in complying with provisions of the goods and services tax (GST). They said that unless the provisions regarding filing of GST return were smoothed, there should be no penalty on late filing of returns. GCCI president Shailesh Patwari said that in view of the festive season, last date of filing GST return, which is October 20, should be extended till October 31. Instead, he said the authorities have started imposing penalty of Rs 4,200 per day for late filing from October 14 itself. “Genuine traders are willing to file returns in time but the online system is faulty and it take at least four hours to file one return which delays in uploading the return but penalty is imposed for not filing,” he said. He said the amnesty scheme for removal of VAT should be extended till December 2017. GCCI senior vice-president Jaymin Vasa said: “We are opposed to word…

The central government is working on mechanisms to further speed up the GST refund process for exporters, a minister said on Sunday. "We are evolving a mechanism. We are trying to further reduce time for refunds," Minister of State for Commerce & Industry C.R. Chaudhary told the media here on the sidelines of the inaugural session of the 186th AGM of the Calcutta Chamber of Commerce. In a relief to exporters, the government recently announced that it would immediately refund exporters for the month of July and August through cheques from October 10 and October 18, respectively. Following a GST Council meeting, Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley told reporters that this would be an interim relief, and as a long term measure e-wallets will be created for all exporters by April 1, 2018, to carry forward the refund process. Chaudhary said large scale reforms like GST will often lead to hiccups and inconvenience during inception but it will be beneficial in the long run. &q…

As a part of its initiative to implement GST fully and enhance the State's revenue collection, the State Government's supply and contract works would be allotted only to contractors and suppliers registered for GST . Since the GST has been launched in the State, the State Government has started modifying the modality of levying tax . Rules and norms applied in the process of preparing estimates for civil works, holding tender of supply, seeking expenditure sanction and encashment permission have been modified to some extent, informed a source . Principal Secretary (Finance) Vivek Kumar Dewangan issued an office memorandum in this regard on October 11 . After the Central Goods and Services Tax (CGST) Act 2017, Integrated Goods and Services Tax (IGST) Act 2017 and Manipur Goods and Services Tax (MGST) Act 2017 were passed, a new set of rules regarding levying of indirect tax has been introduced in the State . Following the introduction of GST, eight Central taxes and nine State…

A panel set up by the federal indirect tax body, the Goods and Services Tax (GST) Council, on Sunday concluded that there is a case for doing away with the distinction between air-conditioned (AC) and non-air-conditioned restaurants and that both could be taxed at the same lower rate of 12%, two people familiar with the development said on condition of anonymity. The five-member ministerial panel also arrived at the view that the 18% GST rate on AC restaurants may be retained only on those located in five star and above rated hotels. At present, AC restaurants including those in five star and above rated hotels are taxed at 18% GST and non-AC ones at 12%. The idea of taxing AC restaurants at a higher rate was on the assumption that they sell not just food but also amenities. “There is consensus that there is no need for a distinction between AC and non-AC restaurants. It can only create confusion,” said the first of the two people cited above, requesting anonymity. The final decision…

Bal Malkit Singh, the owner of Mumbai-headquartered Bal Roadlines, is facing a new challenge. Many of his customers, serviced by his fleet of four hundred trucks, want him to share benefits of the much talked about reduction in travel time post introduction of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) in July this year. "I have one answer for such customers. I invite them to travel with our trucks and find out for themselves if any efficiency has come in the transportation industry," said Singh. Various claims have been made pegging the reduction of time taken by trucks to travel and deliver goods. A reduction of as much as 30 per cent in travel time of trucks has been indicated by the government as a result of the removal of inter-state check posts. The government has said the transportation system has become efficient. But the industry thinks otherwise. "Not much has changed at the ground level. There are RTO check posts in every state. Physical checking of goods continues. O…

The GST Council has softened the tax blow on vehicles purchased and leased prior to July 1, when the Goods and Services Tax (GST) system was introduced in the country. It has now reduced the GST rate on such vehicles to 65 per cent of the applicable GST rate (including compensation cess). A back of the envelope calculation shows that the GST rate would now get lowered from a level of about 43 per cent (in most cases) to around 28 per cent. Meanwhile, an official release said that the GST Council had at its meeting held on October 6 took several decisions to provide relief to old/existing leases of motor vehicles. The decisions are: Leasing of vehicles purchased and leased prior to July 1, 2017 would attract GST at a rate equal to 65 per cent of the applicable GST rate (including compensation cess); Such vehicles when sold shall attract GST of 65 per cent of the applicable GST rate (including compensation cess); Sale of vehicles by a registered person who had procured the vehicle prio…

Driving change is important. But managing change is even more important. In a nation where politicians and bureaucrats always believed that they know the best, it is welcome to find quick changes and not policy paralysis when things go wrong. The proactive approach of the GST council to decision making and was witnessed as some sweeping changes were made last week to the GSTR Act. Mistakes and course corrections are bound to happen when you implement far reaching measures and integrate multiple taxes into one. However high on the agenda must be the big picture and the goal of making ‘ Make In India’ successful . High GST on ‘Make in India’ essentials need rationalisation The GST council reduced tax rates for several items. However, it missed 3 big ticket items, steel, cement and cables. For ‘Make in India to happen’ it is however necessary to ensure that essential goods needed for manufacturing have a moderate GST. Steel, cables and cement the three inputs largely needed by the manufa…

GST is not ‘Make in India’ friendly. The IGST rates for imported material are not substantially higher than the core essential manufacturing inputs. This is a major policy aberration that needs to be corrected now that a unified tax regime provides this opportunity. The unified tax regime like GST is an excellent mechanism to rationalize and phase out non- essential imports to the country. However, that can happen only if there is a focused thought behind improving the manufacturing sector in the country that nations like China have. China continuously tweaks its import policy with large nations to ensure that the trade balance is heavily in their favor. A look at India’s widening trade gap with China is revealing Over the last five years India’s export to China have shrunk to $9.05 billion. This despite the fact that the Rupee has depreciated by nearly 30% during the period. Indian Express spoke to several exporters and manufacturers on the subject. Rohit Singh a SME producer used to…