Extension of due date for furnishing of Annual Returns GSTR-9 and GSTR-9C for financial year 2019-20 to March 31, 2021

CBIC had extended, vide Press Note regarding extension of due date for furnishing of Annual Returns GSTR-9 and GSTR-9C for financial year 2019-20 to March 31, 2021.

This is the second extension given by the government. The deadline was earlier extended from December 31,2020 to February 28.

Companies get relaxation for Annual Filings of 2019-20 upto 15/02/2021 without additional fees.

MCA relaxes levy of additional fees in filing of e-forms AOC-4, AOC-4 (CFS), AOC-4 XBRL and AOC-4 Non-XBRL for the financial year ended on 31.03.2020 under the Companies Act, 2013

Keeping in view of various requests received from stakeholders regarding relaxation on levy of additional fees for annual financial statement filings required to be done for the financial year ended on 31.03.2020, it has been decided that no additional fees shall be levied upto 15.02.2021 for the filing of e-forms AOC-4, AOC-4 (CFS), AOC-4 XBRL and AQC-4 Non-XBRL in respect of the financial year ended on 31.03.2020.

During the said period, only normal fees shall be payable for the filing of the aforementioned e-forms.

Earlier, the Annual General Meeting for adoption of the Audited Financial Statements, Directors Report and Auditors’ Report was extended by 3 months from September 30 to December 30, 2020.

Accordingly, the companies were required file Audited Financial Statements before January 31st, 2021.

This has now been further relaxed for another 15 days up to February 15, 2021, for filing of the eForms with Ministry of Corporate affairs (MCA).

Read the MCA Circular for waiver of Additional Fees

6 Crucial changes in GST Rules applicable from January 1st, 2021

The year 2021 has come up with the various changes in Goods and Service Tax (GST) Rules which will have a direct impact on the business registered under the GST regime and the businessmen who are planning to get themselves registered under GST.
 
Firstly, the CBIC has revised the extent of provisional Input Tax Credit (ITC) claims from 10% to 5%, with effect from 1 January 2021.
 

Firstly, the CBIC has revised the extent of provisional Input Tax Credit (ITC) claims from 10% to 5%, with effect from 1 January 2021. As per the sub-rule (4) inserted in rule 36 of the Central Goods and Service Tax Rules, 2017, a taxpayer filing GSTR-3B can claim ITC only to the extent of 5% of the eligible credit available in GSTR-2A. The amount of eligible credit is arrived upon those invoices or debit notes, the details of which have been uploaded by the suppliers in the GSTR-2A only. The new percentage applies from 1 January 2021 onwards. The ITC claim was earlier restricted to 10% between 1 January 2020 and 31 December 2020 whereas it was 20% for the period from 9 October 2019 till 31 December 2019.

Secondly, the CBIC has amended the Rule 21, which is in respect of the suspension or cancellation of GST Registration. The amendment inserted the additional situation wherein the registration of a person can be suspended if he avails input tax credit in violation of the provisions of section 16 of the Act or the rules; or furnishes the details of outward supplies in FORM GSTR-1 for one or more tax periods which is in excess of the outward supplies declared by him in GSTR 3B for the said tax periods, or violates the provision of rule 86B.

Thirdly, the Board inserted Rule 86B wherein all the registered persons have to pay 1% cash liability so as to curb tax evasion by way of fake invoicing. The Rule 86B is applicable to only those registered persons whose value of taxable supply, other than exempt supply and export, in a month exceeds Rs 50 lakh that means those whose annual turnover is more than 6 crore.

For example, if a dealer has made a sale of Rs 1 crore of the goods whose tax rate is 12% and if he is discharging his tax liability more than 99% though ITC, then he has to pay only Rs.12,000 under this rule. On the other hand, a composition dealer would have paid Rs.1 lakh in cash with this volume of sale.

Fourthly, the CBIC has amended Rule 8 and 9 which pertained to New GST Registration, which provides for the biometric verification i.e. Aadhaar authentication and taking photographs or taking biometric information, photograph and verification of such other KYC documents for the applications for new registration.

However, in the case of those opting not to use Aadhaar, GST registration would be given only after physical verification of the business premise, which could take upto 21 days and in case a notice is issued, even more time.

Fifthly, the Board has amended Rule 59, not to permit the taxpayer to file GSTR 1 if the taxpayers have not furnished the return in FORM GSTR-3B for the preceding two months (for a taxpayer filing monthly returns); he has not furnished the return in FORM GSTR-3B for preceding tax period (for a taxpayer filing quarterly returns) and he is required to discharge the tax liability of at least 1% by cash (see the discussion on Rule 86B) and he has not furnished the return in FORM GSTR-3B for preceding tax period instead of two months.

Sixthly, the CBIC has amended Rule 138(10) which related to E-way Bill wherein the available travel time has been enhanced to 200 Kms. For example, goods dispatched to the destination located at a distance of 550 kms have taken place on February 1, 2021. As per the existing rule, the validity of the E-way bill generated would have expired on February 7, 2021, i.e. one day for 100km starting from the midnight of the generation of the E-way bill. However, as per the amendment, the e-way bill will expire on February 4, 2021, and hence the goods must reach the destination within the time frame.

Govt. cancels GST Registration of 163k Business entities for Non-Filing of Tax Returns

GST Council, has recommended to reduce / waive the interest/ late fee for delayed filing of GSTR 3B by small taxpayers (having turnover upto Rs. 5 crores) for the tax period from July 2017 to July 2020
To handle the menace of fake firms and circular trading entities, GST officials have cancelled 1,63,042 registrations in the month of October and November this year due to non-filing of GSTR-3B returns for more than six months
The Government has canceled the Goods and Service Tax (GST) registration of 163,000 business entities who have not filed monthly tax returns (GSTR-3B) for the last six months or more.
 

Furthermore, the department would persuade 25,000 taxpayers, who have not filed returns for October that was due by November 24, to comply with tax return deadlines.

“All these business entities, who had not filed their GSTR-3B returns for more than six months, were first issued the cancellation notices and then their registrations were cancelled as per standard operating procedure,” one of the officials said.

The Tax officers have been directed to follow up personally with these defaulting taxpayers so that their GSTR-3B returns due for the month are filed by November 30.

The push for better compliance comes on the heels of the tax department’s nationwide drive against fake invoice scams. It is suspected that fraudsters often register firms under GST but remain mostly dormant on compliance while using the status to claim invalid input tax credit (ITC).

As per the sources, in the Ahmedabad zone 11,048 GST registrations have been cancelled. In the Chennai zone, 19,586 suo motu cancellations have been done so far in respect of GST taxpayers who have failed to file returns for more than six months.

The officials said that the tax authority is also scanning newly registered entities that have not provided correct details at the time of registration.

Out of 720 deemed registrations granted between August 21 and November 16 this year, where Aadhaar authentication was not done, 55 deemed registrations have been identified for the discrepancy and the process of cancellation was initiated in these cases.

Govt cancels GST registration of 163k business entities over non-filing of tax returns

The government has cancelled Goods and Services Tax (GST) registration of over 163,000 business entities due to non-filing of tax returns for more than six months to curb the menace of fly-by-night operators who create bogus firms and fraudulently avail input tax credit (ITC) worth thousands of crores.

The Government has canceled the Goods and Service Tax (GST) registration of 163,000 business entities who have not filed monthly tax returns (GSTR-3B) for the last six months or more.

Furthermore, the department would persuade 25,000 taxpayers, who have not filed returns for October that was due by November 24, to comply with tax return deadlines.

 “All these business entities, who had not filed their GSTR-3B returns for more than six months, were first issued the cancellation notices and then their registrations were cancelled as per standard operating procedure,” one of the officials said.

The Tax officers have been directed to follow up personally with these defaulting taxpayers so that their GSTR-3B returns due for the month are filed by November 30.

The push for better compliance comes on the heels of the tax department’s nationwide drive against fake invoice scams.

It is suspected that fraudsters often register firms under GST but remain mostly dormant on compliance while using the status to claim invalid input tax credit (ITC). As per the sources, in the Ahmedabad zone 11,048 GST registrations have been cancelled.

In the Chennai zone, 19,586 suo motu cancellations have been done so far in respect of GST taxpayers who have failed to file returns for more than six months.

The officials said that the tax authority is also scanning newly registered entities that have not provided correct details at the time of registration.

Out of 720 deemed registrations granted between August 21 and November 16 this year, where Aadhaar authentication was not done, 55 deemed registrations have been identified for the discrepancy and the process of cancellation was initiated in these cases.

Furthermore, the department would persuade 25,000 taxpayers, who have not filed returns for October that was due by November 24, to comply with tax return deadlines.

Income Tax department to reject tax audit reports filed without ICAI authentication

The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India, in its gazette notification had made the generation of UDIN from the ICAI website mandatory for every kind of certificate/tax audit report and other attests made by their members as required by various regulators. This was introduced to curb fake certifications by non-CAs misrepresenting themselves as Chartered Accountants

The income tax department will validate with the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) the unique document identification number (UDIN) of chartered accountants when they upload tax audit reports, the finance ministry said on Thursday.

To curb fake certifications by non-CAs misrepresenting themselves as chartered accountants, the ICAI in 2019 made generation of UDIN from the ICAI website mandatory for every kind of certificate and tax audit report and other attests made by their members as required by various regulators.

The ministry said that in line with the ongoing initiatives of the income tax department for integrating with other government agencies and bodies, income-tax e-filing portal has completed its integration with the ICAI portal for validation of UDIN generated from the ICAI portal by the chartered accountants for documents certified/attested by them.

Income-tax e-filing portal had already factored mandatory quoting of UDIN with effect from April 27, 2020, for documents certified/attested in compliance with the Income Tax Act,1961 by a chartered accountant.

“With this system level integration, UDIN provided for the audit reports/certificates submitted by the chartered accountants in the e-filing portal shall be validated online with the ICAI,” the ministry added.

It said this will help in weeding out fake or incorrect tax audit reports not duly authenticated with the ICAI.

If a chartered accountant was not able to generate UDIN before submission of audit report or certificate, the e-filing portal permits such submission, subject to the CA updating the UDIN within 5 calendar days from the date of form submission in the income tax e-filing portal.

If the UDIN for the audit report/certificate is not updated within the 15 days, such audit report and certificate uploaded shall be treated as invalid submission, the ministry added.

I-T refunds worth Rs 1.32 lakh cr issued to 39.75 lakh taxpayers

This include Personal income tax (PIT) refunds amounting to Rs 35,123 crore and corporate tax refunds amounting to Rs 97,677 crore during this period.
The Income Tax department has issued refunds worth over Rs 1.32 lakh crore to over 39 lakh taxpayers so far this fiscal.
 

This include Personal income tax (PIT) refunds amounting to Rs 35,123 crore and corporate tax refunds amounting to Rs 97,677 crore during this period.

“CBDT issues refunds of over Rs 1,32,800 crore to to more than 39.75 lakh taxpayers between April 1,2020 to November 10,2020.

Income tax refunds of Rs 35,123 crore have been issued in 37,81,599 cases and corporate tax refunds of Rs 97,677 crore have been issued in 1,93,813 cases,” the I- T department tweeted.

Source: Economic Times