32nd GST Council Meeting – Key Takeaways

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32nd GST Council Meeting took decision with respect to GST turnover limit – Rs 40 lakhs (from Rs. 20 lakhs) and composition scheme limit raised to Rs. 1.5 crore – changes would be effective from 1st April 2019. The Government took steps provide compliance relief to small businesses.

Outcome of 32nd GST Council Meeting -The highlights of the reliefs announced by FM Arun Jaitley are as below:

1. Threshold limit for GST Registration increased to 40 Lakhs
Effective April 1, the GST exemption threshold has been raised from Rs 20 lakh to Rs 40 lakh. For hilly states and those in the North East, the threshold has been doubled to Rs 20 lakh.

Earlier in a press talk AP FM said increased to 50lakhs, but it is increased to 40lakhs only as said by FM

2. Power to states
Now states will be able to choose if they want to keep the GST exemption limit at Rs 20 lakh or Rs 40 lakh, Jaitley said.

3. Composition limit increased to 1.5Cr from the present 1 Cr

The existing Composition Scheme turnover threshold raised to Rs 1.5 crore.

GST turnover limit and composition scheme changes would be effective from 1st April 2019.

4 Quarterly payment and Annual Return
Now Composition tax payers will pay tax quarterly, but file returns annually.

5 New Composition scheme for Services providers
Those providing services or mixed supplies (goods and services) with a turnover up to Rs 50 lakhs will now be entitled to avail composition scheme.

6 Rate for services under comp scheme @ 6%
Compounding rate for services under composition scheme is fixed at 6 percent.

7 Real Estate
A committee has been set up to consider real estate GST rates, a consensus is yet to be achieved, says FM Arun Jaitley.

8 Consensus for Calamity cess in Kerela @1%
GST Council has given approval to  Kerala to levy Disaster / Calamity cess of 1%  on all intra-state supplies of goods and services within Kerala, for up to 2 years.

GST Council slashes Rate on Certain Services

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GST Council in the 31-meeting held on 22 December, 2018 at New Delhi took following decisions relating to changes in GST rates on goods and services. The decisions of the GST Council have been presented in this note for easy understanding. The same would be given effect to through Gazette notifications/ circulars which shall have force of law.

GST rate reduction on goods which were attracting GST rate of 28%:

28% to 18%

Pulleys, transmission shafts and cranks, gear boxes etc., falling under HS Code 8483

Monitors and TVs of upto screen size of 32 inches

Re-treaded or used pneumatic tyres of rubber;

Power banks of lithium ion batteries. Lithium ion batteries are already at 18%. This will bring parity in

GST rate of power bank and lithium ion battery.

Digital cameras and video camera recorders

Video game consoles and other games and sports requisites falling under HS code 9504.

 28% to 5%

Parts and accessories for the carriages for disabled persons

GST rate reduction on other goods –

18% to 12%

Cork roughly squared or debagged

Articles of natural cork

Agglomerated cork

18% to 5%

Marble rubble

12% to 5%

Natural cork

Walking Stick

Fly ash Blocks

12% to Nil

Music Books

5% to Nil

Vegetables, (uncooked or cooked by steaming or boiling in water), frozen, branded and put in a unit container

Vegetable provisionally preserved (for example by sulphur dioxide gas, in brine, in sulphur water or in other preservative solutions), but unsuitable in that state for immediate consumption.

III. GST on solar power generating plant and other renewable energy plants

GST rate of 5% rate has been prescribed on renewable energy devices & parts for their manufacture (bio gas plant/solar power based devices, solar power generating system (SGPS) etc) [falling under chapter 84, 85 or 94 of the Tariff]. Other goods or services used in these plants attract applicable GST.

Certain disputes have arisen regarding GST rates where specified goods attracting 5% GST are supplied along with services of construction etc and other goods for solar power plant.

To resolve the dispute the Council has recommended that in all such cases, the 70% of the gross value shall be deemed as the value of supply of said goods attracting 5% rate and the remaining portion (30%) of the aggregate value of such EPC contract shall be deemed as the value of supply of taxable service attracting standard GST rate.

 Reduction in GST rates/exemptions on services:

GST rate on cinema tickets above Rs. 100 shall be reduced from 28% to 18% and on cinema tickets upto Rs. 100 from 18% to 12%.

GST rate on third party insurance premium of goods carrying vehicles shall be reduced from 18% to 12%

Services supplied by banks to Basic Saving Bank Deposit (BSBD) account holders under Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY) shall be exempted.

Air travel of pilgrims by non-scheduled/charter operations, for religious pilgrimage facilitated by the Government of India under bilateral arrangements shall attract the same rate of GST as applicable to similar flights in Economy class (i.e. 5% with ITC of input services).

Source: GST Rate reductions made during 31st Meeting of the GST Council

GST Council extends Due Dates for Annual Returns and other GST Returns

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GST Council grants mega relief to taxpayers – ITC for last FY invoices allowed upto March 31, 2019 + New GST Return to be launched on trial basis from April 1, 2019 + amendment in Sec 50 to allow payment of interest on net cash liability

The 31st GST Council meeting concluded today under the guidance of Union Minister Arun Jaitley has taken some important decisions including the due date extension for GST Annual Returns and some other Returns.

As per the recommendation of the Council, the due date for furnishing the annual returns in FORM GSTR-9, FORM GSTR-9A and reconciliation statement in FORM GSTR-9C for the Financial Year 2017 – 2018 shall be further extended till 30.06.2019.

Further, the due date for furnishing FORM GSTR-8 by e-commerce operators for the months of October, November and December 2018 shall be extended till 31.01.2019.

The due date for submitting FORM GST ITC-04 for the period July 2017 to December 2018 shall be extended till 31.03.2019. ITC in relation to invoices issued by the supplier during FY 2017-18 may be availed by the recipient till the due date for furnishing of FORM GSTR-3B for the month of March 2019, subject to specified conditions.

All the supporting documents/invoices in relation to a claim for refund in FORM GST RFD-01A shall be uploaded electronically on the common portal at the time of filing of the refund application itself, thereby obviating the need for a taxpayer to physically visit a tax office for submission of a refund application.

GSTN will enable this functionality on the common portal shortly. The due date for the taxpayers who did not file the complete FORM GST REG-26 but received only a Provisional ID (PID) till 31.12.2017 for furnishing the requisite details to the jurisdictional nodal officer shall be extended till 31.01.2019.

Also, the due date for furnishing FORM GSTR-3B and FORM GSTR-1 for the period July 2017 to February, 2019/quarters July 2017 to December 2018 by such taxpayers shall be extended till 31.03.2019

Late fee shall be completely waived for all taxpayers in case FORM GSTR-1, FORM GSTR-3B &FORM GSTR-4 for the months/quarters July, 2017 to September, 2018, are furnished after 22.12.2018 but on or before 31.03.2019.

 

Source: Recommendations-made-during-31st-Meeting-of-the-GST Council

 

Source:

GSTN enables facility to claim Refund of Tax due to any Other Reason

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The facility to claim Refund on account of any other reason has now enabled in the Goods and Services Tax Network ( GSTN ).

In statement released today, the official twitter account of the GSTN tweeted that “Facility to claim Refund on account of any other reason has been enabled on GST Portal for the taxpayers.”

Last day, the GST portal had updated a new functionality enabling the taxpayers to claim refund on account of excess payment of tax.

“Facility to claim refund on account of excess payment of tax has been enabled on GST Portal for the taxpayers,” GSTN said in a statement. On Tuesday, the GSTN had updated two new features such as, the facility to upload statement 4 for Refund and the facility for amendment in Registration of Core fields.

 

GSTN updates facility to claim Refund of ‘Excess Payment of Tax’

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The Goods and Services Tax Network (GSTN) has updated a new functionality enabling the taxpayers to claim refund on account of excess payment of tax.

“Facility to claim refund on account of excess payment of tax has been enabled on GST Portal for the taxpayers,” GSTN said in a statement.

Last day, the GSTN has updated two new features such as, the facility to upload statement 4 for Refund and the facility for amendment in Registration of Core fields.

The Statement upload for Refund Taxpayers filing refund application on account of supplies made to SEZ unit/ SEZ Developer, with payment of tax, has now been provided with facility to upload Statement 4, at the time of filing Refund application.

 

CBIC to weed out a million assessees from GST tax net

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Move to weed out the assessees from GST net will ensure effective tax base

The Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) has initiated a process to weed out approximately 12 lakh Goods and Services Tax (GST) assessees who have fallen off the tax map.

“The CBIC has communicated to field officers to take the process further. Now, field officers will issue show-cause notices, which is just a formality but a requirement under the law, and then complete the process for deregistration,” a Finance Ministry official told BusinessLine.

Currently, there are over 1 crore registered assessees on the GST Nework (GSTN), but the number of those who file returns is much less.

Under GST rules, any entity registered under the previous Sales Tax–VAT (Value-Added Tax), Central Excise Duty of Service Tax regulations was required to be enrolled under the GST and get provisional certificates.

However, if the turnover of the entity is less than the GST threshold and he/she is not willing to go for voluntary registrations, such assessees had the option to get the provisional registration cancelled and move out of the GST net. However, many assessees fail to complete the process, and so they continued to be a part of the GST-assessee base.

GST was implemented from July 1 last year. In the very first year, the number of registered assessees increased by 72.5 per cent to 1.14 crore. Of these, 66.17 lakh were existing taxpayers, that is, those registered under previous VAT/Sales Tax, Central Excise or Service Tax regime; the remaining were new ones. The Government believes that the new assessees came into the net as a result of demonetisation, which resulted in the formalisation of the economy, prompting more and more people to get registered.

During the pre-GST regime, States had different slabs for registration under VAT/ST, which was as low as ₹1 lakh and could go up to ₹10 lakh: the thresholds for Service Tax and Central Excise were ₹10 lakh and ₹1.5 crore, respectively. Now the universal threshold is ₹20 lakh (or ₹10 lakh in some States), which means there will be fewer people paying tax and filing returns.

Another Finance Ministry official said that while a wider tax base is good, there is also a need to ensure an ‘effective’ tax base; the latest initiative will help achieve that. This kind of a tax base will serve two purposes: it will lighten the burden on the GSTN, and it will give a real picture of the indirect tax regime.

Source: Business Line

GSTR 3B required to be filed by 20th of Next Month from July 2018 to March 2019

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The Central Government has notified that the Form GSTR 3B for each month from July 2018 to March 2019 required to be filed by 20th of next month.

 

A Notification issued by the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) has said that “the return in FORM GSTR-3B of the said rules for each of the months from July, 2018 to March, 2019 shall be furnished electronically through the common portal, on or before the twentieth day of the month succeeding such month.

 

“Every registered person furnishing the return in FORM GSTR-3B of the said rules shall, subject to the provisions of section 49 of the said Act, discharge his liability towards tax, interest, penalty, fees or any other amount payable under the said Act by debiting the electronic cash ledger or electronic credit ledger, as the case may be, not later than the last date, as specified in the first paragraph, on which he is required to furnish the said return,” the Notification said.

 

GSTR-3B is a monthly return. All regular taxpayers need to file this return till June 2018. Taxpayers can file their return on GST Portal. Taxpayers have to file this return by 20th of the subsequent month.

 

 

To read the full text of the Notification, click here: GSTR 3B