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

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’

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

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

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

 

India replaces France as world’s 6th biggest economy

India’s GDP amounted to $2.597 trillion at the end of last year, against $2.582 trillion for France

India has become the world’s sixth-biggest economy, pushing France into seventh place, according to updated World Bank figures for 2017. India’s gross domestic product (GDP) amounted to $2.597 trillion at the end of last year, against $2.582 trillion for France. India’s economy rebounded strongly from July 2017, after several quarters of slowdown blamed on economic policies pursued by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government.

India, with around 1.34 billion inhabitants, is poised to become the world’s most populous nation, whereas the French population stands at 67 million. This means that India’s per capita GDP continues to amount to just a fraction of that of France which is still roughly 20 times higher, according to World Bank figures.

Manufacturing and consumer spending were the main drivers of the Indian economy last year, after a slowdown blamed on the demonetisation of large banknotes that Modi imposed at the end of 2016, as well as a chaotic implementation of a new harmonised goods and service tax regime.

India has doubled its GDP within a decade and is expected to power ahead as a key economic engine in Asia, even as China slows down.

According to the International Monetary Fund, India is projected to generate growth of 7.4% this year and 7.8% in 2019, boosted by household spending and a tax reform. This compares to the world’s expected average growth of 3.9%.

The London-based Centre for Economics and Business Research, a consultancy, said at the end of last year that India would overtake both Britain and France this year in terms of GDP, and had a good chance to become the world’s third-biggest economy by 2032.

At the end of 2017, Britain was still the world’s fifth-biggest economy with a GDP of $2.622 trillion. The US is the world’s top economy, followed by China, Japan and Germany.

 

GST payers can move jurisdictional tax officer to change username, password

 

Taxpayer would be required to approach the concerned jurisdictional tax officer to get the password for the GST Identification Number (GSTIN) allotted to the business

The Finance Ministry on Thursday said that GST registrants can approach jurisdictional tax officer with valid documents to change the e-mail and mobile number recorded against their GST identification number (GSTIN).

 

The revenue department had received complaints from taxpayers that the intermediaries who were authorised by them to apply for registration on their behalf had used their own e-mail and mobile number during the process.

 

These intermediaries are not sharing the user details with the taxpayers.

 

“With a view to address this difficulty of the taxpayer, a functionality to update e-mail and mobile number of the authorised signatory is available in the GST system.

 

“The e-mail and mobile number can be updated by the concerned jurisdictional tax authority of the taxpayer,” the ministry said in a statement.

 

Taxpayer would be required to approach the concerned jurisdictional tax officer to get the password for the GSTIN allotted to the business. Taxpayers can check jurisdiction through ‘Search Taxpayer’ option available on GST portal.

 

Taxpayer would be required to provide valid documents to the tax officer as proof of his/her identity and to validate the business details related to his GSTIN. Following this, the officer would authenticate the activity and enter the new e-mail address and mobile number provided by the taxpayer.

 

After uploading of the documents, tax officer will reset the password for GSTIN in the system and username and temporary password reset will be communicated to the e-mail address as entered by the officer.

 

Taxpayer would then have to login on GST portal using the username and temporary password e-mailed to him. The username and password can now be changed by the taxpayer.

 

Source: Business Standard

GST refund drive extended till June 16

Relief for exporters as govt extends special GST refund drive till June 16

The Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) has extended the refund fortnight for fast track clearance of pending dues to exporters by two days till June 16.

The central and state tax officials have already cleared refunds worth over Rs 7,500 crore since May 31, when the special drive to clear exporters refund was launched.

“In view of overwhelming response from exporters and pending claims, the period of refund fortnight is being extended by two more days i.e up to June 16, 2018,” a finance ministry statement said.

With about Rs 14,000 crore of exporters refunds stuck due to various mismatches, the CBIC had organised the second phase of the special fortnight to fast track clearances.During the first phase, between March 15 and 29, an amount of Rs 5,350 crore was sanctioned.

The ministry further said, in case of short payment of integrated GST (IGST), small exporters whose aggregate IGST refund amount for the period July 2017 to March 2018 is up to Rs 10 lakhs are required to submit self-certified copies of proof of payment of IGST to the concerned customs office at the port of export.

Others are required to submit a certificate from a Chartered Accountant including the proof of payment.

All GST refund claimants, whose claims are still pending, are being encouraged to approach their jurisdictional tax authority for disposal of their refund claims submitted on or before April 30, the statement said.

“In case of any problem, exporters are advised to approach the Commissioner of Customs /Jurisdictional Tax Authorities. The government is committed to clear all the remaining refund claims filed up to 30.04.2018 are still pending,” it added.