Category: Announcement

No GST Returns, No E-way Bill, Says GST Council

With a steep rise in non-compliance in filing GST returns, the GST Council is soon set to stop generating e-way bills for traders who have not filed returns for two consecutive quarters.

“As soon as the new IT system that will ensure barring of e-way bill generation if returns are not filed for six months is put in place, the new rules will be notified,” an official said.

As per GST norms, an e-way bill is necessary for moving goods worth over Rs 50,000 from one state to another.

The move has been initiated after recording lower-than-expected revenue collection under GST. Against the budgeted monthly revenue target of Rs 1 lakh crore, GST collections have so far averaged Rs 96,800 crore a month this fiscal.

According to the government’s own admission, GST compliance has steadily declined over the past year with 28.75 per cent of regular taxpayers not filing returns in November 2018, against 10.56 per cent in November 2017, an almost three-fold increase in non-filers. Among taxpayers under the composite scheme, non-filers increased to 25.37 per cent in the July-Sept period of 2018-2019 from 15.03 per cent in the same period the previous year

Fake invoices to claim input tax credit also increased from only four cases involving Rs 9.75 crore to 499 involving Rs 3894.94 crore. Central tax officers have detected 3,626 cases of GST evasion/violations cases, involving Rs 15,278.18 crore in the April-December period.

To shore up revenue and increase compliance, the government had said that stringent anti-evasion measures have to be put in place. Another step being initiated is to tag eway bills to the FASTag mechanism. Beginning April, the revenue department is working on integrating the e-way bill system with NHAI’s FASTag mechanism to help track movement of goods. There have been reports that some transporters are doing multiple trips by generating a single e-way bill. Integration of e-way bill with FASTag would help find the location of vehicles, and when and how many times they cross NHAI’s toll plazas.

Changes in E-way Bill from 16th November 2018

The National Informatics Centre E-way Bill Project has published a list of improvements in the E-way Bill under the Goods and Services Tax (GST) regime. The changes would be applicable with effect from 16th November 2018.

As per the document issued by the NIC, the following changes will be made in the e-way bills.

Checking of duplicate generation of e-way bills based on same invoice number: The e-way bill system is enabled in a way that if the consignor has generated one e-way bill on the particular invoice, then he or consignee or transporter will not be allowed to generate one more e-way bill on the same invoice number. If the transporter or consignee has generated one e-way bill on the consignor’s invoice, then if any other party (consignor, transporter or consignee) tries to generate the e-way bill, the system will alert that there is already one e-way bill for that invoice, and further it allows him to continue, if he wants.

CKD/SKD/Lots for movement of Export/Import consignment: CKD/SKD/Lots supply type can now be used for movement of the big consignment in batches, during Import & Export also. Delivery challan and tax invoice need to accompany goods as prescribed in Rule 55 (5) of CGST Rules, 2017.

Shipping address in case of export supply type : For Export supply type, the ‘Bill To’ Party will be URP or GSTIN of SEZ Unit with state as ‘Other Country’ and shipping address and PIN code can be given as the location (airport/shipping yard/border check post/ address of SEZ), from where the consignment is moving out from the country.

Dispatching address in case of import supply type : For Import supply, the ‘Bill From’ Party will be URP or GSTIN of SEZ Unit with state as ‘Other Country’ and dispatching address and PIN code can be given as the location (airport/shipping yard/border check post/ address of SEZ), from where the consignment is entering the country.

Enhancement in ‘Bill To – Ship To’transactions: EWB generation is now categorized to four types now Regular and Bill to Ship to, Bill from Dispatch from & combination of both.

Changes in Bulk Generation Tool : Facility of EWB generation through the Bulk Generation Tool has been enhanced.

visit :-   www.Ewaybills.com

Government Extends Deadline for Filing of GSTR 1 for July

The government on Saturday said it is extending the deadline to file GSTR 1 for July.

The government has also decided to form a 3-member inter-ministerial team to look at the technical issues around GSTN and the problems users were facing in uploading their returns on the portal. The decision was taken at the 21st Meeting of GST Council at Hyderabad on Saturday.

“Formation of the three member inter-ministerial panel to look at the functioning of GSTN to address issues pertaining to uploading of the returns on GSTN appears to be a good move. Hope this panel not only looks at the issues being faced, but more importantly provides quick resolution for the same,” says KPMG India, Partner-GST, Harpreet Singh.

According to the government 45 plus lakh GSTR-3B returns have been filed, and only 17 lakh GSTR-1 had been filed till Friday. Around 13 plus crore invoices had been filed. However, with the GST portal crashing frequently, there has been widespread outrage among taxpayers about their inability in filing returns.

After the GST portal stopped functioning, the Government on September 4 has extended the deadline to file GSTR 1 to September 10. Subsequently, filling of GSTR 2 and GSTR 3 was also extended to September 25 and 30 respectively.

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/small-biz/policy-trends/government-extends-filing-of-gstr-1-for-july-till-september-15/articleshow/60439308.cms

GST Council’s JUNE18 Meet to Finalise E-way Bill, Anti-profiteering Rules

NEW DELHI, JUNE 15:

With less than two weeks to go, the Centre and States are hoping to wrap up discussions on the goods and services tax (GST) this weekend and approve the e-way bill and anti-profiteering rules.

The GST Council will meet on June 18 and will also finalise the tax rate on lottery as well as the other remaining rules.

“The main agenda items are approval of draft GST rules and related forms for advance ruling, appeals and revision, assessment and audit e-way bill and anti-profiteering,” the Finance Ministry said in a release on Thursday, adding that it may also look into fitment and adjustment of GST rates on some more items.

The Council had met on June 11 when it lowered rates on 66 items and also approved rules for accounts and records under GST.

“We hope this is the last round of discussions and all pending issues are finalised. Another meeting may take place after this but only to review the preparedness for the new regime,” said an official source.

The government hopes to roll out GST from July 1.

But approval of the all-important anti-profiteering rules and e-way bill, which are seen as critical components of the new regime are still pending.

While the Council has already approved the mechanism for the anti profiteering agency, it is yet to be notified until the final rules are approved.

The draft e-way bill was issued in April and made it mandatory for movement of goods of over ₹50,000 to be registered with the GST Network. While the States are keen to roll it out with the new tax regime, the requisite infrastructure is still not in place. The Centre and the GSTN have indicated that it should be pushed back by a few months.

Rate on lottery

Meanwhile, the GST Council also has to finalise the tax rate on lottery.

With a number of States like Kerala, Sikkim and Maharashtra earning significant revenue from lottery, sources said that the Council may choose to follow the model for entertainment under GST.

Lottery is likely to be put in the 28 per cent tax slab under GST, along with a cess. States would then also levy an additional tax or cess at the local level to ensure that they do not lose out on revenue.

Automobiles

The Council will also review the tax position on automobiles as manufacturers have been calling for a re-look on the proposed GST rate on hybrid cars.

The Council had last month fixed 43 per cent tax (28 per cent GST plus 15 per cent cess) on hybrid cars and Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had indicated that it may not be reviewed. However, a discussion paper was floated.

http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/economy/gst-council-to-meet-on-june-18-to-finalise-draft-rules-tax-rate-on-lottery/article9727657.ece

ICAI Sets up Desks to Help Traders With GST

Chartered accountants’ apex body Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) has set up desks to help small businessmen and traders on Goods and Services Tax (GST), which is set to be rolled out from July 1.

ICAI GST Sahayata Desks have been made operational, without any charge, in all major cities to facilitate small businessmen, traders, shopkeepers and public at large.

ICAI said these desks would be made operational at around 200 locations in all different parts of the country. Among others, these desks would create basic awareness on GST, inform individuals about the benefits and help them in migration to the new system.

“The GST Sahayata Desks would be operational w.e.f May 28, 2017, till September 30, 2017, at a pan-India level,” it said in a release today. The GST would replace multiple taxes system from July 1, and it would also boost economic growth in the country because of the development of a common market, ICAI President Nilesh S Vikamsey said.

 

http://www.moneycontrol.com/news/economy/policy/icai-sets-up-desks-to-help-traders-with-gst-2291937.html

GST: India’s Great Migration Challenge

New Delhi: Amid all the lobbying in fixing goods and services tax (GST) rates and with the 1 July implementation deadline fast approaching, businesses are busy completing the migration process. Businesses have to migrate from the present value-added tax (VAT), service tax and central excise registration to a GST registration.

Out of 84 lakh entities, 60.5 lakh have registered with the GST Network (GSTN), said a recent finance ministry statement. The enrolment window, which was suspended on 30 April, has been reopened on 1 June for 15 days.

However, it should be noted that those already registered under the GST portal can migrate. Fresh registrations are yet to begin.

Given the very large number of assessees and the plethora of details required to be furnished, migrating to a new tax regime was never going to be a cakewalk. As anticipated, there are a slew of challenges businesses are facing, the most common being of integration and upgradation of existing IT infrastructure to make it GST compliant, tax experts pointed out.

Though there is a certain level of IT enablement even today in excise and service tax, GST will significantly enhance the dependence on the IT interface. While larger organizations are better equipped to overcome this hurdle, small and medium sized enterprises are struggling.

Manual invoicing will soon be a thing of past and even completion of the migration process is an additional task requiring new manpower and costs.

The not-so-user-friendly migration process and inability of the GSTN to bear the load of data at certain times is giving businesses a tough time, tax experts said. The government is firm about GSTN being completely prepared to deal with the sea of data, but it would be interesting to see how things pan out post 1 July.

Secondly, large businesses now have to ensure that not only them, but their vendors too are registered on the GST network.

“This is a key challenge while migrating because dealing with non-registered vendors would increase the compliance burden, affect ability to claim input tax credit and impact compliance ratings,” M.S. Mani, senior director-indirect tax, Deloitte Haskins & Sells LLP, said.

Further, many companies may have to rework long-term contracts with customers and standardize them while migrating to GST. “This may not be acceptable to their customers and hence an elongated negotiation cycle would begin. Re-framing a large number of contacts is certainly a difficult task,” he added.

Also, between service providers and manufacturers, the former are likely to face larger migration challenges than the latter, mainly because manufacturers are used to a slew of indirect taxes and registrations, but service providers in the pre-GST era were not used to dealing with state authorities, with many of them having a centralized service tax registration. Registration at multiple locations comes as a bigger hurdle for them, tax experts said.

To conclude, for a country of our size, migrating to a unique and customized GST regime is nothing less than historic. Though beneficial in the long-term, a run up to GST implementation has led to near-term supply-chain disruption. Complex rules and rate structure are sure to increase the compliance burden, especially for small and medium companies and the jury is still out whether GST will really improve the ease of doing business in India.

Centre, States May Settle For 4 Percent GST on Gold, Silver

NEW DELHI: The Centre and the states may settle for 4% goods and services tax (GST) on bullion and opt for a special rate for financial services, amid intense lobbying from the two sectors in the run up to the rollout from July.

In addition, the GST Council — the apex decision-making body comprising state finance ministers and headed by Union finance minister Arun Jaitley — is discussing whether to include handloom and handicrafts as well as bidis in the tax net, although the house is still divided.

Sources told TOI that bidis, which are currently exempt, may be brought under the net as they are sin goods, like cigarettes, which will face a cess. Cigarette companies have been arguing for a while that bidis should also be subjected to high taxes but there is a lobby that has been making a case for keeping it out, given that thousands depend on it for livelihood.

A similar case is also being made for handloom and handicrafts, where some of the states as well as the textiles ministry is in favour of either exempting them from GST or keeping them at zero rate. But there is an equally powerful argument to ensure that GST of 5% is levied. Sources also said that in case of gold and silver the southern states are in favour of a 6% levy, considering some of them levy up to 5% VAT. In contrast, some of the western states are keen on a low levy of 1% or so. While slabs for goods were finalised by the GST Council, bullion and services were kept out of the decision.

Revenue secretary Hasmukh Adhia recently indicated that there may be two rates for services, although he refrained from disclosing the levels. Experts believe that certain services may be put in the 18% bracket with a lower levy of 12% on others.

In addition, sources said, a special dispensation may be made for financial services — such as banking and insurance — which has been lobbying with the GST Council for a simpler regime, including an exemption from state-wise registration.

The decision on rates is expected at the next meeting of the GST Council, scheduled in Srinagar on May 18 and 19, where product-specific levies are expected to be finalised along with rules that will govern the new tax regime. The commerce ministry is also keen that some of the concerns such as refund of taxes to exporters be reworked.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/business/india-business/centre-states-may-settle-for-4-per-cent-gst-on-gold-silver/articleshow/58635963.cms