New GST Return System for Taxpayers: Here are all the Details

The GST Council in its 31st meeting had decided that a new GST return system will be introduced for taxpayers.

The government has unveiled a transition plan for taxpayers under the goods and services tax to switch to new simpler return forms. In order to ease the transition process, between July-September the new form would be available on trial basis for familiarisation.

The GST Council in its 31st meeting had decided that a new GST return system will be introduced for taxpayers.

The Goods and Services Tax Network had shared a prototype of the offline tool in May, 2019, an official statement said on Tuesday. The look and feel of the offline tool would be same as that of the online portal.

There are three main components to the new return – one main return (FORM GST RET-1)and two annexures (FORM GST ANX-1 and FORM GST ANX-2).

From July, 2019, users would be able to upload invoices using the FORM GST ANX-1 offline tool on trial basis for familiarisation. They would also be able to view and download, the inward supply of invoices using the FORM GST ANX-2 offline tool under the trial program.

The summary of inward supply invoices would also be available for view on the common portal online. They would also be able to import their purchase register in the offline tool and match it with the downloaded inward supply invoices to find mismatches from August 2019.

Between July to September, 2019 for three months, the new return system (ANX-1 & ANX-2 only) would be available for trial for taxpayers to make themselves familiar, the statement said.

This trial would have no impact at the back end on the tax liability or input tax credit of the taxpayer, the statement added.

In this period, taxpayers shall continue to fulfil their compliances by filing FORM GSTR-1 and FORM GSTR-3B i.e. taxpayers would continue to file their outward supply details in FORM GSTR-1 on monthly or quarterly basis and return in FORM GSTR-3B on monthly basis. Non-filing of these returns shall attract penal provisions under the GST Act, it said.

From October, 2019 onwards, FORM GST ANX-1 shall be compulsory and FORM GSTR-1would be replaced by FORM GST ANX-1.

Large taxpayers, with aggregate annual turnover over Rs 5 crore in the previous financial year, would upload their monthly FORM GST ANX-1 from October, 2019 onwards.

FORM GST ANX-2may be viewed simultaneously during this period but no action shall be allowed on such FORM GST ANX-2, the statement said.

For October and November, 2019, large taxpayers would continue to file FORM GSTR-3B on monthly basis. They would file their first FORM GST RET-01 for the month of December, 2019 by 20th January, 2020.

The small taxpayers would stop filing FORM GSTR-3B and would start filing FORM GST PMT-08 from October, 2019 onwards. They would file their first FORM GST-RET-01 for the quarter October, 2019 to December, 2019 from 20th January, 2020. From January, 2020 onwards, all taxpayers shall be filing FORM GST RET-01 and FORM GSTR-3B shall be completely phased out, the statement said. The government will issue separate instructions for filing and processing of refund applications between October to December, 2019.

B2B invoices will have to be generated on govt portal by September to check GST evasion

All invoices for business-to-business sales by entities beyond a specified turnover threshold will be generated on a centralised government portal by September, a move aimed at curbing the menace of fake invoices and evasion of GST, officials said. The revenue secretary is monitoring the progress of implementation of electronic or e-invoice project for which an officers’ committee has already been set up, they added.
E-invoice for B2B transactions will be rolled out in next three-four months in a phased manner. The entire invoice would have to be generated on a government portal,” an official told .

Once rolled out, the e-invoice project will allow businesses to simultaneously generate e-way bill, if needed,” the official added. E-way bill is required for moving goods exceeding Rs 50,000.

Depending on the success of the project in the B2B segment, the revenue department would be looking at extending it to business-to-consumer (B2C) sales, especially in sectors where the probability of tax evasion is high.

Businesses beyond the specified turnover threshold, to be decided later, would be provided a software which will be linked to the GST Network (GSTN) or a government portal for generating e-invoice. The threshold can also be fixed on the basis of the value of invoice.

The e-invoice generation method will be similar to the one being followed for e-way bill on the ‘ewaybill.nic.in’ portal or payment of GST on the GSTN portal.

A 13-member officers’ committee, comprising central and state tax officials as well as the GST Network Chief Executive, has been set up to look into the feasibility of introducing e-invoice system to streamline generation of invoices and easing compliance burden. The committee will finalise its interim report this month.

The proposed ‘e-invoice’ is part of the exercise to check GST evasion. With almost two years into GST implementation, the government is now focussing on anti-evasion measures to shore up revenue and increase compliance.

There are over 1.21 crore registered businesses under the GST, of which 20 lakh are under the composition scheme.

Blocking of Interstate Transactions for Composition dealers

As per the GST Act, the composition tax payers are not supposed to do Interstate transactions. Hence next version will not allow generation of e-way bill for inter-state movement, if the supplier is composition tax payer. Also, the supplies of composition tax payers will not be allowed to enter any of the taxes under CGST or SGST for intrastate transactions. In case of Composition tax payer, document type of Tax Invoice will not be enabled.

Extension of E-Way Bill in Case Consignment is in Transit

The transporters had represented to incorporate the provision to extend the E-way Bill, when the goods are in transit. The transit means the goods could be on Road or in Warehouse. This facility is being incorporated in the next version for the extension of E-way Bill.

During the extension of the e-way bill, the user is prompted to answer whether the Consignment is in Transit or in Movement. On selection of In Transit, the address details of the transit place need to be provided. On selection of In Movement the system will prompt the user to enter the Place and Vehicle details from where the extension is required. In both these scenarios, the destination PIN will be considered from the PART-A of the E-way Bill for calculation of distance for movement and validity date. Route distance will be calculated as explained above.

One Invoice – One E-way Bill

Blocking of generation of multiple E-Way Bills on one Invoice/document

Based on the representation received by the transporters, the government has decided not to allow generation of multiple e-way bills based on one invoice, by any party – consignor, consignee and transporter. That is, once E-way Bill is generated with an invoice number, then none of the parties – consignor, consignee or transporter – can generate the E-Way Bill with the same invoice number. One Invoice, One E-way Bill policy is followed. The change will come in the next version.

Auto Calculation Distance based on PIN Code

 Auto calculation of route distance based on PIN code for generation of EWB

Now, E-waybill system is being enabled to auto calculate the route distance for movement of goods, based on the Postal PIN codes of source and destination locations. That is, the e-waybill system will calculate and display the actual distance between the supplier and recipient addresses. User is allowed to enter the actual distance as per his movement of goods. However, it will be limited to 10% more than the displayed distance for entry. That is, if the system has displayed the distance between Place A and B, based on the PIN codes, as 655 KMs, then the user can enter the actual distance up to 720KMs (655KMs + 65KMs). In case, the source PIN and destination PIN are same, the user can enter up to a maximum of 100KMs only. If the PIN entered is incorrect, the system would alert the user as INVALID PIN CODE. However, he can continue entering the distance. Further, these e-waybills having INVALID PIN codes are flagged for review by the department. Route distance calculation between source and destination uses the data from various electronic sources. This data employs various attributes, for example: road class, direction of travel, average speed, traffic data etc. These attributes are picked up from traffic that is on National highways, state highways, expressways, district highways as well as main roads inside the cities. A proprietary logic is then used for approximating the distance between two postal pin codes. The distance thus derived is then provided as the motorable distance at that point of time.

 

BSE Launches XBRL Taxonomy for Listed Insurance Companies to File Their Financial Results on the Exchange

Mumbai, Friday, 8 February 2019: BSE, Asia’s oldest exchange and now world’s fastest exchange with the speed of 6 microseconds has launched the XBRL taxonomy for enabling listed insurance companies to file their financial results with the exchange. It will now be mandatory for all listed insurance companies to file their financial results in XBRL format for period ending March 31, 2019, onwards.

The filing of results in XBRL was already mandatory for all other types of listed entities, which has now been extended to listed insurance companies too.

BSE has also made available the simple Excel Utility with built-in validations to assist companies to simply fill in the details and prepare the XBRL file for uploading into BSE’s Listing Portal. The exchange has also made the XBRL taxonomy available to all listed companies free of cost, on its website for enabling companies to directly generate XBRL files.

All companies would be required to file the financial results in PDF format along with the LRR/Auditors Report, through CAFS system within 30 minutes of conclusion of Board Meeting and follow this up with the XBRL filing within 24 hours. Announcements through BSE’s CAFS system will reflect seamlessly and almost instantaneously on the exchange’s website for public dissemination.

BSE is well known for adopting state-of-the-art technologies and using them to provide its users and customers a more enriching and satisfying experience. This investor-friendly move is expected to enable faster and better decision making by investors and public at large.

BSE Launches XBRL Taxonomy for Listed Insurance Companies

XBRL taxonomy for enabling listed insurance companies to file their financial results with the exchange

BSE, Asia’s oldest exchange and now world’s fastest exchange with the speed of 6 microseconds has launched the XBRL taxonomy for enabling listed insurance companies to file their financial results with the exchange. It will now be mandatory for all listed insurance companies to file their financial results in XBRL format for period ending March 31, 2019, onwards.

The filing of results in XBRL was already mandatory for all other types of listed entities, which has now been extended to listed insurance companies too.

BSE has also made available the simple Excel Utility with built-in validations to assist companies to simply fill in the details and prepare the XBRL file for uploading into BSE’s Listing Portal. The exchange has also made the XBRL taxonomy available to all listed companies free of cost, on its website for enabling companies to directly generate XBRL files.

All companies would be required to file the financial results in PDF format along with the LRR/Auditors Report, through CAFS system within 30 minutes of conclusion of Board Meeting and follow this up with the XBRL filing within 24 hours. Announcements through BSE’s CAFS system will reflect seamlessly and almost instantaneously on the exchange’s website for public dissemination.

BSE is well known for adopting state-of-the-art technologies and using them to provide its users and customers a more enriching and satisfying experience. This investor-friendly move is expected to enable faster and better decision making by investors and public at large.

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.

FASTag: How GST will cruise ahead with new-age tech

The government took a leap in logistics by introducing e-way bills to check tax evasion by tracking the movement of goods and establishing direct linkage between what is declared and what is actually moved. Now it is trying to make the e-way bill system even stricter. It has found an innovative way to check evasion of the Goods and Services Tax (GST). It is planning to link the GST Network with FASTag mechanism of the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) and Logistics Data Bank (LDB) services of the Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor Development Corporation

What is FASTag?
FASTag is a device that employs Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology for making toll payments directly from the prepaid or savings account linked to it. It is affixed on the windscreen of the vehicle and enables the commuter to drive through toll plazas without stopping for cash transactions. Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari had announced in September this year that all toll plazas in India would get FASTags over the next four months.

In July this year, the government had proposed making FASTag and vehicle tracking systems mandatory for commercial vehicles seeking a national permit. FASTag was made mandatory for all new four-wheelers from December 2017. Mandatory FASTag is aimed at decongesting toll plazas and saving time and fuel. The government has launched a mobile app through which highway users can buy FASTags which are delivered to the user’s doorsteps within 24 hours.

The GST linkage
The revenue department is planning to integrate e-way bills with FASTag mechanism to facilitate faster movement of goods and check GST evasion. E-way bills are required for moving goods worth over Rs 50,000 from one state to another. The e-way bills will also be linked to LDB services of the DMICDC. LDB too uses RFID technology to provide container tracking services in India by integrating multiple information nodes across various agencies.

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