(Last Updated On: July 22, 2018)

28th GST Council Meeting Key takeaway

The GST Council in its 28^thmeeting held here today has recommended certain amendments in the CGST Act, IGST Act, UTGST Act and the GST (Compensation to States) Act.These amendments will now be placed before the Parliament and the legislature of State and Union territories with legislatures for carrying out the amendments in the respective GST Acts.

Composition scheme

Upper limit of turnover for opting for composition scheme to be raised from Rs. 1 crore to Rs. 1.5 crore. Present limit of turnover can now be raised on the recommendations of the Council.
Composition dealers to be allowed to supply services (other than restaurant services), for upto a value not exceeding 10% of turnover in the preceding financial year, or Rs. 5 lakhs, whichever is higher.

Reverse charge mechanism

Levy of GST on reverse charge mechanism on receipt of supplies from unregistered suppliers, to be applicable to only specified goods in case of certain notified classes of registered persons, on the recommendations of the GST Council.

Registration

The threshold exemption limit for registration in the States of Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Meghalaya,Sikkim and Uttarakhand to be increased to Rs. 20 Lakhs from Rs. 10 Lakhs.
Taxpayers may opt for multiple registrations within a State/Union territory in respect of multiple places of business located within the same State/Union territory.
Mandatory registration is required for only those e-commerce operators who are required to collect tax at source.
Registration to remain temporarily suspended while cancellation of registration is under process, so that the taxpayer is relieved of continued compliance under the law.

Supply

The following transactions to be treated as no supply (no tax payable) under Schedule III of CGST Act 2017:

Supply of goods from a place in the non-taxable territory to another place in the non-taxable territory without such goods entering into India;
Supply of warehoused goods to any person before clearance for home consumption; and
Supply of goods in case of high sea sales.

Input Tax Credit

Scope of input tax credit is being widened, and it would now be made available in respect of the following:

Most of the activities or transactions specified in Schedule III of CGST Act 2017:;
Motor vehicles for transportation of persons having seating capacity of more than thirteen (including driver), vessels and aircraft;
Motor vehicles for transportation of money for or by a banking company or financial institution;
Services of general insurance, repair and maintenance in respect of motor vehicles, vessels and aircraft on which credit is available; and
Goods or services which are obligatory for an employer to provide to its employees, under any law for the time being in force.
In case the recipient fails to pay the due amount to the supplier within 180 days from the date of issue of invoice, the input tax credit availed by the recipient will be reversed, but liability to pay interest is being done away with.
The order of cross-utilisation of input tax credit is being rationalised.

consolidated credit/debit notes

Registered persons may issue consolidated credit/debit notes in respect of multiple invoices issued in a Financial Year.

Appeal

Amount of pre-deposit payable for filing of appeal before the Appellate Authority and the Appellate Tribunal to be capped at Rs. 25 Crores and Rs. 50 Crores, respectively.

Recovery

Recovery can be made from distinct persons, even if present in different State/Union territories.

Return

Commissioner to be empowered to extend the time limit for return of inputs and capital sent on job work, upto a period of one year and two years, respectively.

Export

Supply of services to qualify as exports, even if payment is received in Indian Rupees, where permitted by the RBI.

Place of Supply

Place of supply in case of job work of any treatment or process done on goods temporarily imported into India and then exported without putting them to any other use in India, to be outside India.

Opening of migration window for tax payers

The GST Council in its 28^th meeting has approved the proposal to open the migration window for taxpayers, who received provisional IDs but could not complete the migration process.

The taxpayers who filed Part A of FORM GST REG-26, but not Part B of the said FORM are requested to approach the jurisdictional Central Tax/State Tax nodal officerswith the necessary details on or before 31^stAugust, 2018.

The nodal officer would then forward the details to GSTN for enabling migration of such taxpayers.

It has also been decided to waive the late fee payable for delayed filing of return in such cases.Such taxpayers are required to first file the returns on payment of late fees, and the waiver will be effected by way of reversal of the amount paid as late fees in the cash ledger under the tax head.

Taxpayers who intend to complete the migration process are requested to approach their jurisdictional Central Tax/State Tax nodal officers in this regard.

New GST Return Formats

The GST Council in its 28^th meeting held on 21.07.2018 has approved the new return formats and associated changes in law. It may be recalled that in the 27^thmeeting held on 4^thof May, 2018 the Council had approved the basic principles of GST return design and directed the law committee to finalize the return formats and changes in law.

The formats and business process approved were in line with the basic principles with one major change i.e the option of filing quarterly return with monthly payment of tax in a simplified return format by the small tax payers.

Quarterly return

The Council approved quarterly filing of return for the small taxpayers having turnover below Rs. 5 Cr as an optional facility.

Quarterly return shall be similar to main return with monthly payment facility but for two kinds of registered persons –

small traders making only B2C (business to Customers) supply or
making B2B (Business to Business) + B2C supply.

For such taxpayers, simplified returns have been designed called Sahaj and Sugam. In these returns details of information required to be filled is lesser than that in the regular return.

Two Tables in return

All taxpayers excluding small taxpayers and a few exceptions like ISD (input Service Distributor) etc. shall file one monthly return. The return is simple with two main tables.

One for reporting outward supplies and
one for availing input tax credit based on invoices uploaded by the supplier.

Invoices can be uploaded continuously by the seller and can be continuously viewed and locked by the buyer for availing input tax credit.

This process would ensure that very large part of the return is automatically filled based on the invoices uploaded by the buyer and the seller. Simply put, the process would be “UPLOAD – LOCK – PAY” for most tax payers.

Profile Creation

Taxpayers would have facility to create his profile based on nature of supplies made and received. The fields of information which a taxpayer would be shown and would be required to fill in the return would depend on his profile.

NIL Return

NIL return filers (no purchase and no sale) shall be given facility to file return by sending SMS.

Amendment of GST Returns

The new return design provides facility for amendment of invoice and also other details filed in the return. Amendment shall be carried out by filing of a return called amendment return.

Payment would be allowed to be made through the amendment return as it will help save interest liability for the taxpayers.

93% of the taxpayers have a turnover of less than Rs 5 Cr and these taxpayers would benefit substantially from the simplification measures proposed improving their ease of doing business. Even the large taxpayers would find the design of new return quite user friendly.

GST rate on Services

Refer 28th GST Council Meeting decisions on GST rate on Services

GST rate on Goods

Refer 28th GST Council Meeting Rate Reduction on Certain Goods