GST WEEKLY UPDATE : 36/2023-24 (03.12.2023)

1. Advisory for the procedures and provisions related to the amnesty for taxpayers who missed the appeal filing deadline for the orders passed on or before March 31, 2023:

1.   Amnesty for Taxpayers: The GST Council, in its 52nd meeting, recommended granting amnesty to taxpayers who could not file an appeal under section 107 of the CGST (Central Goods and Services Tax) Act, 2017, against the demand order under section 73 or 74 of the CGST Act, 2017, passed on or before March 31, 2023, or whose appeal against the said order was rejected due to not being filed within the specified time frame in sub-section (1) of section 107.

2.   In compliance with the above GST Council recommendation, the government has issued Notification No. 53/2023 on November 2, 2023.

3.   Taxpayers can now file an appeal in FORM GST APL-01 on the GST portal on or before January 31, 2024, for the order passed by the proper officer on or before March 31, 2023. It is further advised that the taxpayers should make payments for entertaining the appeal by the Appellate officer as per the provisions of Notification No. 53/2023. The GST Portal allows taxpayers to choose the mode of payment (electronic Credit/Cash ledger), and it is the responsibility of the taxpayer to select the appropriate ledgers and make the correct payments. Further, the office of the Appellate Authority shall check the correctness of the payment before entertaining the appeal and any appeal filed without proper payment may be dealt with as per the legal provisions.

4.   If a taxpayer has already filed an appeal and wants it to be covered by the benefit of the amnesty scheme would need to make differential payments to comply with Notification No. 53/2023. The payment should be made against the demand order using the “Payment towards demand” facility available on the GST portal. The navigation step for making this payment is provided: Login >> Services >> Ledgers >> Payment towards Demand.

5.   Taxpayers who have previously filed an appeal but it was rejected as time barred in APL-02 by the Appellate authority, then the taxpayer would be able to refile the appeal. However, in case, the taxpayers face any issue while re-filing APL-01, a ticket shall be raised on the Grievance redressal portal: https://selfservice.gstsystem.in. The taxpayer shall select the Category “Amnesty Scheme” and the sub-category “Amnesty scheme- Issue in appeal filing” while raising a ticket.

6.   Furthermore, if the Appellate authority has issued a rejection order in APL-04 due to the appeal application being time-barred, then the taxpayer has to approach the respective Appellate authority office well in advance to comply with the dates in the said notification. The Appellate authority after checking the eligibility of the taxpayer for the amnesty scheme will forward the case to GSTN through the State Nodal officer.

7.   Also, it is important to note that for the APL 04 issued cases no direct representations will be entertained by GSTN or through the Grievance redressal portal. APL 04-issued cases have to be compulsorily forwarded through the State Nodal officer.

8.   Post receiving the case from the State nodal officer, GSTN will enable the taxpayer to file an appeal against the concerned order.

2. Advisory for Pilot Project of Biometric-Based Aadhaar Authentication and Document Verification for GST Registration Applicants of Andhra Pradesh: 

This is to inform taxpayers about recent developments concerning the application process for GST registration. It is advised to keep the following key points in mind during the registration process.

1.  Rule 8 of the CGST Rules, 2017 has been amended to provide that an applicant can be identified on the common portal, based on data analysis and risk parameters for Biometric-based Aadhaar Authentication and taking photograph of the applicant along with the verification of the original copy of the documents uploaded with the application.

2.  The above-said functionality has been developed by GSTN. It will be rolled out in Andhra Pradesh on 4th December, 2023.

3.  The said functionality now also provides for the document verification and appointment booking process. After the submission of the application in Form GST REG-01, the applicant will receive either of the following links in the e-mail,

(a)   A Link for OTP-based Aadhaar Authentication OR

(b)    A link for booking an appointment with a message to visit a GST Suvidha Kendra (GSK) along with the details of the GSK and jurisdiction, for Biometric-based Aadhaar Authentication and document verification (the intimation e-mail)

4.  If the applicant receives the link for OTP-based Aadhaar Authentication as mentioned in point 3(a), she/he can proceed with the application as per the existing process.

5.  However, if the applicant receives the link as mentioned in point 3(b), she/he will be required to book the appointment to visit the designated GSK, using the link provided in the e-mail. Once the applicant gets the confirmation of appointment through e-mail (the appointment confirmation e-mail), she/he will be able to visit the designated GSK as per the chosen schedule.

6.  At the time of the visit of GSK, the applicant is required to carry the following details.

(a)    a copy (hard/soft) of the appointment confirmation e-mail

      (b)    the details of jurisdiction as mentioned in the intimation e-mail

(c)    Aadhaar Number

(d)    the original documents that were uploaded with the application, as communicated by the intimation e-mail.

7.  The biometric authentication and document verification will be done at the GSK, for all the required individuals as per the GST application Form REG-01.

8.  The applicant is required to choose an appointment for the biometric verification during the maximum permissible period for the application as indicated in the intimation e-mail. In such cases, ARNs will be generated once the Biometric-based Aadhaar Authentication process and document verification are completed.

9.  The feature of booking an appointment to visit a designated GSK is currently available for the applicants of the Andhra Pradesh.

10. The operation days and hours of GSKs will be as per the guidelines provided by the administration in your respective state.

3. Advisory: Two-factor Authentication for Taxpayers:

1.  GSTN is introducing two-factor authentication (2FA) for taxpayers to strengthen the login security in GST portal. The pilot rollout has been done for a state of Haryana and working seamlessly. Currently, 2FA will be rolled out for Punjab, Chandigarh, Uttarakhand, Rajasthan and Delhi in 1st phase. In 2nd phase, it is planned to be rolled out all states across India.

2.  Taxpayers would need to provide one-time password (OTP) post entering user id and password, the OTP will be delivered to their Primary Authorized Signatory “Mobile number and E-mail id”.

3.  Tax-payers are requested to keep their email and mobile number of authorized signatory updated on the GST Portal for receiving the OTP communication. This OTP would only be asked, in case the tax-payer changes the system (desktop or laptop or browser) and location.

4.  The solution would be rolled out from 1st of December’2023.

4. Computation of Input Tax Credit (ITC) updated in GSTR-9:

The Annual Return GSTR-9’s Table 8A ITC computation has been updated, incorporating data from suppliers’ GSTR-1/IFF/GSTR-5 filings until 30th November 2023. The refreshed information is now finalized, and no further changes are expected in Table 8A. Any filings by suppliers after the update date will be considered in the subsequent update.

5.  CBIC Instructions; Serving of DRC-01 and uploading of DRC-07 electronically on the GST portal by the proper officer:

The CBIC issued Instruction No. 04/2023-GST dated November 23, 2023, regarding the serving of the summary of notice in FORM GST DRC-01 and uploading of the summary of order in FORM GST DRC-07 electronically on the portal by the proper officer.

• Reference is invited to the provisions of section 52, section 73, section 74, section 122, section 123, section 124, section 125, section 127, section 129 and section 130 of Central Goods and Service Tax Act, 2017 (herein after referred to as the CGST Act), as per which a notice is required to be issued by the proper officer to a person for demand and recovery of any amount of tax not paid or short paid/ amount of input tax credit wrongly availed/ amount of refund erroneously made, for recovery of interest and/ or for imposition of any penalty or fine on the said person. Attention is also invited to sub-rule (1) of rule 142 of Central Goods and Service Tax Rules, 2017 (herein after referred to as the CGST Rules) as per which, along with the notices issued under section 52 or section 73 or section 74 or section 122 or section 123 or section 124 or section 125 or section 127 or section 129 or section 130 of CGST Act, a summary of such notice is also required to be served by the proper officer electronically on the portal in FORM GST DRC-01.

• It is also mentioned that as per sub-rule (5) of rule 142 of CGST Rules, where any order is issued by the proper officer under section 52 or section 62 or section 63 or section 64 or section 73 or section 74 or section 75 or section 76 or section 122 or section 123 or section 124 or section 125 or section 127 or section 129 or section 130 of CGST Act, summary of such order is also required to be uploaded electronically on the portal by the proper officer in FORM GST DRC-07, specifying the amount of tax, interest and penalty, as the case may be, payable by the person concerned.

• It has been brought to the notice of the Board that some of the field formations are serving such notices and orders manually only and are not serving the summary of the notices issued under section 52 or section 73 or section 74 or section 122 or section 123 or section 124 or section 125 or section 127 or section 129 or section 130 of CGST Act, electronically on the portal in FORM GST DRC-01, or are not uploading the summary of the order issued under section 52 or section 62 or section 63 or section 64 or section 73 or section 74 or section 75 or section 76 or section 122 or section 123 or section 124 or section 125 or section 127 or section 129 or section 130 of CGST Act electronically on the portal in FORM GST DRC-07.

• It is highlighted that non-issuance of the summary of such notices/ orders electronically on the portal is in clear violation of the explicit provisions of CGST Rules. Besides, serving/ uploading the summary of notices/ orders electronically on the portal not only makes the said notices/ orders available electronically to the taxpayers on the portal, but also helps in keeping a track of such proceedings and consequential action in respect of recovery, appeal etc, subsequent to issuance of such notices/ Accordingly, any deviation from this requirement under CGST Rules may adversely impact record keeping under GST. Further, such an action may also impact further proceedings of appeal and/ or recovery to be done seamlessly on the portal.

• The proper officers are accordingly directed to ensure that summary of the notices issued under section 52 or section 73 or section 74 or section 122 or section 123 or section 124 or section 125 or section 127 or section 129 or section 130 of CGST Act are served, electronically on the portal in FORM GST DRC-01. Also, they should ensure that summary of the order issued under section 52 or section 62 or section 63 or section 64 or section 73 or section 74 or section 75 or section 76 or section 122 or section 123 or section 124 or section 125 or section 127 or section 129 or section 130 of CGST Act is uploaded electronically on the portal in FORM GST DRC-07.

6. AAR & Important Judgements:

(i) AAR On GST leviable under RCM for Premium on Lease Renewal Amount Payable to Surat Municipal Corporation:

(Applicant – M/s The Surat Textile Market Cooperative Shops & Warehouses Society Ltd, Gujarat)

Held that, “Thus, in view of the foregoing, we hold that the collection made from shareholders/shop owners, who are members of the cooperative society, by the applicant, for making payment of lease and lease premium, is a supply under section 7 of the CGST Act, 2017 and would be leviable to GST under forward charge”.

(i) The applicant is liable to pay GST under Reverse Charge Mechanism in terms of section 9(3) of the CGST Act, 2017, for lease renewal amount payable to SMC.

Held that “A corollary question, is next posed as to whether the collection made from shareholders/shop owners by the applicant if held leviable to GST, then can the applicant’s shareholder/shop owners who are reimbursing the lease and premium on lease renewal be eligible for ITC of the GST charged by the applicant”.

(ii) The applicant is liable to pay GST under forward charge in respect of collection made from shareholders/shop owners, for making payment of lease and lease premium.

Disclaimer:

This publication contains information for general guidance only. It is not intended to address the circumstances of any particular individual or entity. Although the best of endeavour has been made to provide the provisions in a simpler and accurate form, there is no substitute to detailed research with regard to the specific situation of a particular individual or entity. We do not accept any responsibility for loss incurred by any person for acting or refraining to act as a result of any matter in this publication.

THANKING YOU.