1. Clarifications Regarding E-commerce Operators Liable To Pay GST On Restaurant Services:
CBIC clarified that the e-commerce operators are liable to pay GST on restaurant services. The GST Council in its 45th meeting held on 17th September, 2021 recommended to notify‚ ‘Restaurant Service’ under section 9(5) of the CGST Act, 2017. Accordingly, the tax on supplies of restaurant service supplied through e- commerce operators shall be paid by the e-commerce operator. Vide circular 167/2021 clarification has been given
2. Bill of Entry (BE) Regulations amended to ensure faster clearances of Imports:
BE to be filed in advance as per the following time-limits:
Latest by end of the day of arrival of the Vessel/Aircraft/ Vehicle
1. Imports from Bangladesh. Maldives, Myanmar, Pakistan and Sri Lanka at all Sea Ports
2. All imports at all Air Cargo Complexes
3. All imports at all Land Customs Stations (LCS)
Latest by end of the day preceding the day of arrival of the Vessel/Aircraft/Vehicle
1. Imports from all countries other than those mentioned above at all Sea Ports
2. All imports at all Inland Container Depots (ICD)
Advance BE can be filed on the strength of either an MBL/MAWB or the HBL/HAWB or both. Details of MBL/MAWB in BE can be updated later, on auto-approval mode (no approval from Customs is required)
3. Judicial Decision:
(i) Decision of Hon’ble SC Regarding GSTR-3B is a ‘Return’ specified u/s 39 of GST Act: Supreme Court reverses Gujarat HC’s order
The Supreme Court has reversed the Gujarat High Court’s judgment wherein the High Court observed that GSTR-3B is not a return specified under section 39 of the Central and State Goods and Services Acts. In the year 2019, the Gujarat High Court held that Section 39(1) of the CGST/GGST Act provides that every taxpayer, except a few special categories of persons, shall furnish a monthly return in such form and manner as may be prescribed. Rule 61 of the CGST Rules/GGST Rules prescribe the form and manner of submission of monthly return. Sub-rule 1 of Rule 61 of the CGST Rules/GGST Rules provides that the return required to be filed in terms of Section 39(1) of the CGST/GGST Act is to be furnished in Form GSTR-3B. The High Court further held that It would be apposite to state that initially it was decided to have three returns in a month, i.e. return for outward supplies i.e. GSTR-1 in terms of Section 37, return for inward supplies in terms of Section 38, i.e. GSTR-2 and a combined return in Form GSTR-3. However, considering technical glitches in the GSTN portal as well as the difficulty faced by the taxpayers it was decided to keep filing of GSTR-2 and GSTR-3 in abeyance. Therefore, in order to ease the burden of the taxpayer for some time, it was decided in the 18th GST Council meeting to allow the filing of a shorter return in Form GSTR-3B for the initial period. It was not introduced as a return in lieu of return required to be filed in Form GSTR-3.
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.
Goods and Services Tax is an indirect tax used in India on the supply of goods and services. The Goods and Service Tax Act was passed in the Parliament on 29th March 2017 and came into effect on 1st July 2017. It is a comprehensive, multistage, destination-based tax: comprehensive because it has subsumed almost all the indirect taxes except a few state taxes.
Goods and Service Tax (GST) is paid by the consumers for the products or services. But the GST will be remitted to the government by the businesses who are providing you with those products and services.
GST Circulars in brief
1. Significant Changes from 1st April 2021
A. E-invoicing will be mandatory
The Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) notified that e-invoicing will be mandatory for business to business (B2B) transactions for taxpayers having turnover of over Rs 50 crore from April 1, 2021.
E-invoicing replaces the physical invoice and will soon replace the existing e-way bill system, and taxpayers will not have to generate separate e-way bills. The government expects e-invoicing to have also other major advantages, such as improving the payment cycle for industry and giving boost to invoice-based lending to MSMEs.
B. HSN Code (Harmonized System of Nomenclature)
• Taxpayers to mandatorily declare HSN codes in GST Tax Invoices from 1st April, 2021.
• The Taxpayers whose aggregate Turnover is up to Rs. 5 crores in the preceding Financial Year HSN code of 4 digits is mandatory for all the B2B tax invoices and optional for B2C tax invoices on the supplies of Goods and Services.
• The Taxpayers whose aggregate Turnover is more than Rs. 5 crores in the preceding Financial Year HSN code of 6 digits is mandatory for both B2B and B2C tax invoices on the supplies of Goods and Services.
C. Important system changes need to be integrated in your e waybills, Delivery challans, Tax invoices, GSTR 1 reporting, Shipping bills, GST refund applications and further note that options available for non reporting under Table 17 and Table 18 would be done away from FY 2021-22 positively.
2. Upcoming functionalities to be deployed on GST Portal for the Taxpayers in the month of July, 2021
Sl.No
Form/ Functionality
Functionality released/ to be released for Taxpayers
1
Registration Timelines for filing of Application for Revocation of Cancellation of Registration in Form GST REG-21
the Government had extended the date for filing of various applications falling during the period from the 15th April, 2021 to 29th June, 2021, till 30th June, 2021.Timeline for filing of Application for Revocation of Cancellation of Registration, which were due on 15th of April 2021, had also been extended till 30th June 2021 on the GST Portal. Accordingly, these extensions have now ceased to be effective w.e.f. 1st July, 2021, Timelines for filing of application for revocation of cancellation is now changed to 90 days (as was earlier) on the GST Portal, from date of Order of Cancellation of Registration in Form GST REG-19.
2
Returns Information regarding late fee payable provided in Form GSTR-10
Taxpayers whose registration is cancelled, at the time of filing of last return in Form GSTR-10, will now be provided with details of late fee payable by them, for the delayed filing of any of the previous returns/ statements in a table, for their assistance in filing of said return by them.This information can be viewed by clicking on a hyperlink provided under the column “Late Fee Payable” in the online Form GSTR- 10.
3
Returns Auto-population of data in Form GSTR-11 on basis of Forms GSTR-1 / 5 filed by their suppliers
The UIN holders file details of their inward supplies in Form GSTR-11 on a quarterly basis. They can subsequently file for refund (if required) in Form GST RFD- 10, for the quarter, in which summary of the documents is auto-populated from their Form GSTR-11, in an editable modeForm GSTR-11 of the UIN holder would be generated with details of their inward supplies, on basis of Forms GSTR-1 / 5 filed by their suppliers, which will subsequently help them in filing their refund claims
3. Govt. relaxes GST refund claim norms
The Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) has eased the norms for claiming Goods and Services Tax (GST) refunds making it easier for businesses to rectify their applications. The period between filing a refund claim and an officer issuing a deficiency notice will not be counted in the total time limit available for filing a refund request.
4. Flavoured milk taxable at 12% under GST: AAR rules in Amul dairy case
Flavoured milk is basically ‘beverage containing milk’ and will attract 12 per cent GST, the Gujarat Authority for Advance Ruling (AAR) has said.
Gujarat Co-operative Milk Marketing Federation Ltd, which markets dairy product under Amul brand, had approached the AAR on the taxability under the Goods and Services Tax (GST) of flavored milk which the company sells under trade name Amul Kool /Amul Kool Cafe.
The applicant had submitted before the AAR that the process of the flavoured milk is standardization of fresh milk according to the fat contents and then heating at certain temperature followed by filtration, pasteurisation and homogenisation and then mixing of sugar and various flavours and finally bottling.
5. 6-digit HSN code mandatory in invoices for biz with over Rs 5 crore turnover
Businesses with turnover of more than Rs 5 crore will have to furnish six-digit HSN or tariff code on the invoices issued for supplies of taxable goods and services from April 1, the Finance Ministry said on Wednesday. Those with turnover of up to Rs 5 crore in the preceding financial year would be required to mandatorily furnish four-digit HSN code on B2B invoices. Earlier, the requirement was four-digits and two-digits respectively. “With effect from the 1st April, 2021, GST taxpayers will have to furnish HSN (Harmonised System of Nomenclature Code), or Service Accounting Code (SAC) in their invoices, as per the revised requirement, the Ministry said in a statement.
6. GSTN enables functionality to lodge complaint of PAN misuse for GST registration
“To check the misuses of PAN in GST Registration, a functionality has been provided at GST Portal to register the complaint. GSTN, which handles the technology backbone of the Goods and Services Tax, has enabled an utility to lodge complaints relating to misuse of PAN for obtaining GST registration, a move aimed at curbing creation of bogus entities for the purpose of tax evasion. Any person whose PAN has been misused can lodge such a complaint. Following that, it would be sent to the concerned tax officer under whose jurisdiction the registration has taken place fraudulently for further action.Click Here
7. GST Amnesty Scheme – Unable to file GST returns and take benefit, businesses urge government to do THIS
An important day for the Indian indirect taxation system – the Goods and Services Tax (GST) – which will be completing its four years at the helm, on Thursday. The government has been making changes in the law to remove teething problems from time-to-time. The government has also recently launched the GST Amnesty scheme. This scheme is valid for the period between July 2017 and April 2021.
However, the businesses are unable to take advantage of this scheme as this scheme will apply if the GST returns are filed till 31 August 2021. To read more: Click Here
Monthly Updates with official links
Monthly Updates / Circulars / Notification – April 2021
Sl.
Notification Particulars
Notification No.
Link(s)
1.
Module wise new functionalities deployed on the GST Portal for taxpayers
Waiver of interest and late fee to normal taxpayers (filing return on monthly or quarterly basis) and composition taxpayers, for the tax periods of March and April, 2021
Waiver of interest and late fee to normal taxpayers (filing return on monthly or quarterly basis) and composition taxpayers, for the tax periods of March and April, 2021
Seeks to prescribe Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for implementation of the provision of extension of time limit to apply for revocation of cancellation of registration under section 30 of the CGST Act, 2017 and rule 23 of the CGST Rules, 2017.
Seeks to appoint 01.06.2021 as the day from which the provisions of section 112 of Finance Act, 2021, relating to amendment of section 50 of the CGST Act, 2017 shall come into force.
Seeks to rationalize late fee for delay in filing of return in FORM GSTR-3B ; and to provide conditional waiver of late fee for delay in filing FORM GSTR-3B from July, 2017 to April, 2021; and to provide waiver of late fees for late filing of return in FORM GSTR-3B for specified taxpayers and specified tax periods.
Seeks to amend Notification no. 13/2020-Central Tax to exclude government departments and local authorities from the requirement of issuance of e-invoice.
Seeks to amend notification no. 14/2021-Central Tax in order to extend due date of compliances which fall during the period from “15.04.2021 to 29.06.2021” till 30.06.2021.
Seeks to appoint 01.06.2021 as the day from which the provisions of section 112 of Finance Act, 2021, relating to amendment of section 50 of the CGST Act, 2017 shall come into force.
Seeks to rationalize late fee for delay in filing of return in FORM GSTR-3B ; and to provide conditional waiver of late fee for delay in filing FORM GSTR-3B from July, 2017 to April, 2021; and to provide waiver of late fees for late filing of return in FORM GSTR-3B for specified taxpayers and specified tax periods.
Seeks to amend Notification no. 13/2020-Central Tax to exclude government departments and local authorities from the requirement of issuance of e-invoice.
Seeks to amend notification no. 14/2021-Central Tax in order to extend due date of compliances which fall during the period from “15.04.2021 to 29.06.2021” till 30.06.2021.
Seeks to amend notification No. 11/2017- Central Tax (Rate) so as to notify CGST rates of various services as recommended by GST Council in its 43rd meeting held on 28.05.2021.
Seeks to amend notification No. 06/2019- Central Tax (Rate) so as to give effect to the recommendations made by GST Council in its 43rd meeting held on 28.05.2021.
Seeks to amend notification No. 11/2017- Central Tax (Rate) so as to notify GST rates of various services as recommended by GST Council in its 44th meeting held on 12.06.2021.
Clarification regarding rate of tax applicable on construction services provided to a Government Entity, in relation to construction such as of a Ropeway on turnkey basis
Clarification in respect of applicability of Dynamic Quick Response (QR) Code on B2C invoices and compliance of notification 14/2020- Central Tax dated 21st March, 2020
Company Secretary having 6+ years of post qualification experience in the Compliance Management Services industry by serving Corporates including Listed Companies, Corporate Secretarial Firms and LLP. He has contributed in ICAI, ICSI and MCCI and other various Newsletters. He is also a speaker at various platforms including seminars / webinars.
I Am A Chartered Accountant By Profession, Holding Specialization In Investment And Financial Analysis But Direct Taxation Continues To Be My Passion.Other Feathers In My Hat Include Consulting Businesses And Being A Visiting Faculty For Various Professional Courses.
Disclaimer: Every effort has been made to avoid errors or omissions in this material. In spite of this, errors may creep in. Any mistake, error or discrepancy noted may be brought to our notice which shall be taken care of in the next edition. In no event the author shall be liable for any direct, indirect, special or incidental damage resulting from or arising out of or in connection with the use of this information.
➢ ITC can be availed only up to 105% of GSTR 2A, as against 110% earlier. Now, the ceiling of 105% to be computed on invoices uploaded & returns furnished + invoices furnished by quarterly taxpayer.
➢ Violation of the above could lead to suspension of registration
2.Restriction on use of ITC – Rule 86(B)
ITC in credit ledger can be used only to pay 99% of output tax liability. It is applicable to taxpayers having monthly taxable supply exceeding Rs. 50 lacs.
Not applicable to the following taxpayers
➢ Paid Income tax exceeding Rs. One lac in each of the last two financial years ➢ Claimed refund of more than Rs. 1 lac on zero rated supplies or inverted duty structure in the preceding financial year ➢ Discharged tax liability cumulatively in cash in excess of 1% in the current financial year ➢ Govt. department, PSU, local authority or statutory body
3.Blocking of GSTR 1 – Rule 59(5)
which says that a registered person shall not be allowed to furnish the details of outward supplies of goods or services or both under section 37 in FORM GSTR-1 if he has not furnished the return in FORM GSTR-3B for preceding two months
4.Suspension of registration – Rule 21Az
• It shall be cause to suspending registration. • Registration shall be suspended if significant differences or anomalies are found in comparison of ➢ GSTR 1 & GSTR 3B ➢ GSTR 3B & GSTR 1 furnished by his supplier • Taxpayer shall be intimated in GST REG-31 on common portal or to his e mail address highlighting the differences and giving 30 days’ notice as to why registration should not be cancelled • During the period of suspension, no refund under section 54 shall be granted
5.Validity of e-way bill
• For distance up to 200 kms e-way bill would be valid for one day instead of two days earlier • For every 200 kms or part thereof validity would be one day instead of two days earlier • E-way bill would be blocked if GST registration is suspended under rule 21A
6.Changes in registration
Every application shall be followed by Biometric based Aadhar authentication and Taken Photograph, unless exempted along with the verification of original copy of the documents uploaded with the application in Form GST REG – 01.
Verification of original copy of documents uploaded in registration application at Facilitation Centre notified by the Commissioner.
If applicant fails biometric based Aadhar authentication then the proper offer carry out physical verification of place of business and registration to be granted in 30 days from the date of submission of complete application.
Thanks for reading my article “Recent GST Updates and Amendments“
Disclaimer: The content of this article is intended to provide a knowledge of the subject matter. Suggestions and feedback to improve the task are welcome. The article and opinions therein are based on my understanding and interpretation of the law and provisions prevailing as on date. The contents of this article are for information purposes only and does not constitute an advice or a legal opinion. The opinion may vary according to one’s interpretation of the law. We love to hear your feedback at gadhiaandassociates@gmail.com
![Latest GST News, Information, Notifications & Announcements [Period 13/12/21 to 19/12/21]](https://i0.wp.com/taxconcept.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/WhatsApp-Image-2021-12-20-at-7.08.46-PM.jpeg?resize=825%2C510&ssl=1)
