RECENT DEVELOPMENTS IN GST

[Dr. Sanjiv Agarwal]

GST evasion detection by tax officers almost doubled on year-on-year to over Rs 1.01 lakh crore in the just concluded 2022-23 fiscal. During the last fiscal, a recovery of Rs 21,000 crore was made by the officers of the Directorate General of GST Intelligence (DGGI). DGGI officers have detected evasion to the tune of Rs 1,01,300 crore in 2022-23. Of this, recovery of Rs 21,000 crore have been made.

Government of Haryana has issued an order dated 03.04.2023 specifying the proper officer for Rule 144A, i.e., Deputy Commissioner of State Tax subject to condition that functions so assigned shall be performed only within their jurisdiction unless any specific jurisdiction is mentioned therein.

There are no new Notifications / Circulars from CBIC recently. However, GSTN issued an advisory on IRP portal and CBIC clarified on payment of pre-deposit in GST appeals.

GSTN updated Advisory on Time limit for Reporting Invoices on the IRP Portal

GSTN as issued the following updated advisory fixing the time limits on reporting old invoices on e-invoice IRP portal:

• It has been decided by the Government to impose a time limit on reporting old invoices on the e-invoice IRP portals for taxpayers with Annual Aggregate Turnover (AATO) greater than or equal to 100 crores.
• To ensure timely compliance, taxpayers in IRP category will not be allowed to report invoices older than 7 days on the date of reporting.
• This restriction will only apply to all the document types for which IRN is to be generated. Thus, once issued, the credit / Debit note will also have to be reported within 7 days of issue.
• For example, if an invoice has a date of April 1, 2023, it cannot be reported after April 8, 2023. The validation system built into the invoice registration portal will disallow the user from reporting the invoice after the 7-day window. Hence, it is essential for taxpayers to ensure that they report the invoice within the 7-day window provided by the new time limit.
• There will be no such reporting restriction on taxpayers with AATO less than 100 crores, as of now.
• In order to provide sufficient time for taxpayers to comply with this requirement, which may require changes in IT software / systems, this will be implemented from 01.05.2023 onwards.

(Source: GSTN updated Advisory dated 13.04.2023)

GST DRC-03 not a prescribed mode for Pre-deposit in GST Appeals

• CBEC has clarified vide Instruction No. CBIC-240137/14/2022-Service Tax dated 28.10.2022 that payment made through Form GST DRC-03 is not a valid mode of payment for making pre-deposit under section 35F of the Central Excise Act, 1944 and Section 83 of Finance Act, 1994 read with section 35F of the Central Excise Act, 1944.
• However, some appeals have been filed under section 107 of the CGST Act, 2017 in manual mode, where pre-deposit amount has been deposited vide Form GST DRC-03.
• These are being rejected by some of the Appellate Authorities considering that Form GST DRC 03 is not a prescribed mode of payment for filing appeals under GST.
• It has been clarified now that these Instructions were meant for the cases of appeals belonging to the Central Excise / Service Tax only and any reference to the GST act was unintentional and for the limited purpose of drawing a parallel between provisions of the GST Act and Central Excise Act, 1944 / the Finance Act, 1994.

(Source: CBIC -240137/14/2022-Service Tax Section- CBEC dated 18.04.2023)