RECENT DEVELOPMENTS IN GST

[Dr. Sanjiv Agarwal]

India’s Finance Minister has recently stated that Indian economy is expected to do well in next few quarters and that tax actions are going to be reasonable as well as time bound. Private sector investment has also picked up. She also stated that tax base also need to be expanded and it can not be a case that just 6 crore of people out of 140 crore pay taxes. For GST, for the sake of inclusion and for direct taxes, many more tax payable people are still outside.

According to NSO data, Indian economy has shown fastest growth in last for quarters, i.e., @ 7.8% in April – June, 2023 quarter. Services sector lifted growth, besides investments. The gross tax collection (both direct and indirect) has also grown by 2.8% in Financial Year 2023-24 so far, mainly in GST. Also, growth prospects seem to be bright.

Post growth forecasts for Financial Year 2023-24, agencies have upgraded the India’s growth estimates upwards from 0.2 to 0.5 basis points. These include Morgan Stanley, Nomura AEI and Moody’s.

CBIC had issued notifications for further extending the due dates for filing returns (GSTR-1, GSTR-3B and GSTR-7) in Manipur State.

GSTN has been issuing new advisories and functionalities. Recently, it has issued advisory on bio metric based authentication for registration, reporting of input tax credit reversal of opening balance and a new app for invoices reporting by customers which may also fetch them monetary rewards.

According to CBIC’s new promotional scheme of ‘Mera Bill Mera Adhikar’, launched on pilot basis in 6 States and Union Territories, it has earmarked an amount of Rs. 30 crore for rewards for financial year 2023-24. This is a mobile app based scheme. There will be 810 lucky draws every month and two bumper lucky draws every quarter. There will be 800 draws of GST invoices having prize money of Rs. 10,000 each and 10 draws with prize money of Rs. 10 lakh each. The quarterly draw would be of Rs. one crore each. This will create awareness for tax invoices as GST invoice is their (consumer’s) right.

Once again GST collection for August, 2023 has been over Rs. 1,50,000 crore, up by 11 percent on YoY basis. The GST collection is now range bound around Rs. 1,50,000 crore per month. The tax collection has grow by 10.8% to Rs. 1,59,069 crore in August, 2023, though there has been some disruption in few states. The growth is attributable to domestic demand growth. GST growth has grown more than the nominal GDP growth rate in Q1 of current fiscal, mainly due to better tax compliance and improved tax collection efficiencies. GST Revenues from domestic transactions (including import of services) are 14% higher Year-on-Year basis.  During the month, revenue from import of goods was 3% higher and the revenues from domestic transactions (including import of services) are 14% higher than the revenues from these sources during the same month last year.

The GST on online gaming is going to be there but reports suggest that business firms have started layoffs and closures.

G-20 summit in India (New Delhi) next week opens up lot of opportunities for businesses and show casing India’s business and economic strengths.

Revised dates for GST filings notified

CBIC has issued following further Notifications dated 25.08.2023 to further extend various filings under GST law:

Notification No.	Existing due date (already extended)	Revised due date	Dates extended for
41/2023- Central Tax dated 25.08.2023	31.07.2023	25.08.2023	GSTR-1 (Manipur) (April, May, June and July 2023)
42/2023- Central Tax dated 25.08.2023	31.07.2023	25.08.2023	GSTR-3B (Manipur) (April, May, June and July 2023)
43/2023- Central Tax dated 25.08.2023	31.07.2023	25.08.2023	GSTR-3B (Manipur) (Quarter ending June, 2023)
44/2023- Central Tax dated 25.08.2023	31.07.2023	25.08.2023	GSTR-7 (Manipur) (April, May, June and July 2023)

                                               (Source: Notification No. 41  to 44/2023-CT dated 25.08.2023)

Mera Bill Mera Adhikaar

• GSTN has developed and launched a mobile application (available on iOS and Android platforms) and also a web portal for the “Mera Bill Mera Adhikaar” scheme.
• The scheme will be implemented from 1st September, 2023 initially in the States of Gujarat, Assam, Haryana and UTs of Puducherry and Daman & Diu and Dadra & Nagar Haveli, as per the policy decision of the Government.
• Mobile Application and Web Portal:

The mobile application is available for download on both iOS and Android platforms and links are given below.

•  Android Link: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.gstn.msma
•  iOS Link:
  https://apps.apple.com/in/app/mera-bill-mera-adhikaar/id6450875616
•  The web portal can be accessed at:
  https://web.merabill.gst.gov.in

• User Manual Download Link:
   https://tutorial.gst.gov.in/downloads/news/mbma_user_manual_18_august_2023_final.pdf

[Source: GSTN Advisory dated 24.08.2023]

GST Registration with Biometric based Authentication

• GSTN has issued an Advisory for applicants where GST Registration application marked for Biometric-based Aadhaar Authentication in terms of rule 8 of CGST Rules, 2017, which provide that those applicants who had opted for authentication of Aadhaar number and identified on the common portal, based on data analysis and risk parameters, shall be placed for biometric-based Aadhaar authentication and taking photograph(s) of the applicant.
• After submission of application in Form GST REG-01 and before generation of ARN, the applicant will either get the message for visiting GST Suvidha Kendra (GSK) or a link on the declared Mobile and Email ID; as may be applicable at TRN stage, based on identification by common portal so that registration process may be completed.
• Those applicants who get the link on Mobile & Email ID for Aadhaar Authentication, they can proceed for completing their application as per existing implementation.
•  Those applicants who get message for visiting GSK, will be required to visit at the designated GSK as conveyed on Mobile/Email and get biometric authentication for all required persons as per the GST Application Form REG-01.
• Application Reference Number (ARN) will be generated only after the completion of Biometric-based Aadhaar Authentication process.
• This functionality is being launched in Puducherry from 30th August, 2023 in the pilot phase.

[Source: GSTN Advisory dated 28.08.2023]

Reporting of ITC Reversal Opening Balance

GSTN has issued an Advisory on Reporting of ITC Reversal opening Balance as follows:

• Taxpayers are permitted to use this facility to report their ITC Reversal Balance that has not been re-claimed.
• The taxpayer is advised to report solely those reclaimable ITC reversal balances that meet the legal criteria for re-claim and have not been previously claimed by the taxpayers.
• Taxpayers may report their opening balance until 30^th November 2023. After 30^th November 2023, the option to report the opening balance will be removed, and it will be assumed that the taxpayer has no ITC Reversal Balance to report.
• Taxpayers may amend their opening balance until 31^st December 2023. Any reported balance after this date wilt be considered final and cannot be further amended.
• After 31^st December 2023, the updated value shall be frozen with no further attempts provided to the taxpayers to amend their ITC Reversal Balance and this ITC Reversal value will be sent to the Jurisdictional Tax Officer for review.
• Due diligence should be done while reporting/amending the ITC reversal opening balance, because only 3 time amendment is allowed.
• The opening balance that has been reported or amended by the taxpayers shall be credited to the "'Electronic Credit Reversal and Re-claimed Statement". This statement will be used to validate the taxpayer's ITC Re­claimed amount in Table 4A(5) & 4D(1) of form GSTR-3B.
• Taxpayers should only utilize this functionality if they have ITC reversal balance that is eligible for re-claim but has not yet been re-claimed.

(Source: GSTN Advisory)

GST Collection in August, 2023

• 1,59,069 crore is the gross GST revenue collected during August 2023. This records 11% Year-on-Year growth.
• GST Revenues from domestic transactions (including import of services) are 14% higher Year-on-Year basis.
• The gross GST revenue collected in the month of August, 2023 is Rs.  1,59,069 crore of which CGST is Rs.  28,328 crore, SGST is Rs. 35,794 crore, IGST is Rs.  83,251 crore (including Rs. 43,550 crore collected onimport of goods) and Cess is Rs.  11,695 crore (including Rs. 1,016 crore collected on import of goods).
• The States / UT’s higher growth in tax collection include Sikkim, Arunachal Pradesh, Tripura, Goa, Lakshadweep, Andaman & Nicobar and Ladakh.
• The States / UT’s with lower tax growth include Himachal Pradesh, Chandigarh, Delhi, Rajasthan, Bihar, Assam, West Bengal, Jharkhand and Madhya Pradesh.

(Source: PIB Release ID 1954077 dated 01.09.2023)