RECENT DEVELOPMENTS IN GST

[Dr. Sanjiv Agarwal]

Justice D.Y. Chandrachud demitted the office of Chief Justice of India and India has now a new Chief Jusitce of Supreme Court of India, 51^st Chief Justice, Mr. Justice Sanjiv Khanna who has been administered the oath on 11 November, 2024.

GSTN has been issuing advisories on various procedural aspects of GST law implementation and recent changes. Recently, it has issued guidance on Form GSTR-3A, procedure for depositing tax under new section 128A for waiver of interest and penalties etc. GSTN has advised that GST Form SPL-01 and SPL-02 will be available from January, 2025 only. Invoice Management System (IMS) has also been implemented.

Apex court has given its final verdict in Canon India case. Accordingly, it dealt with jurisdiction issue of DRI officers to issue show cause notice. Officers of DRI, DG of Central Excise Intelligence and Commissionerates are competent to issue show cause notices.

GST Council is likely to meet on 21-22 December, 2024 in Rajasthan and may discuss on GST rates on levy of GST on insurance plans including that on health insurance for senior citizens. However, decision on rate rationalization may get further delayed as few states fear revenue loss. Presently, GST rates of 18% and 28% account for about three-fourth of total GST revenue.

CBIC has also issued instructions specifying that there will be mandatory virtual hearing (e-hearing) of all cases of appeal and adjudication across all indirect taxes, viz, CGST, IGST, Customs duty Central Excise and Service Tax. However, taxpayer can seek physical hearing citing reasons and the concerned authority may allow the same by recording the reasons in writing.

The deadline for availing input tax credit and credit notes for invoices of 2023-24 is 30^th November, 2024 and as such taxpayers need to check that all such compliances are done with proper due diligence.

We are approaching towards the end of 2024 and have about 50 days to file Form 9 and 9C in GST. It would be advisable to spread the time schedule to avoid last minute bank or expect any date extensions and start preparing on details and workings for all relevant reconciliations.

E-hearing / Virtual mode Hearing mandatory in Indirect Taxes

• CBIC, Judicial Cell, has issued guidelines for conduct of personal hearings under CGST Act, 2017, IGST Act, 2017, Customs Act, 1962, Central Excise Act, 1944 and Chapter V of Finance Act, 1994 (Service Tax).
• The earlier guideline / instruction dated 21.08.2020 as amended w.e.f. 28.07.2022 provides that “The conduct of personal hearing by adjudicating/ appellate authority shall be done in the virtual mode only at the request of the assessee. The virtual mode of hearing shall not be mandatory. For the assesses not opting for the virtual mode, the personal hearing shall be taken in physical mode”.
• CBIC has now withdrawn 28.07.2022 amendment and original instruction dated 21.08.2020 has been made mandatory for all departmental quasi-judicial/appellate authorities to conduct personal hearing for proceedings under the specified Acts through Video Conferencing (VC), i.e., in the Virtual Mode.
• Exception to allow personal hearing in physical mode by the concerned authorities may be resorted to on receipt of specific request from the party concerned, and after recording the reasons for the same in writing.
• This would apply to all types of personal hearings being conducted by all departmental adjudicating / Appellate Authorities.
• This would apply to proceedings under CGST / IGST / Customs / Central Excise / Service Tax.

(Source: Instruction F.No. 390/Misc/3/2019-JC dated 05.11.2024)

Time Limit for Reporting e-Invoice on the IRP Portal

• GSTN has issued an advisory on time limit for reporting e-invoices on the IRP Portal for taxpayers with Rs. 10 crore or above of Average Aggregate Turnover (AATO).
• Further to earlier advisory dated 13.09.2023, where time limit of 30 days for reporting e-invoice on IRP portal for taxpayers with AATO of Rs. 100 crore or above was notified, GSTN has now advised lowering of threshold limit from Rs. 100 crore to Rs. 10 crore.
• From 1st April 2025, taxpayers with an AATO of 10 crores and above would not be allowed to report e-Invoices older than 30 days from the date of reporting on IRP portals.
• This restriction would apply to all document types (Invoices/Credit Notes/Debit Notes) for which an IRN is to be generated.
• There would however, be no such reporting restriction on taxpayers with an AATO of less than 10 crores as of now.
• The above limit would come into effect from 1st April, 2025 onwards.

(Source: GSTN Advisory dated 05.11.2024)

Advisory for Form GST DRC-03A

The GSTN has issued an update dated 05.11.2024 to inform that it has developed the new Form GST DRC-03A on the GST portal which is available now to adjust the paid amount through DRC-03 against the corresponding demand order. Therefore, it is advised to the taxpayers to use the DRC-03A form to link the payment made via DRC-03 with the demand order.

(Source: GSTN Advisory dated 05.11.2024)

GSTN Advisory for waiver scheme under Section 128A

• GSTN has issued an advisory for waiver scheme under Section 128A for reducing the tax disputes and to provide a relief to the taxpayers for waiver of interest and penalties in the demand notices or orders issued under Section 73 of the CGST Act, 2017 (i.e. the cases not involving fraud, suppression or wilful misstatement, etc.) for the Financial years 2017-18, 2018-19 and 2019-20.
• Rule 164 of CGST Rules, 2017 has been notified vide Notification No. 20/2024 dated. 8th October 2024, effective from 1st November, 2024 which provides procedural guidelines for the said waiver scheme.
• GSTN has advised that Form GST SPL-01 and Form GST SPL-02 are under development and same will be made available on the common portal, tentatively from the first week of January, 2025.
• Taxpayers have been advised to pay the tax amount demanded in the notice, statement, or order issued under Section 73 on or before March 31st, 2025, to ensure that they receive the waiver benefits by paying their taxes before the deadline.
• Taxpayer can pay the demanded tax amount through the “payment towards demand” facility in case of demand orders and through Form GST DRC-03 in case of notices.
• If payment has already been done through Form GST DRC-03 for any demand order, then taxpayer need to link the said Form GST DRC 03 with such demand order through Form GST DRC-03A, which is now available on the common portal.

(Source: GSTN Advisory dated 08.11.2024)