GOODS & SERVICES TAX (GST) – RECENT UPDATES

[Dr. Sanjiv Agarwal]

New Enactments

The following GST related laws have been enacted on 30^th August, 2018 which seek to amend the GST laws from a date to be notified :

• Central Goods and Service Tax (Amendment) Act, 2018 – which amends CGST Act, 2017. The Act provides for certain provisions for smooth transition of existing taxpayers to new goods and services tax regime. However, the new tax regime had faced certain difficulties. One of the major inconveniences caused to the taxpayers, especially small and medium enterprises, was the process of filing return and payment of tax under the Goods and Services Tax laws. In this regard, the new return filing system envisages quarterly filing of return and tax payment for small taxpayers along with minimum paperwork.

• Integrated Goods and Service Tax (Amendment) Act, 2018 - which amends IGST Act, 2018 which amends IGST Act, 2017. The Act makes certain provisions for smooth transition of existing taxpayers new goods and services tax regime. However, the new tax regime has been facing certain difficulties in respect of matters relating to supply of taxable goods or services by a supplier, who is not registered and in facilitating the settlement of balance in the integrated tax account between the Central Government and the State Governments.

• Union Territory Goods and Service Tax (Amendment) Act, 2018 - which amends UTGST Act, 2017. The Act provides for certain provisions for smooth transition of existing taxpayers to new goods and services tax regime. However, the new tax regime has been facing certain difficulties in respect of matters relating to supply of taxable goods or services by a supplier, who is not registered and due to certain restrictions in the utilisation of input tax credit of Union territory tax towards payment of integrated tax.

• Goods and Service Tax (Compensation to States) Amendment Act, 2018 – which amends GST (Compensation to States) Act, 2017. Section 10 of the Act provides for distribution of the amount remaining unutilised in Compensation Fund at the end of transition period between Centre and the States. As the said section doesn't provide for distribution of amount remaining unutilised in Compensation Fund at any point of time in any financial year, it has been amended.

The Goods and Services Tax (Compensation to States) Amendment Act, 2018 provides for :

1. to insert a new sub-section (3A) in section 10 of the Act so as to provide that any amount remaining unutilised in the Compensation Fund may, on the recommendations of the Council, be distributed between Centre and the States at any point of time in a financial year; and
2. to provide that in case of shortfall in the amount collected in the Fund against the requirement of compensation to be released under section 7 for any two months' period, fifty percent of the same, but not exceeding the total amount transferred to the Centre and the States as recommended by the Council shall be recovered from the Centre and the balance fifty percent from the States in the ratio of their base year revenue determined in accordance with the provisions of section 5 of the Act.

Form GSTR-9 for Annual Return prescribed

[Notification No. 39/2018- Central Tax, Dated 04-09-2018]

The Government has notified Central GST (Eighth Amendment) Rules, 2018 wherein Form GSTR-9 of Annual Return and Form GSTR-9A of Annual Return for composition taxpayers has been prescribed.

Tax authorities at the centre and the states will rely on this form to detect tax evasion and fraudulent claims of input tax credit. The salient features of GSTR-9 are as follows:

• 6 parts
• 19 tables
• The details for the period between July, 2017 to March, 2018 are to be provided in this return.
• to be accompanied by Audit report, wherever required.

It shall require details pertaining to below mentioned points:

• Details of outward supplies declared during the financial year
• Details of Input Tax Credit (ITC) as declared in returns filed during the financial year
• Details of tax paid as declared in returns filed during the financial year
• Particulars of the transactions for the previous financial year declared in returns of April to September of current financial year or upto date of filing of annual return of previous financial year, whichever is earlier
• Particulars of Demands and Refunds
• Information on supplies received from composition taxpayers, deemed supply under section 143 and goods sent on approval basis
• HSN Wise Summary of outward supplies
• HSN Wise Summary of inward supplies
• Late fee payable and paid

The last date to file annual return is 31^st December, 2018

Obligations for the month of September, 2018

Return/Form	Period	Due Date
GSTR 1	August, 2018	11.09.2018
GSTR-3B	August 2018	20.09.2018
GSTR 5A	August, 2018	20.09.2018
GSTR 5	August, 2018	20.09.2018
GSTR 6	July, 2017 to August 2018	30.09.2018

Waiver of late fee for Certain Taxpayers for specified time period

[Notification No. 41/2018 – Central Tax, dated 04.09.2018]

		Eligible persons
GSTR-3B	October, 2017	Registered persons who submitted the return but could not file, after generation of the application reference number;
GSTR-4	October to December, 2017	Registered persons who have filed return by the due date but late fee was erroneously levied on the common portal;
GSTR-6	1st January, 2018 to 23rd January, 2018	Input Service Distributors who have paid the late fee for filing or submission of the return for the specifiedtax period

Due date for filing of Form GST ITC-04 extended to 30/09/2018 for period June, 2017 to July, 2018

[Notification No. 40/2018- Central Tax, Dated 04-09-2018]

The due date for filing details of goods or capital goods sent to job worker and received back in Form GST ITC-04 extended to September 30, 2018 for period June, 2017 to July, 2018.

Declaration to claim ITC in Form GST ITC-01 can be filed till 04/10/2018

[Notification No. 42/2018- Central Tax, Dated 04-09-2018]

The time limit for making a declaration in FORM GST ITC-01 for the registered persons who have filed the application in form GST CMP-04 between March 2, 2018 and March 31, 2018 has been extended to October 4, 2018.

Filing of GST returns in Kerala extended

[Notification No. 36 to 38 /2018-CT dated 24.08.2018]

Due date for filing of GST returns GSTR-3B and GSTR-1 for July, 2018 and August, 2018 has been extended to 5^th October, 2018 and 10^th October, 2018 respectively and due date for filing GSTR-1 for quarter July – September 2018 has been extended upto 15^th November, 2018 for taxpayers registered in Kerala, Mahe (Pondicherry) and Kodagu (Karnataka) owing to recent floods.

Refund of accumulated credit of ITC on fabrics

[Circular No. 56/30/2018-GST dated 24.08.2018]

The cotton, silk and natural fibre fabrics do not suffer inverted duty structure. It has been clarified that the condition of lapsing of ITC would apply only if input tax credit has been accumulated on account of inverted duty structure. It has also clarified thatsuch restriction has no applicability to ITC relating to zero rates supplies. Thus, accumulated ITC on zero rated supplies shall not lapse.

Processing of refund claims

[Circular No. 59/33/2018-GST ,dated 04-09-2018]

• Hitherto, it was clarified that the invoices relating to inputs, input services and capital goods were to be submitted for processing of claims for refund of integrated tax where good or services are exported with payment of integrated tax and exported without payment of integrated tax.
• In view of the difficulties being faced by the claimants of refund, CBIC has now clarified that the refund claim shall be accompanied by a print-out of FORM GSTR-2A of the claimant for the relevant period for which the refund is claimed.
• The Proper Officer shall rely upon FORM GSTR-2A as an evidence of the supply by the corresponding supplier in relation to which the input tax credit has been availed by the claimant.
• It is emphasized that the Proper Officer shall not insist on the submission of an invoice (either original or duplicate) the details of which are present in FORM GSTR-2A of the relevant period submitted by the claimant.

Recovery of arrears of wrongly availed CENVAT credit under the existing law and inadmissible transitional credit

[Circular No. 58/32/2018-GST, dated 04.09.2018]

• In Circular No. 42/16/2018-GST dated 13th April, 2018, it was clarified that the recovery of arrears arising under the existing law shall be made as central tax liability to be paid through the utilization of the amount available in the electronic credit ledger or electronic cash ledger of the registered person, and the same shall be recorded in Part II of the Electronic Liability Register.
• Since the functionality for the same is not working on the portal therefore, it is clarified that as an alternative method,
• taxpayers may reverse the wrongly availed CENVAT credit under the existing law and inadmissible transitional credit through Table 4(B)(2) of FORM GSTR-3B.
• The applicable interest and penalty shall apply on all such reversals which shall be paid through entry in column 9 of Table 6.1 of FORM GSTR-3B.