Analysis of the Recommendations of the 49th GST Council Meeting

GST Appellate Tribunal

The Council adopted the report of the Group of Ministers with certain modifications. The final draft amendments to the GST laws shall be circulated to Members for their comments. The Chairperson has been authorised to finalize the same.

Relaxation in revocation for cancellation of registration

• Currently, the due date for the application of revocation of cancellation of registration is 30 days from the date of cancellation. This time period could be extended up to 90 days upon due approval of the higher-ranked officer i.e. Joint Commissioner / Commissioner.
• It is proposed to extend the time limit from 30 days to 90 days without any additional approval from the higher-ranked officer.
• The said time can be extended up to a further period of 180 days where registration is on account of non-filing of returns upon approval of the Commissioner or the officer authorized by him.
• For the past cases, an amnesty scheme would also be provided for applications that could not be filed within the time limit by allowing them to file applications subject to certain restrictions. This would be quite helpful to assessees those who are left with no recourse if their registration stands canceled and their time limit stands lapsed.

Extension of the time period of best judgment assessment upon non-filing of returns

• If a person does not file a return after 15 days from the date of issuance of the reminder notice in Form GSTR-3A, then the officer has the power to perform the best judgment assessment under Section 62 of the CGST Act 2017.
• If the return is filed within 30 days of the best judgment assessment order in Form ASMT-13, then the order stands withdrawn. This time limit has been extended from 30 days to 60 days, extendable by another 60 days, subject to certain conditions.
• For the past period, an amnesty scheme would be provided where the concerned return could not be filed within 30 days of the assessment order but has been filed along with due interest and late fees upto a specified date, irrespective of whether an appeal has been filed or not against the assessment order, or whether the said appeal has been decided or not.

Reduction of late fees for filing annual returns

Presently, a late fee of Rs 200 per day (Rs 100 CGST + Rs 100 SGST), subject to a maximum of 0.5% of the turnover in the State or UT (0.25% CGST + 0.25% SGST), is payable in case of delayed filing of annual returns in FORM GSTR-9.

The Council recommended to rationalize this late fee for delayed filing of annual returns in FORM GSTR-9 for FY 2022-23 onwards, for registered persons having aggregate turnover in a financial year upto Rs 20 crore, as below:

• Registered persons having an aggregate turnover of up to Rs. 5 crores in the said financial year: Rs 50 per day (Rs 25 CGST + Rs 25 SGST), subject to a maximum of 0.04 percent. of his turnover in the State or Union territory (0.02% CGST + 0.02% SGST).
• Registered persons having an aggregate turnover of more than Rs. 5 crores and up to Rs. 20 crores in the said financial year: Rs 100 per day (Rs 50 CGST + Rs 50 SGST), subject to a maximum of 0.04 percent. of his turnover in the State or Union territory (0.02% CGST + 0.02% SGST).

Amnesty scheme for filing pending GSTR-4 / 9 / 10

A number of taxpayers have not been able to file their following pending returns on account of the high late fees involved in it:

• GSTR 4 – composition dealers
• GSTR-9 – annual returns
• GSTR-10 – final returns after the cancellation of registration

An amnesty scheme is proposed to be announced for such taxpayers for filing pending returns with reduced late fees.

POS in case of transportation of goods where supplier/recipient outside India

• Currently, in the case of transportation of goods other than by mail or courier, the place of supply would be the destination of goods where the location of the supplier or recipient is outside India
• With the proposed provisions, the place of supply would be the destination of goods in such cases where the supplier or recipient is outside India
• This would particularly affect the import of goods where the logistics company is in India and the person paying the freight is the foreign party. In such cases, the place of supply would be outside India even though the destination of goods is within India. This is because the location of the recipient of services would be outside India.

GST on sin goods like pan masala, chewing tobacco, etc.

• With a view to plugging the leakages and improving the revenue collection from the commodities like pan masala, gutkha, and chewing tobacco, the Council approved the recommendations of the GoM including, inter alia, that the capacity-based levy not be prescribed;
• compliance and tracking measures to be taken to plug leakages/evasions; exports of such commodities are to be allowed only against LUT with a consequential refund of accumulated ITC; compensation cess levied on such commodities to be changed from ad valorem to specific tax-based levy to boost the first stage collection of the revenue.

Changes in the rate of goods and services

It has been decided to regularize payment of GST on ‘rab’ during the past period on “as is basis” on account of genuine doubts over its classification and applicable GST rate.

It was decided to suitably amend notification No. 104/94-Customs dated 16.03.1994 so that if a device like a tag- tracking device or data logger is already affixed on a container, no separate IGST shall be levied on the such affixed device and the ‘nil’ IGST treatment available for the containers under notification No. 104/94-Customs shall also be available to such affixed device subject to the existing conditions.

It has been decided to amend the entry at Sl. No. 41A of notification No. 1/2017- Compensation Cess (Rate) so that exemption benefit covers both coals rejects supplied to and by a coal washery, arising out of coal on which compensation cess has been paid and no input tax credit thereof has been availed by any person.

It has been decided to extend the exemption available to educational institutions and Central and State educational boards for the conduct of entrance examinations to any authority, board, or body set up by the Central Government or State Government including the National Testing Agency for the conduct of entrance examination for admission to educational institutions.

It has been decided to extend the dispensation available to Central Government, State Governments, Parliament, and State Legislatures with regard to payment of GST under the reverse charge mechanism (RCM) to the Courts and Tribunals also in respect of taxable services supplied by them such as renting of premises to telecommunication companies for installation of towers, renting of the chamber to lawyers, etc.

Release of balance GST compensation cess

• The government of India has decided to clear the entire pending balance GST compensation of Rs. 16,982 crores for June’2022.
• Since there is no amount in the GST compensation Fund, the Centre decided to release this amount from its own resources and the same will be recouped from the future compensation cess collection.