Recommendations made by the GST Council in the 23rd meeting at G…

The GST Council, in its 23^rd meeting held
at Guwahati on 10^th November 2017, has recommended the followingfacilitative
measuresfortaxpayers:

Return
Filing

a)      The
return filing process is to be further simplified in the following manner:

                   
i.           
All
taxpayers would file return in FORM GSTR-3B along with payment of tax by 20^th
of the succeeding month till March, 2018.

                 
ii.           
For filing of details in FORM GSTR-1 till
March 2018, taxpayers would be divided into two categories. Details of these
two categories along with the last date of filing GSTR 1 are as follows:

(a) Taxpayers
with annual aggregate turnover uptoRs. 1.5 croreneed to file GSTR-1 on quarterly
basis as per following frequency:

(b)      Taxpayers
with annual aggregate turnover more thanRs. 1.5 croreneed to file GSTR-1 on monthly
basis as per following frequency:

               
iii.           
The time period for
filing GSTR-2 and GSTR-3 for the months of July, 2017 to March 2018 would
be worked out by a Committee of Officers. However, filing of GSTR-1 will
continue for the entireperiod without requiring filing of GSTR-2 & GSTR-3
for the previous month / period.

b)      A
large number of taxpayers were unable to file their return in FORM GSTR-3B
within due date for the months of July, August and September, 2017.Late fee was
waived in all such cases. It has been decided that where such
late fee was paid, it will be re-credited to their electronic Cash Ledger under
“Tax” head instead of “Fee” head so as to enable them to use that amount for
discharge of their future tax liabilities. The software changes for this would
be made and thereafter this decision will be implemented.

c)      For
subsequent months, i.e. October 2017 onwards, the amount of late fee payable by
a taxpayerwhose tax liability for that month was ‘NIL’will be Rs. 20/- per day
(Rs. 10/- per day eachunder CGST & SGST Acts) instead of Rs. 200/- per day
(Rs. 100/- per day eachunder CGST & SGST Acts).

Manual
Filing

d)     A
facility for manual filing of application for advance ruling is being
introduced for the time being.

Further
benefits for service providers

e)      Exports
of services to Nepal and Bhutan have already been exempted from GST. It has now
been decided that such exporters will also be eligible for claiming Input Tax
Creditin respect of goods or servicesused for
effecting such exempt supply of servicesto Nepal and Bhutan.

f)       In
an earlier meeting of the GST Council, it was decided to exempt those service
providers whose annual aggregate turnover is less than Rs. 20 lakhs (Rs. 10 lakhs
in special category states except J & K) from obtaining registration even
if they are making inter-State taxable supplies of services. As a further
measure towards taxpayer facilitation, it has been decided to exempt such
suppliers providing services through an e-commerce platform from obtaining
compulsory registration provided their aggregate turnover does not exceed
twenty lakh rupees. As a result, all service providers, whether supplying intra-State,
inter-State or through E-commerce operator, will be exempt from obtaining GST
registration, provided their aggregate turnover does not exceed Rs. 20 lakhs
(Rs. 10 lakhs in special category States except J & K).

Extension
of dates

g)      Taking
cognizance of the late availability or unavailability of some forms on the
common portal, it has been decided that the due dates for furnishing the
following forms shall be extended as under:

Revised
due dates for subsequent tax periods will be announced in due course.

Benefits
for Diplomatic Missions/UN organizations

h)     
In
order to lessen the compliance burden on Foreign Diplomatic Missions / UN
Organizations, a centralized UIN will be issued to every Foreign Diplomatic
Mission / UN Organization by the Central Government and all compliance for such
agencies will be done by the Central Government in coordination with the
Ministry of External Affairs.

2.         Relevant notifications
for all of the above decisions will be issued shorty, so as to be effective
from 15.11.2017.

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DSM/SBS