The GST Council, in its 22nd Meeting
which was held today in the national capital under Chairmanship of the Union
Minister of finance and Corporate Affairs, Shri Arun Jaitley has recommended
the following facilitative changes to ease the burden of compliance on small
and medium businesses:
Composition
Scheme
1. The
composition scheme shall be made available to taxpayers having annual aggregate
turnover of up to Rs. 1 crore as compared to the current turnover threshold of
Rs. 75 lacs. This threshold of turnover for special category States, except
Jammu & Kashmir and Uttarakhand, shall be increased to Rs. 75 lacs from Rs.
50 lacs. The turnover threshold for Jammu & Kashmir and Uttarakhand
shall be Rs. 1 crore. The facility of availing composition under the increased
threshold shall be available to both migrated and new taxpayers up to
31.03.2018. The option once exercised shall become operational from the first
day of the month immediately succeeding the month in which the option to avail
the composition scheme is exercised. New entrants to this scheme shall have to
file the return in FORM GSTR-4 only for that portion of the quarter from when
the scheme becomes operational and shall file returns as a normal taxpayer for
the preceding tax period. The increase in the turnover threshold will make it
possible for greater number of taxpayers to avail the benefit of easier
compliance under the composition scheme and is expected to greatly benefit the
MSME sector.
2. Persons
who are otherwise eligible for composition scheme but are providing any exempt
service (such as extending deposits to banks for which interest is being
received) were being considered ineligible for the said scheme. It has been
decided that such persons who are otherwise eligible for availing the
composition scheme and are providing any exempt service, shall be eligible for
the composition scheme.
3. A
Group of Ministers (GoM) shall be constituted to examine measures to make the
composition scheme more attractive.
Relief
for Small and Medium Enterprises
4. Presently,
anyone making inter-state taxable supplies, except inter-State job worker, is
compulsorily required to register, irrespective of turnover. It has now
been decided to exempt those service providers whose annual aggregate turnover
is less than Rs. 20 lacs (Rs. 10 lacs in special category states except J &
K) from obtaining registration even if they are making inter-State taxable
supplies of services. This measure is expected to significantly reduce the
compliance cost of small service providers.
5. To
facilitate the ease of payment and return filing for small and medium
businesses with annual aggregate turnover up to Rs. 1.5 crores, it has been
decided that such taxpayers shall be required to file quarterly returns in FORM
GSTR-1,2 & 3 and pay taxes only on a quarterly
basis, starting from the Third Quarter of this Financial Year i.e.
October-December, 2017. The registered buyers from such small taxpayers would
be eligible to avail ITC on a monthly basis. The due dates for filing the
quarterly returns for such taxpayers shall be announced in due course.
Meanwhile, all taxpayers will be required to file FORM GSTR-3B on a monthly
basis till December, 2017. All taxpayers are also required to file FORM GSTR-1,
2 & 3 for the months of July, August and September, 2017. Due dates for
filing the returns for the month of July, 2017 have already been announced. The
due dates for the months of August and September, 2017 will be announced in due
course.
6. The
reverse charge mechanism under sub-section (4) of section 9 of the CGST Act,
2017 and under sub-section (4) of section 5 of the IGST Act, 2017 shall be
suspended till 31.03.2018 and will be reviewed by a committee of experts. This
will benefit small businesses and substantially reduce compliance costs.
7. The
requirement to pay GST on advances received is also proving to be burdensome
for small dealers and manufacturers. In order to mitigate their inconvenience
on this account, it has been decided that taxpayers having annual aggregate
turnover up to Rs. 1.5 crores shall not be required to pay GST at the time of
receipt of advances on account of supply of goods. The GST on such supplies
shall be payable only when the supply of goods is made.
8. It
has come to light that Goods Transport Agencies (GTAs) are not willing to
provide services to unregistered persons. In order to remove the hardship being
faced by small unregistered businesses on this account, the services provided
by a GTA to an unregistered person shall be exempted from GST.
Other Facilitation Measures
9. After
assessing the readiness of the trade, industry and Government departments, it
has been decided that registration and operationalization of TDS/TCS provisions
shall be postponed till 31.03.2018.
10. The
e-way bill system shall be introduced in a staggered manner with effect from
01.01.2018 and shall be rolled out nationwide with effect from 01.04.2018. This
is in order to give trade and industry more time to acclimatize
itself with the GST regime.
11. The
last date for filing the return in FORM GSTR-4 by a taxpayer under composition
scheme for the quarter July-September, 2017 shall be extended to 15.11.2017.
Also, the last date for filing the return in FORM GSTR-6 by an input service
distributor for the months of July, August and September, 2017 shall be
extended to 15.11.2017.
12. Invoice
Rules are being modified to provide relief to certain classes of registered
persons.
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DSM/SBS
