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Taxpayers can complete filing transitional credit form by April 30: FinMin

Taxpayers can complete filing transitional credit form by April 30: FinMin

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Taxpayers who could not submit transitional credit form TRAN-1 on the GSTN portal due to technical glitches now have time till April 30 to complete the process, the finance ministry said today.transitional credit

However, these taxpayers would not be permitted to amend the amount of transitional credit they had claimed while filing the form.

Stating that a large number of taxpayers could not complete the process of filing TRAN-1 as they could not digitally authenticate it due to IT-related glitches, the ministry said, adding that GSTN shall identify such taxpayers on the basis of “electronic audit trail”.

“It has been decided that all such taxpayers, who tried but were not able to complete Tran-1 procedure (original or revised) of filing them on or before December 27, 2017, due to IT-glitch shall be provided the facility to complete Tran-1 filing,” it said in a circular.

If needed, GST Network may request field formations of the Centre and states to collect additional document and data etc or verify the same to identify taxpayers, who should be allowed this procedure, it added.

“The taxpayers shall complete the process of filing of transitional credit Tran-1 stuck due to IT glitches by April 30 and the process of completing filing of GSTR 3B which could not be filed for such Tran-1 shall be completed by May 31, 2018,” the ministry said.

Form TRAN-1 declaration was required to be filed by persons registered under the GST law who wish to claim credit for taxes paid under the pre-GST regime. The functionality to fill the claim form was open on the GSTN portal between August-December 2017.

The GST Council, headed by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and comprising his state counterparts, had on March 10 decided to set up an IT Grievance Redressal Mechanism to address the grievances of taxpayers in the wake of technical glitches on the GST portal.

However, where the problem relates to the individual taxpayer, due to localized issues such as non-availability of internet connectivity or failure of power supply, this mechanism shall not be available, the circular said.

It further said that any issue which needs to be addressed through this mechanism shall be identified by the GST Network and the method of the resolution would be approved by the GST Implementation Committee (GIC) which shall act as the IT Grievance Redressal Committee.

Also read: Centre sets up IT Grievance Redressal Committee to deal technical glitches on GST portal

It further said that the GSTN, central and state governments would appoint nodal officers in requisite number to address the problem a taxpayer faces due to glitches in the tax payment portal.

Taxpayers who want to seek grievance redressal will have to make an application to the field officers or the nodal officers along with evidence to establish bonafide attempt on the part of the taxpayer to comply with the due process of law.

“These applications shall be collated by the nodal officer and forwarded to GSTN who would on receipt of application examine the same. GSTN shall after verifying its electronic records and the applications received, identify the issue involved where a large section of taxpayers are affected. GSTN shall forward the same to the IT Grievance Redressal Committee with suggested solutions for the resolution of the problem,” the circular added.

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Source: Blooberg
Demonetisation, GST led to formalisation of economy: FM Arun Jaitley

Demonetisation, GST led to formalisation of economy: FM Arun Jaitley

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Goods and Services Tax (GST) led to the higher formalization of the economy resulting in higher direct tax revenueArun Jaitley : GST and a greater number of income tax return filings, finance minister Arun Jaitley said on Tuesday.

“The impact of demonetisation and GST implementation has resulted in the higher formalisation of an economy. This is further substantiated by the filing of more than one crore (new) income tax returns by taxpayers during FY 2017-18 in comparison to FY 2016-17,” Jaitley tweeted.

According to the data released by the Finance Ministry on Monday, 6.84 crore returns were filed during 2017-18, significantly higher than 5.43 crore filed in the previous fiscal.

Arun jaitley twitter

“Direct tax collections for FY 17-18 has been Rs 10,02,607 crore (18 % higher than the previous year),” Arun Jaitley added.

“The data reveals the efficiency of the tax department and a rise in the number of honest taxpayers. This historical revenue receipt is a factual testimony of accountable governance under Prime Minister Narendra Modi,” he said.

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GST E-way Bill and Composition Scheme To Be Main Agenda in Next Meeting

GST E-way Bill and Composition Scheme To Be Main Agenda in Next Meeting

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GST E-way Bill and Composition Scheme To Be Main Agenda in Next Meeting

The  successful implementation of GST E-way bill and the lower than expected Goods and Services Tax under the composite scheme is set to be the main agenda for the GST Council meeting scheduled on Saturday.“Two things will be on the top of agenda in the next GST Council meet on Saturday. First is the timely implementation of the E-way bill and secondly the falling Goods & Services Tax collection under the composite scheme. Both issues had already been flagged by the revenue secretary,” a senior finance ministry official said.

The government had decided to start the inter-state movement of goods worth more than Rs 50,000 through e-way bill mechanism with the implementation of GST. However, the E-way bill, which was to be launched on February 1, was postponed as the IT network crashed. Consequently, the system continued on a trial mode  with full implementation deferred until April 1.

Also read: What is an e-way bill and why is it important?

“Now that there is less than a month for implementation, the GST Council wants to ensure that this time there is no technical glitch. The finance secretary had already sought a report on the reasons for technical failure and a progess report. The report will be discussed in the meet,” the official said.

The second issue on the agenda is falling GST collections under the composite scheme. The collection of GST slipped marginally to Rs 86,318 crore in January, from Rs 86,703 crore in December, less than expected by the government. As many as 7.28 crore GST returns have been filed so far on the GSTN portal since the implementation of the goods and services tax. For the month of January, 56.72 lakh returns were filed.

Also read: 26th GST Council meeting on March 10; focus on simplification of return filing process

However, 1.23 lakh companies registered under the scheme have opted out and become regular taxpayers.
“The response has not been as expected. The government expected better revenue. These things will be taken up in the meeting,” the official said, adding that there will be no major overhaul in the tax slabs.
Also, while the Council will discuss the simplification of the return filing process, GSTR-3B will continue for some time.The Goods &  Services Tax Council, in its meeting in November, had extended GSTR-3B filing till March end.

E-way bill software | Best GST E-Way Bill Software | XaTTaX

Source: New Indian Express
New process of filing GST returns will be made simpler soon

New process of filing GST returns will be made simpler soon

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GST Returns Filing Process

The Ministry of Finance, headed by Arun Jaitley, has decided to simplify the process of filing GST returns and an announcement in this regard is likely to come soon. This will further ease the problems being faced by traders.

“In the 25th GST Council meeting held in January this year, the Ministry of Finance had given indication of possible changes in the procedure for filing GST returns. Further an expert panel was set up to work on the process of making GST return work simpler. The panel has charted out a simpler version of GSTR and the ministry is likely to announce the new form of GST return process soon,” a source who was part of the GST Council meeting said.

The changes were expected to be announced in the GST Council meeting held in January, but the Ministry of Finance did not make any conclusive announcement then, only saying that there were several alternative presentations on how to ease the process of filing GST returns and the GST Council will try to incorporate these presentations to ease the process of filing GST returns.

There are four kinds of GST return forms—GSTR-1, GSTR-2, GSTR-3 and GSTR-3B. While GSTR-1 contains details of all outward supplies, GSTR-2 contains all details of inward supplies or purchases, GSTR-3 contains all furnished details of all inward and outward supplies and GSTR-3B is a self-declaration form filed by a dealer. In the 23rd GST Council meeting, it was decided that filing of GSTR-2 and GSTR-3 forms would stop and only the filing of GSTR-1 and GSTR-3B would continue.

Also Read: How Businesses are overcoming the GST Filing Issues?

According to experts, the current GST return filing process is cumbersome work for traders and there is an urgent need to change the whole process.

If the changes that the Ministry of Finance is planning to effect come about, a businessman or dealer will only have to file the GST-3B form and will be required to upload supply invoices.

Addressing the problems faced by traders in filing GST returns in its 23rd meeting, the GST Council had made sweeping changes. The Council had tried to ease the burden of complying with GST rules for traders and businesses by relaxing deadlines for filing returns and fines for late filing.

Sachin Bhatia, Chief Executive Officer of Metro Infrasys, a consultancy firm, told The Sunday Guardian: “Due to lack of understanding and a cumbersome process for filing GST returns, traders are facing lots of problems. Also, filing for refunds requires a lot of paper work and this needs to be eased. Besides GST returns, traders are also facing problems in getting their refunds. The bulk of capital of thousands of exporters is stuck with the GSTN as the refunds claimed by them have not been given.”

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Source :  Sunday Guardian Live
GST Council to further trim list of items in 28% tax slab: FM Arun Jaitley

GST Council to further trim list of items in 28% tax slab: FM Arun Jaitley

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Arun Jaitley : GST

Federal indirect tax body, the GST Council will continue to prune the list of items in the highest tax slab of 28%, but merging of the 12% and 18% slabs will have to wait till tax compliance increases, finance minister Arun Jaitley said on Tuesday.

Addressing business leaders at the India-Korea Summit organized by the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion and Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), Jaitley said India has been significantly tax non-compliant, a situation which needs to change.

The minister said that when goods and services were initially placed in different tax slabs at the time of GST’s roll out, it was a mathematical exercise based on the prevailing tax burden on those items.

Jaitley said that in the first instance of tax rate rationalization after GST introduction, the list of items in the 28% slab were pruned.

“It is now a substantially thinner list than the original one. That exercise will continue,” he assured.

“After we are able to improve the compliance levels, the other stage of reform will begin… For example, we have two standard rates and in the long run I do see them merging into one. For that to happen, it will take some reasonable time, that is when the compliance levels start moving up,” Jaitley said.\

Also read: GST: What happens if person files return but doesn’t make payment of taxes?

Jaitley’s reference to the need for higher tax compliance comes at a time when tax authorities at the union and state levels are contemplating taking steps to combat tax evasion, after having adopted a lenient approach so far under the new tax regime to allow taxpayers to get accustomed to GST.

In February, total GST receipts stood at Rs86,318 crore, nearly the same as the amount collected in January—Rs86,703 crore. Punjab recorded the highest compliance in February with over 83% of those required to file monthly returns doing so. North-eastern states barring Tripura and Sikkim reported less than 50% compliance during the month.

According to Abhishek Jain, tax partner, EY India, with the e-way bill requirement coming into force from 1 April, revenue collections are expected to get a boost.

“About 30% taxpayers registered with GST are still not filing their returns and the government must endeavour to make them file returns, which may further enhance the overall GST revenue collections,” Jain said.

M.S Mani, senior director, Deloitte India said that while the GST revenues and the number of returns filed are gradually increasing, the tax base and revenue numbers have not reached expected levels. “This could lead to more enquiries and scrutiny from tax authorities,” he said.

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Source :  Livemint
26th GST Council meeting likely on March 10; focus on simplification of return filing process

26th GST Council meeting likely on March 10; focus on simplification of return filing process

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26th gst council meeting

The GST Council headed by finance minister Arun Jaitley is likely to meet on March 10 via video conference to finalise a simpler tax return filing process, a senior government official told Moneycontrol.

In the last Council meet on January 18, there were extensive discussions between states and the Centre to simplify the return filing process, while reaching a conclusion to keep the concept of invoice matching—key measure against tax evasion—intact.

A ministerial group headed by Bihar finance minister Sushil Modi, information technology committee head GST Network (GSTN) chairman Ajay Bhushan Pande, Infosys head and former UIDAI chairman Nandan Nilekani had put forth possible suggestions towards making the return filing process less complex.

Jaitley had indicated that in the future a single stage return filing will be introduced to reduce compliance burden and ease procedures for businesses.

 Also Read:  25th GST Council Meet:Rates revised for 29 goods, 53 services, says Arun Jaitley

Meanwhile, businesses will have to file GSTR3B or the summary form for the next few months, till the new mechanism is announced and similar changes are made in the software, the official said.

“Businesses will have to file summary form GSTR3B for the next few months…beyond March 31 as decided earlier,” the official said.

This would mean that the three key return forms—GSTR1 (outward supply), GSTR2 (inward supply) and GSTR3 (the final netted out return)—will be consolidated into a single form.

XaTTaX: Cloud and On-Premises Based GST Filing Software For India

Source: Money Control
States not in favour of petrol, diesel inclusion into GST: FM Arun Jaitley

States not in favour of petrol, diesel inclusion into GST: FM Arun Jaitley

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arun jaitley GST

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley today said the states are not in favour of including petrol and diesel into GST at the moment, ruling out any immediate levy of the new indirect tax on these petroleum products. While GST was rolled out on July 1, real estate as well as crude oil, jet fuel or ATF, natural gas, diesel and petrol were kept out of its purview. This meant that the products continued to attract duties like central excise and VAT. “So far the mood of states (most of the states) is not in favour of including it (in GST) at the moment. But I am sure as the GST experience moves on, I think, natural gas, real estate — these are areas which are to be brought in and then probably at some stage we will keep trying for petrol, diesel and potable alcohol,” Jaitley said. The five petroleum items have been kept out of GST as they are considered cash cows, giving both the Centre and states bulk of their tax revenues.

But keeping them out has created compliance issues including taking input tax credit.

For example, a refinery producing diesel and petrol would pay GST on the procurement of plant, machinery and services but that tax would not be creditable against excise duty and VAT levied on petrol and diesel. Jaitley said further rationalisation of the tax rates would continue as revenues go up and ultimately the 28 per cent tax slab would be restricted to demerit and luxury goods. “GST broadly has settled down. Almost in every meeting now, we are able to rationalise the tariffs and this process will continue. It will continue with the structure tariffs being rationalised and the structure itself being rationalised as the collections go up,” he said.

The minister said that GST currently is a voluntarily declared GST with one check and safeguard that is the Input Tax Credit. “The taxpayers’ base in indirect tax has widened. I think slowly as the software system matures and the 2-3 anti-evasion measures that are possible are put in place, the compliance level in GST will automatically improve,” he said. Jaitley said from voluntary declaration under the GST which are currently taking place, because of anti-evasion measure in place, the collection will improve.

An improved collection will help sticking to fiscal deficit target in coming years, he said. The government has set a fiscal deficit target of 3.3 per cent of GDP in 2018-19, down from 3.5 per cent this fiscal.

Source: Financial Express
Impact of Goods and Services Tax (GST) on Union Budget 2018-19

Impact of Goods and Services Tax (GST) on Union Budget 2018-19

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Impact of Goods and Services Tax (GST) on Union Budget 2018-19

Budget 2018-19 is the first Union Budget after the implementation of GST in July 2017. After the implementation most provisions of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) were tweaked and tax rates of numerous products were reduced in subsequent GST council meets which resulted in a sharp decline in government’s tax collection figures.GST replaced more than a dozen indirect taxes; these indirect taxes together formed a bulk of the government’s earnings. Service tax alone accounted for more than 14% of the government’s revenue in the last Budget in 2017. Thus fall is GST collection is a major cause for concern for the FM.Finance Minister Arun Jaitley who is also the GST Council Chief has stated that Budget 2018 will provide further opportunity for him to address issues related to GST and also to further tweak the GST rates. Almost every sector desires a rate cut in the GST rates but probably only a few of these expectations will be met on the budget day given the precarious fiscal situation that the FM has to deal with.

Effect of GST on Union Budget of India
One of effects of the GST on the union budget of India is that, now that the various indirect taxes are gone the manoeuvring space for the FM has reduced substantially. Before GST implementation in the Budget all the changes in the indirect taxes were contained in the Part B of the Budget that dealt with tax proposals. But now any decision regarding changes in GST rates is taken by the GST Council. Thus other than changes in the basic custom duties which are outside the purview of GST no big bang changes in the GST tax regime is expected. The FM is his Budget 2018 may state about foreseen changes but won’t be able to implement concrete changes through the Budget itself. Another effect of the GST on the Union Budget would be because after the implementation of GST the government’s revenue has been steadily declining which puts further pressure on an already strained fiscal deficit target of the government. Along with need for enhance public spending in various sector, the fall in GST collection throws up a difficult situation for the FM to tackle in the Budget 2018.

Challenges related to GST in Budget 2018
The most significant GST related challenge for the FM is to tackle falling GST revenues. The GST collections have been consistently going South since September. This is majorly due to cut in GST rates on many products and because of small businesses opting to file returns on a quarterly basis instead of initially proposed monthly returns. If the current trend continues the GST collection of the government would be below collection of indirect taxes in the pre-GST era, this will be a big jolt to the fiscal consolidation agenda of the Government. Thus the biggest GST related challenge before the FM is to improve GST collection through better compliance, technology and other means. Another challenge for the FM is to expand the GST base thus we could see some movement on this front too in the Budget 2018. Government may incentivise and offer concessions and rebates to honest tax payers and make evading GST more difficult. GST when introduced was supposed to be a user friendly tax regime hence further steps to simplify the GST system is also expected. The Budget 2018 may also be used to iron out some issues that are plaguing the GST regime such as export refunds that are stuck with GST department, technological bottlenecks and more.
Also read: 25th GST Council Meet:Rates revised for 29 goods, 53 services, says Arun Jaitley

GST related decisions expected in the Budget 2018
The major GST related decisions that may be unveiled in the Budget 2018 are bringing of the real estate sector under the purview of GST along with diesel, natural gas and gasoline. Although the FM cannot reduce the GST rates of the products in the Budget but he can announce the intention of reducing GST rates on products such as electric vehicles, agriculture related products used by farmers and others.  One of the GST related expectation from the Budget is that the limit of the composition scheme of GST which is currently 15 Lakhs can be increased to 30 Lakhs. Other GST related decisions on clarity of taxation on e-wallets, centralised registration for banks, insurance companies and financial institutions and also ending of certain restrictions on input tax credit is expected. A decision on single stage return filing by consolidating the three key return forms GSTR1, GSTR2 and GSTR3 to minimize compliance burden on small and medium businesses may also find mention in the FM’s speech on the that day.

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Source: Business Standard
GST rate cut: From diamonds to used cars, here’s full list of revised items

GST rate cut: From diamonds to used cars, here’s full list of revised items

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GST rate cut

Two weeks ahead of Budget 2018, the Goods and Services Tax Council on Thursday cut rates on 83 employment-oriented goods and services, in a bid to encourage greater compliance as revenues have dipped since the landmark reform was announced in July. The panel, headed by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and comprising representatives of all states, at its 25th meeting decided to reduce tax rate on 29 items and 54 categories of services with effect from January 25. Businesses have raised concerns about high rates of taxation and cumbersome processes in GST, billed as India’s biggest tax reform in 70 years.

Also read: 25th GST Council Meet:Rates revised for 29 goods, 53 services, says Arun Jaitley

The goods on which GST will be lowered include biofuel-run buses, used motor vehicles and diamonds and precious stones.

Here’s the complete list:

List of goods on which GST rate recommended for reduction from 28% to 18%

Old and used motor vehicles on the margin of the supplier, subject to the condition that no input tax credit of central excise duty/value added tax or GST paid on such vehicles has been availed by him.

Buses, for use in public transport, which exclusively run on bio-fuels.

List of goods on which GST rate recommended for reduction from 18% to 12%

Sugar boiled confectionary Drinking water packed in 20 litters bottles Fertilizer grade Phosphoric acid Bio-diesel Bio-pesticides Bamboo wood building joinery Drip irrigation system including laterals, sprinklers Mechanical Sprayer

List of goods on which GST rate recommended for reduction from 18% to 5%

Tamarind Kernel Powder Mehendi paste in cones LPG supplied for supply to household domestic consumers

List of goods on which GST rate recommended for reduction from 12% to 5%

Articles of straw, of esparto or of other plaiting materials; basketware and wickerwork

List of goods on which GST rate recommended for reduction from 3% to 0.25%

Diamonds and precious stones

List of goods on which GST will not be charged

Vibhuti Parts and accessories for manufacture of hearing aids De-oiled rice bran

GST rate cut on services

In the services segment, government will cut taxes on transportation of crude, gasoil, gasoline, jet fuel and services relating to mining, exploration and drilling of oil and natural gas, among other things.

Admission to theme parks, water parks, joy rides, merry-go-rounds, go-carting and ballet will now be taxed at 18% instead of 28% and on common effluent treatment plans services from 18% to 12%.

List of goods on which GST rate recommended for increase from nil to 5%

Rice bran (other than de-oiled rice bran) Cigarette filter rods

Loss to the exchequer

GST rate cut will hit the exchequer by Rs 10-12 billion annually.

Reason for rate cut

The Council veered around the idea of making the GST return filing process simpler to ease compliance burden for small businesses.

GST Panel also decided to divide Rs 350 billion (Rs 35,000 crore) IGST collections between centre and states.

Petrol, crude oil may come under GST ambit

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said the next meeting of the Council may consider bringing items like crude oil, natural gas, petrol, diesel, ATF and real estate within the GST purview.

While GST collections have been coming down and reached a low of Rs 800 billion in November, direct tax collections have given the government much-needed help. Direct tax collections grew 18.7 per cent till January 15, against the Budget target of 15.7 per cent for 2017-18. These would be reflected in the Revised Estimates of 2017-18 in the Budget.

To ease the flow of funds for both the Centre and states, the Council also decided to distribute Integrated GST (IGST) of Rs 350 billion equally between them.

Ease Your GST Filing & Invoice with XaTTaX GST Software

Source :  Business Standard
25th GST Council Meet:Rates revised for 29 goods, 53 services, says Arun Jaitley

25th GST Council Meet:Rates revised for 29 goods, 53 services, says Arun Jaitley

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25th GST Council Meeting

The GST panel, headed by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and comprising representatives of all states, at its 25th meeting at Vigyan Bhawan today decided to reduce tax rate on 29 items and 53 categories of services with effect from January 25.

The major highlights of the meeting are:

1. Filing of GSTR 3B will continue, but a final decision would be taken in the next Council meet.

2. E-way bill system would be rolled out from February 1 and 15 states are on board for obtaining intra-state bill

3. The law review committee recommended to re-introduce reverse charge mechanism (RCM) only for dealers under composition scheme.

4. Rates of goods such as bio-diesel, packaged drinking water (packed in 20 litres bottle), drip irrigation system, mechanical sprayer, bio-pesticides, sugar boiled confectionery, etc. have been brought down to 12 percent from 18 percent.

5.Tax on sales of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) by private firms for domestic use has been reduced to 5% from 18%.

6. Motor vehicle will now attract 18% tax from earlier 28%

7. Rice Bran will attract 0% tax from 5% earlier

8. Tax rate on velvet fabric has been reduced to 5% from 12%.

9. Tax rate on mining, drilling of natural gas has been reduced to 12%

10. Cess on vehicles for ambulance also reduced to 0% from 15% earlier.

11. The decision on inclusion of real estate in GST has been deferred.

12. In the services segment, the council will reduce taxes on transportation of crude, gasoil, gasoline, jet fuel and services relating to mining, exploration and drilling of oil and natural gas, among other things.

13. Diamonds and precious stones will now attract 0.25 percent GST instead of 3 percent, while vibhuti and de-oiled brown rice will attract nil tax.

14. The fitment committee will fix rates of 40 handicraft items

15. GST Panel also decided to divide Rs 35,000 crore IGST collections between centre, states

GST Council may in their next meeting decide requirement of filing only two returns i.e. GSTR 3B and GSTR 1 and may do away with GSTR 2 and GSTR 3.

 

Source: Times Now