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FinMin simplifies GST refund claim process for businesses

FinMin simplifies GST refund claim process for businesses

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Easing compliance burden for businesses, the Finance Ministry has said GST refund GST refundcan be claimed by simply submitting a printout of ‘GSTR-2A’ form to tax authorities instead of giving all purchase invoices of a month.

GSTR-2A is a purchase return auto-generated by the system based on the transaction between a business and its supplier.

“The proper officer shall rely upon form GSTR-2A as an evidence of the account of the supply by the corresponding supplier in relation to which the input tax credit has been availed by the claimant.

“…There may be situations in which Form GSTR-2A may not contain the details of all the invoices relating to the input tax credit availed, possibly because the supplier’s Form GSTR-1 was delayed or not filed.

“In such situations, the proper officer may call for the hard copies of such invoices if he deems it necessary for the examination of the claim for refund,” the Ministry said in a clarification.

In the clarification to Principal Chief Commissioners, the GST Policy Wing in the Ministry said the proper officer shall not insist on the submission of an invoice (either original or duplicate) the details of which are present in GSTR-2A of the relevant period submitted by the claimant.

The GST Policy Wing further said a few cases have come to notice where a tax authority, after receiving a sanction order from the counterpart tax authority (Centre or State), has refused to disburse the relevant sanctioned amount calling into question the validity of the sanction order on certain grounds.

“It is hereby clarified that neither the State nor the Central tax authorities shall refuse to disburse the amount sanctioned by the counterpart tax authority on any grounds whatsoever, except under sub-section (11) of section 54 of the CGST Act.

Also Read: Finance ministry notifies annual return forms under GST for 2017-18

“It is further clarified that any adjustment of the amount sanctioned as GST refund against any outstanding demand against the claimant can be carried out by the refund disbursing authority if not already done by the refund sanctioning authority,” the Ministry said.

AMRG & Associates Partner Rajat Mohan said it is clarified that the remedy for correction of an incorrect or erroneous sanction order lies in filing an appeal against such order. “Recipient officer cannot withhold disbursement of the sanctioned amount on any pretext,” he said.

Mohan said so far invoices relating to inputs, input services, and capital goods were to be submitted for processing of claims.

“Trade and industry felt that it is cumbersome and increases their compliance cost, especially where the number of invoices is large in an entity. It has now been decided that the refund claim shall be accompanied by a printout of FORM GSTR-2A of the claimant for the relevant period for which the GST refund is claimed,” he added.


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Source: Business Today
Over 20 lakh businesses due to file final GST returns in 6 days

Over 20 lakh businesses due to file final GST returns in 6 days

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GST Return Filing

As the deadline for filing the final returns for the first month of GST nears, the Sushil Modi-led Group of Ministers has asked the IT backbone provider GSTN to send reminder text messages to 20 lakh businesses which are yet to submit the tax forms.

In its second meeting, the Group of Ministers (GoM) asked the GST-Network to brace for the rush of last-minute filers.

The last date for filing of final sales returns for July in GSTR-1 form is October 10, while the date for uploading of purchase returns in GSTR-2 is October 31.

The final GSTR-3, matching GSTR-1 and 2, is to be filed by November 10.

“So far 33 lakh businesses have filed GSTR-1 for July, while 53 lakh had filed the initial GSTR-3B returns.

So 20 lakh more businesses have to file in the next six days,” GoM Chairman and Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Modi said.

“We appeal to people to file the returns on time. Infosys has prepared a list of businesses who are yet to file returns. GSTN will be sending out mobile messages to these 20 lakh businesses reminding them to file returns,” he said.

Besides, the GoM has also asked Infosys, which has prepared the back-end of the GST Network portal, to be prepared to handle the load that would come for GSTR-2 filing between October 11 to 31.

“GSTR-2 filing load is the second big challenge and we have alerted Infosys to be prepared,” he said.


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The GST Council in its meeting on October 6 would be apprised of the deliberations of the GoM and the improvement in GST Network functioning over the past one month.

He said GSTN has accepted initial returns for August in GSTR-3B without any major glitch being reported and so far over 43.58 lakh businesses have filed it for August.

Also read: Most businessmen may be allowed to file GST returns quarterly

The next meeting of the GoM will be held after a fortnight.

“We are satisfied with the performance of GSTN. Since the formation of GoM, a lot of issues have been resolved, still some issues remain for which Infosys has been given a timeline to resolve,” he said.

A group of ministers under Sushil Modi was constituted last month to monitor and resolve technological challenges faced during GST return filing.

The GSTN, the information technology (IT) backbone and portal for real-time taxpayer registration, migration and tax return filing under the GST, had faced downtime when the first deadline for filing of July returns approached, forcing the government to extend the last date.

Kerala Finance Minister Thomas Isaac is also a member of the group.

The other members are Amar Agarwal, Minister for Commercial Taxes, Chhattisgarh; Krishna Byregowda, Minister for Agriculture, Karnataka; and Etela Rajendar, Finance Minister, Telangana.


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Source :  Business Standard
Most businessmen may be allowed to file GST returns quarterly

Most businessmen may be allowed to file GST returns quarterly

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All eyes are on GST as Centre plans better social pension

The government is looking to allow quarterly filing of goods and services tax (GST) returns by a vast majority of businesses, instead of monthly, as it seeks to ease the compliance burden on them and also unclog the system that has been facing glitches due to overload.

Sources told TOI that the move is being deliberated in the finance ministry but may take some time to implement as it has to be cleared by the law committee before it goes to the GST Council, comprising finance minister Arun Jaitley and state FMs. Traders have repeatedly complained about the compliance burden — which is a three-stage process — taking a toll on them as it has increased the compliance cost as well as resulted in massive work load.

The government believes that by easing the rules it does not stand to lose much. During a book release event on Thursday, Jaitley had said that less than four lakh registered entities paid 95% of the taxes, while payment by 60 lakh accounted for just 5%.

As reported by TOI on Monday, in a letter to Jaitley, West Bengal finance minister Amit Mitra had suggested that businesses with turnover under Rs 75 lakh should be allowed quarterly returns.

The sources, however, said that several gaps need to be filled, including how the tax credits will be dealt with. While a large company such as Maruti Suzuki or Hindustan Unilever will have to file returns on a monthly basis, the suppliers to their vendors will only have to upload their returns once a quarter, resulting in the system being unable to match the returns. But the government believes that staggering the filing of returns will also help address the concerns, especially politically.

Separately, the government is also toying with the idea of a Saral-type easier return for those with a turnover of under Rs 20 lakh, the threshold to be part of GST.

While the issue of returns may or may not make it to the GST Council meeting next week, sources indicated that the committee on exports is trying to finalise a new mechanism for refund of taxes paid by exporters on inputs, which was earlier duty-free. Under GST, these taxes are to be refunded and the commerce department has estimated that in July alone refunds of around Rs 2,300 crore are due.

On the other issues such as how to deal with the advance authorisation scheme as well as SEZs and export-oriented units, where no duty had to be paid for imports earlier, the committee is yet to take a final call, said sources.

They, however, added that the government leadership is clear about the need to work out a scheme for exporters so that they are not burdened with higher working capital requirement, which impacts their competitiveness in the global markets.

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Source : The Times of India
GST: Composition scheme picks up pace after deadline leeway

GST: Composition scheme picks up pace after deadline leeway

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GST: compostion scheme

About a million taxpayers have opted for a scheme that will benefit small businesses in the Goods and Services Tax (GST) regime by allowing easier compliance and a flat rate of tax.

After a muted response initially, interest in the composition scheme has increased. As of August 16, the last date to apply for the scheme, 938,165 entities had registered, against about 100,000 as of July 21, the earlier deadline. In other words, about 11 per cent of GST taxpayers have opted for the composition scheme.

Those with an annual turnover of up to Rs 75 lakh are eligible to apply for the scheme, which allows them to pay one per cent tax if they are traders, two per cent if they are manufacturers and five per cent if they are in the restaurant business.

“Response picked up after we extended the deadline as it gave time for businesses to plan better and take a decision,” said a government official. “For businesses that failed to register under the composition scheme now, an opportunity will arise only next year. It is difficult to compare the data as a scheme of this scale and uniformity was not available under the earlier tax regime.”

The composition scheme under the value-added tax regime varied from state to state. The eligibility condition for the composition scheme in June was raised to up to Rs 75 lakh annual turnover by the GST Council, from Rs 50 lakh earlier. A dealer registered under the composition scheme is not required to maintain detailed records, which a normal taxpayer will have to keep.

Response to the scheme could have been better had the conditions not been this stringent, experts said.

Those dealing only in goods can opt for the composition scheme and service providers, barring restaurants, were keep out. Besides, a composition dealer is not allowed to avail input tax credit. Such a dealer cannot issue a tax invoice as well. Thereby, someone buying from a composition dealer will not be able to claim input tax on such goods, limiting the popularity of the scheme. In addition, reverse charge mechanism will not be covered under the scheme.


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GST Composition scheme

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and Revenue Secretary Hasmukh Adhia have been claiming that the composition scheme would benefit small businesses, but these entities do not seem to be convinced. But, a composition dealer only needs to furnish one return, GSTR-4, on a quarterly basis and an annual return in form GSTR-9A, against three forms on a monthly basis by a normal taxpayer.

Pratik Jain of PwC India said it was difficult to compare and assess the response to the scheme. It would have been better had it also been extended to small service providers. “Besides retailers, it is mostly restaurants that appear to have opted for the scheme as they do not have much of input tax credit to avail,” he said.

The composition scheme is not available on inter-state supply of goods. M S Mani of Deloitte said a person supplying to another state needed time to strike a supply deal with a normal taxpayer in his own state who can supply to another state.


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Source :  Business Standard