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GST practitioners form national body to suggest changes

GST practitioners form national body to suggest changes

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Practitioners of Goods and Services Tax (GST) from across the country have formed a Joint Action Committee (JAC) to suggest simplification in compliance GST practitioners form national body to suggest changesand filing of returns as well as to ensure that money (or businessmen) is not blocked in the form of refunds due to them. The JAC was announced on Sunday when the two-day national conclave of tax practitioners concluded in Ahmedabad.

The committee was formed to fill the gap of a nation-wide body to represent to the authorities the issues faced by businessmen and tax practitioners at the grass-root level. “GST is a national Act, which subsumes most of the Acts governing states and central taxes. There is no way local tax practitioners can represent their cases to GST Council. Such a national body is the need of the hour,” said Amit Dave, a tax practitioner from Indore.

Close to 200 delegates from 29 states and Union Territories participated in the conclave. Representatives from each state will be a part of the JAC. A core body within JAC will also be formed to coordinate the activities of JAC.

The conclave witnessed deliberations on a host of issues, and suggestions to simplify the system will be submitted to the GST Council. “The upcoming meeting of GST Council has suggested 46 amendments, the conclave deliberated on a wider range of issues. We were surprised with the kind of issues faced under GST in different parts of the country,” said Axat Vyas, one of the key organisers of the conclave.

Some of the major suggestions include single one-click monthly return, allowing rectification in returns and creation of an activity log for traders to trace their actions, among a host of others. The Conclave also deliberated on shortcomings of the Act.

Participants complained that the GST portal is not uniform across states and while it is functional in some states, it’s dysfunctional in neighboring states. Deepak Bapat, a tax practitioner from Maharashtra, said that the IT system is not robust enough and the Act is in place. “All commissioners are given an authority to extend the deadline to file taxes by three months, but they have never used this discretion,” said Bapat. Sreedhara Parthsarthy, a tax practitioner from Ballari, in Karnataka, advocated that traditional tax practitioners should also be allowed to audit GST returns. Under the GST regime, only Chartered Accountants and Cost Accountants are allowed to conduct audit reports.

Source :  DNA
GST rate cut may make metro rail project cheaper

GST rate cut may make metro rail project cheaper

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In a move that may lead to a considerable decline in Mumbai Metro project cost, the state government GST rate cut may make metro rail project cheaperhas asked for a rebate from the contractors handling the project following a change in tax rate under the goods and services tax (GST).

Under the new indirect tax regime, the GST on construction cost has been reduced to 12% from 18% earlier.

Recently, during a meeting held between Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) — Government of Maharashtra body that is responsible for the infrastructure development of the Mumbai Metropolitan Region — and companies executing metro rail projects, one of the issues being discussed was that the government agency had asked for a rebate in construction cost as the GST applicable has now been reduced from 18% to 12%.

A good 6% fall in tax liability will thereby make the metro rail project cost cheaper.

However, during the meeting the contractors told the officials that they will not be able to extend the entire 6% of the difference, sources from MMRDA said.

In order to find “an amicable” solution or clarification on the subject, a meeting was arranged with GST Commissioner, Maharashtra.

A few weeks back, a meeting was held at GST Bhavan between MMRDA officials, the GST Commissioner and construction firm representatives.

During the meeting, the GST Commissioner explained to the contractors that the difference of rebate has to be extended to the government agency.

“However, the difference has to be arrived at after, either, the internal auditors or independent auditors scrutinise the bills submitted by the private parties on work undertaken for the project. It is only after going through the input tax credit, under what (composite or any other) scheme of GST the construction firm is paying taxes, etc., the actual rebate can be arrived at,” said a source after referring to GST Commissioner’s communication.

Usually the infrastructure project costs tend to rise during the completion stage, but in this case despite a spike in cost, a certain percentage will get absorbed if the rebate is offered.

In August 2016, work was awarded for 18.60 km long Dahisar East-DN Nagar Metro 2A for which the estimated project cost on completion was Rs 6,410 crore.

Similarly, for the 16.50 km long Dahisar East-Andheri East Metro 7 route, the estimated completion cost was Rs 6,208 crore.

Seeking Rebate

In a meeting, the contractors said they will not be able to extend the entire 6% rebate

Under the new indirect tax regime, the goods and services tax on construction cost has been reduced to 12% from 18% earlier

Source :  DNA