Till the date of implementation of the most significant tax reform in India, i.e, the Goods and Services Tax (GST) law, it has been subjected to various amendments so far. Till November 22nd, the Government has issued 66 Notifications and 21 circulars on CGST itself. This is in addition to the rate revision for goods and services.
CGST Rules
The Central Goods and Services Tax (CGST) Rules, 2017 has been revised by the Government twelve times after its implementation. Lastly, notification 55//2017–Central Tax was issued, amending the Central Goods and Services Tax (CGST) Rules and prescribing new refund application form RFD-01A.
Date Extension for GST Returns
Due to technical glitches, return filing under the GST regime has been a headache for all the taxpayers and tax professionals and even for the Government. With a view to address the problems faced by the tax payers, the time limit for filing returns had been extended. Till now, the Government has, for around 25 times, extended the due date for filing various GST returns.
Composition Scheme
Composition scheme is an alternate method of taxation, which allows small businesses with annual turnover up to a prescribed threshold limit to pay tax at a concessional rate, as well as reduce the compliance cost. The enrollment into the plan is optional. Earlier, the revenue threshold for this purpose was Rs 75 lakhs for dealers. Later, the same has been enhanced to one crore and now, the GST Council’s last meeting has proposed the Government to further enhance the threshold limit to 1.5 crores.
Reverse Charge Mechanism
Reverse charge is a mechanism where the recipient of the goods and/or services is liable to pay GST instead of the supplier. If a vendor who is not registered under GST, supplies goods to a person who is registered under GST then Reverse Charge would apply. This means that the GST will have to be paid directly by the receiver to the Government instead of the supplier.
The Government, however, has deferred the implementation of provisions relating to reverse charge mechanism will be applicable from 1st April 2018.
Late Fee and Interest
As mentioned earlier, the tax payers were unable to file returns in time due to the technical glitches in the GST portal. This has often resulted in giving an additional burden to pay late fee of Rs. 200 per day. The Government had promised to take a lenient approach to the defaulters for the initial six months of GST implementation. Till now, the Government has waived late fee for GSTR 3B till the month of September.
Post GST Council’s meeting held on November 10th, the Government has reduced the amount of late fee payable by a taxpayer whose tax liability for that month was ‘NIL’ to Rs. 20/- per day (Rs. 10/- per day each under CGST & SGST Acts) instead of Rs. 200/- per day.
Export Procedure
Under the new tax regime exports without the payment of tax can be made only after filing a bond or letter of undertaking (LUT) as applicable to the exporter. There was a lot of ambiguity regarding the exports which are to be made without the payment of IGST. The government of India has released few notifications regarding the filing of bond and LUT in the case of certain specified people. Exporters can make the payment of IGST at the time of export and then claim the refund later but it will block their working capital.
Tax Deduction at Source
The new GST law mandates certain entities to deduct tax at source. The Central Government will implement the provisions relating to Tax Deduction at Source (TDS) and Tax Collection at Source (TCS) under the new Goods and Services (GST) Laws from 1st April 2018.
The registration for these provisions has already started in the GSTN portal. Earlier, The Government had decided to defer the implementation of provisions relating to TDS and TCS considering the difficulties of the traders. Representations were made by e-commerce firms that it would be an additional compliance burden and would lock-down working capital for merchants selling online.
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