A detailed summery of April 2023 GST updates 

GST Return Due dates

Summary of latest notifications/Circulars

· Central Tax Notifications

o   Late Fees

§  Reduction / Waiver of Late Fees for the Past Period:

·Late Fees for Annual Return of 2022-23 onwards:

o Registration

·Application for Registration:

Biometrics-based Aadhaar Authentication and taking photographs of the application will be required for registration. This is applicable only to the State of Gujarat as of now.

[N. No. 4 & 5/2023-CT dated 31.3.2023]

·Revocation of Cancellation of Registration:

Registration cancelled by the proper officer on account of Non-furnishing GSTR-4 for a financial year beyond 3 months from the due date of furnishing the said return·Others returns for a such continous tax period as may be prescribed Can apply for revocation of cancellation of registration by 30th June 2023 subject to the condition of furnishing of returns due upto the effective date of cancellation of registration and payment of any amount due as tax, interest, penalty and late fee in respect of the such returns.

This option is also available to the person who has failed to apply for revocation of cancellation of registration within the time period specified in section 30 of the said Act includes a person whose appeal against the order of cancellation of registration of the order rejecting application for revocation of cancellation of registration under section 107 of the said Act has been rejected on the ground of failure to adhere to the time limit specified under sub-section (1) of section 30 of the said Act.

[N. No 3/2023-CT dated 31.3.2023]

·Assessment of Non-Filer [Sec 62]:

Registration Taxpayers have been given the option to file their return along with payment of interest and late fees, if any on or before 30th June 2023 against Assessment Order issue under section 62 on or before the 28th day of February 2023 to withdraw/conclude the proceeding under section 62 of the Act.

Such option is available irrespective of whether or not an appeal had been filed against such assessment order under section 107 of the said Act or whether or not the appeal, if any, filed against the said assessment order has been decided.

[N. No. 6/2023- CT dated 31.3.2023]

·Extension of Time Limit Issuance of Order under Section 73:

[N.No 9/2023-CT dated 31.3.2023]
· Finance Act 2023 Changes

·        Composition Scheme for E-commerce:

Person engaged in supply of goods through E-commerce platforms can also opt for composition schemes under GST.

·Input Tax Credit:

·        Payment to Supplier: Where a recipient fails to pay to the supplier of goods or services or both, other than the supplies on which tax is payable on reverse charge basis, the amount towards the value of supply along with tax payable thereon within a period of one hundred and eighty days from the date of issue of invoice by the supplier, an amount equal to the input tax credit availed by the recipient shall be paid by him along with interest payable u/s 50 in such manner as may be prescribed. The recipient shall be entitled to avail of the credit of input tax on payment made by him to the supplier of the amount towards the value of supply of goods or services or both along with tax payable thereon. The above amendments align this provision with the return filing system.

·       Exempt Supplies for the purpose of ITC Reversal in term of Section 17(3): Exempt supply will also include value of such activities or transactions as may be prescribed in respect of supply of warehoused goods to any person before clearance for home consumption

·       Blocked Credit Sec 17(5)(fa): ITC is not available on goods or services or both received by a taxable person, which are used or intended to be used for activities relating to his obligations under corporate social responsibility referred to in section 135 of the Companies Act, 2013 

·Registration:

Government may specify categories of persons exempted from GST registration in exercise of the power provided under section 23(2) of the Act. Such notified persons will not be required to take registration in GST even as per Section 22(1) of the CGST Act and compulsory registration required under Section 24 of the CGST Act.

·       Time Limit for Revocation

Time limit of 30 days as prescribed for Revocation of Cancellation of Registration has been removed. any registered person, whose registration is cancelled by the proper officer on his own motion, may apply to such officer for revocation of cancellation of the registration in such manner, within such time and subject to such conditions and restrictions as may be prescribed

·New Timelines for GST Returns:

Taxpayers will not be permitted to furnish or file the following GST returns after the expiry of 3 years from due date of filing such respective returns, i.e., GSTR 1/ GSTR 3B/ GSTR 9 and GSTR 8.

·Interest on Refund:

Section 56 has been amended so as to provide for an enabling provision to prescribe the manner of computation of delayed period for the purpose of calculation of interest on delayed refunds. The manner of computation shall be prescribed by way of rules / notifications.

·Assessment of Non-Filer:

A registered person was required to furnish a valid return within 30 days of the service of the assessment order. Now, this time period has been extended to 60 days. Further, there will be an additional late fee of Rs.100 per day for each day of delay beyond 60 days. Once the return has been furnished, the assessment order shall be deemed to be withdrawn.

·       Constitution of GST Appellate Tribunal (GSTAT) and Benches thereof:

Section 109 of the CGST Act has been substituted, so as to provide that, the jurisdiction, powers and authority conferred on the GSTAT, shall be exercised by the Principal Bench and the State Benches instead of ‘National Bench or Regional Bench’, which would be set up in every state, while there will be a Principal Bench in New Delhi, consisting of the President, a Judicial Member, a Technical Member (Centre) and a Technical Member (State), and the issue involved w.r.t. the place of supply would only be heard by the Principal Bench.

Further the State Benches will consist of two Judicial Members, a Technical Member (Centre) and a Technical Member (State). Moreover, appeals, where the amount w.r.t. tax or Input tax credit (“ITC”) or the amount of fine, fee or penalty, does not exceed INR 50 lakh and which does not involve any question of law may be heard by a single Member, whereas, in all other cases, shall be heard together by one Judicial Member and one Technical Member.

Accordingly, relevant amendments have been made in Section 110 (Appointment, qualification, conditions of GSTAT members), Section 114 (Administrative & Financial powers of President of GSTAT), Section 117 (Appeal to High Court), Section 118 (Appeal to Supreme Court), and Section 119 (Sums due to be paid notwithstanding appeal, etc.) of the CGST Act.

·        Penal Provisions for E-com Operators: Any e-ecommerce operator who:

1.     allows a supply of goods or services or both through it by an unregistered person other than a person exempted from registration by a notification issued under this Act to make such supply;

2.     allows an inter-State supply of goods or services or both through it by a person who is not eligible to make such inter-State supply; or

3.     fails to furnish the correct details in the statement to be furnished under sub-section (4) of  section 52 of any outward supply of goods effected through it by a person exempted from obtaining registration under this Act

shall be liable to pay a penalty of ten thousand rupees, or an amount equivalent to the amount of tax involved had such supply been made by a registered person other than a person paying tax under section 10, whichever is higher.

·      Changes in Prosecution Law and Decriminalization under GST

The minimum threshold for prosecution under GST is proposed to be raised from Rs. 1 crore to Rs.2 crore, except for the offence of issuance of invoices without supply of goods, or services, or both.

The compounding amount range is to be reduced as follows:

1.     Minimum from 50 percent to 25 percent <

2.     Maximum from 150 percent to 100 percent

Following offences are decriminalised:

1.     Obstruction or preventing any officer from discharging his duties

2.     Tampering with or destruction of material evidence or documents

3.     Failure to supply information required under law or supplying false information

·Consent based sharing of Information:

It provides for prescribing manner and conditions for sharing of the information furnished by the registered person in his return or in his application of registration or in his statement of outward supplies, or the details uploaded by him for generation of electronic invoice or E-way bill or any other details, as may be prescribed, on the common portal with such other systems, as may be notified.Conditions include:

1.     particulars furnished in the application for registration under section 25 or in the return filed under section 39 or under section 44.

2.     the particulars uploaded on the common portal for preparation of invoice, the details of outward supplies furnished under section 37 and the particulars uploaded on the common portal for generation of documents under section 68.

3.     such other details as may be prescribed. Such sharing shall be subject to consent to be obtained. No action shall arise against the Government or common portal for any liability arising consequent upon such sharing·

Retrospective amendments to schedule III of CGST Act, 2017:

Schedule III deals with activities or transactions which shall be treated neither as a supply of goods nor supply of services. Para (7) and (8) provides as under:

“7. Supply of goods from a place in the non-taxable territory to another place in the non-taxable territory without such goods entering into India.

8 (a) Supply of warehoused goods to any person before clearance for home consumption;

8 (b) Supply of goods by the consignee to any other person, by endorsement of documents of title to the goods, after the goods have been dispatched from the port of origin located outside India but before clearance for home consumption.”

Explanation (2) defines warehoused goods to mean as per Customs Act, 1962.Accordingly, these paras and explanations shall have retrospective effect w.e.f. 01.07.2017. However, no refund shall be made of the tax which has been collected.

·   New definition of “Non-taxable Online Recipient”:

“Non-taxable online recipient” means any unregistered person receiving online information and database access or retrieval services located in taxable territory. In this, “unregistered person” includes a person registered solely in terms of section 24 (vi) of the Central Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017.

Thus, the condition of receipt of online information and database access or retrieval services (OIDAR) for purposes other than commerce, industry or any other business or profession so as to provide for taxability of OIDAR service provided by any person located in non-taxable territory to an unregistered person receiving the said services and located in the taxable territory has been removed.

·Place of supply of services of transportation of goods, other than by way of mail or courier:

Where the location of supplier of services and the location of the recipient of services both in India and transportation of goods is to a place outside India, then the place of supply shall be determined as follows:

.     a registered person, shall be the location of such person; 2.     a person other than a registered person, shall be the location at which such goods are handed over for their transportation. Where location of supplier of services or the location of the recipient of services is outside India, then place of supply will be covered under default provision of Section 13(2) of IGST Act i.e location of the recipient.

GST portal updates:

o   E-Invoices Services Through Private IRP’s

o   GSTN has launched the e-invoice registration services through multiple private IRPs at the recommendation of the GST Council.

o   Four private companies viz. ClearTax, Cygnet, E&Y and IRIS Business Ltd were empaneled by GSTN for providing these e-invoice registration services to all GST taxpayers of the country.

o   The taxpayers can choose any IRP to generate their e-invoices. o   This adds significant capacity and redundancy to the single e-invoice registration portal which existed earlier.

The end-to-end flow of a digitally signed e-invoice between sellers and buyers by integration with the GST system will lead to ease of compliance for the taxpayers. It will also lead to facilitation of auto-drafting and auto-populating of invoice details in the GST returns which would lead to increased accuracy, correctness of reporting of supplies and availing of ITC by the recipients of the supply.

·HSN Code Reporting in e-Invoice on IRPs Portal

·        Requirement of Reporting of 6 digit HSN in the Invoice for outward supplies having AATO of more than 5 crores in any previous FY, has already been implemented in the GST system

·        However, if Valid 6 digit HSN is not available in E-Invoice database while generating E-Invoice use the corresponding 8 Digit HSN code

·Registration of OPC (One Person Companies) Under GST

·        While filling REG 01 Application for Registration for OPC, in the ‘Part B’, Constitution of Business under ‘Business Details’ tab using dropdown list, applicants have to select option “Others” and mention “One Person Company” in the text field

·        and follow the steps for a normal registration application to complete the process.

·        In case of any further issues, it is advised to raise a ticket at the self help portal.