31st GST Council Meet Dated 22nd December, 2018 – Key Highlights

The 31st GST Council meeting chaired by the Union Finance Minister, Arun Jaitley is concluded in New Delhi Today. Some of the Key Highlights of the Meeting are as under:-

• Due date for GST Annual Return and Audit Report extended till 30th June 2019. 
• Creation of a Centralised Appellate Authority for Advance Ruling (AAAR) to deal with cases of conflicting decisions by two or more State Appellate Advance Ruling Authorities on the same issue.*
• Amendment of section 50 of the CGST Act to provide that interest should be charged only on the net tax liability of the taxpayer, after taking into account the admissible input tax credit, i.e. interest would be leviable only on the amount payable through the electronic cash ledger.*
• 5% GST on Air Tickets for Economy Class for Pilgrims. 12% on Premium Tickets.
• Group of Ministers (GoM) to study Issues of Low Revenue in some States.
• Only Luxury and Sin Products in 28% Slab Now. Out of this, rates of 6 Items reduced Today.
• GST on Movie Tickets reduced. 12% GST on Tickets up to 100 and Rs. 18% on Tickets valuing more than 100 Rupees.
• 30000 crores given as Compensation to States in last 6 months. GST on Video Games and Sports Items reduced to 18% 12% GST on Third-Party Insurance carrying Vehicles.
• Air conditioners, dishwashers largely used by upper segment of society, left at 28%. 
• 13 items of automobile parts, 8 items of cement industry will remain under the 28 per cent. 
• Composition Scheme to be restricted for Small traders only. Threshold Limit for Scheme will also be modified. Final Decision in Next Meeting.
• Natural Calamity Cess: Final Decision in Next Meeting
• Services supplied by banks to PMJDY to be exempted from GST
• Services by Banks to Basic Savings Deposit Accounts, PMJDY exempted from GST

*Amendments to be made applicable only after GST Amendments to be passed.

Cement rate reduction has not been taken up as it has huge revenue implications, said Thomas Isaac, finance minister, Kerala. 

The next meeting is scheduled to be in January where a new composition scheme will be framed for small service providers. The threshold for small services will be taken up in next month.

Changes in Annual Return & Audit

a) FORM GSTR-9 &FORM GSTR-9A would be in respect of supplies etc. ‘made during the year’ and not ‘as declared in returns filed during the year’;

b) All returns in FORM GSTR-1&FORM GSTR-3B have to be filed before the filing of FORM GSTR-9&FORM GSTR-9C;

c) All returns in FORM GSTR-4 have to be filed before the filing of FORM GSTR-9A;

d)HSN code may be declared only for those inward supplies whose value independently accounts for 10% or more of the total value of inward supplies;

e)Additional payments, if any, required to be paid can be done through FORM GST DRC-03 only in cash;

f) ITC cannot be availed through FORM GSTR-9 &FORM GSTR-9C; All invoices pertaining to previous FY (irrespective of the month in which such invoice is reported in FORM GSTR-1) would be auto-populated in Table 8A of FORM GSTR-9;

g) Value of “non-GST supply” shall also include the value of “no supply” and may be reported in Table 5D, 5E, and 5F of FORM GSTR-9;

h)Verification by the taxpayer who is uploading the reconciliation statement would be included in FORM GSTR-9C

ITC in relation to invoices issued by the supplier during FY 2017-18 may be availed by the recipient till the due date for furnishing of FORM GSTR-3B for the month of March, 2019, subject to specified conditions.

REFUNDS

1. All the supporting documents/invoices in relation to a claim for refund in FORM GST RFD-01Ashall be uploaded electronically on the common portal at the time of filing of the refund application itself, thereby obviating the need for a taxpayer to physically visit a tax office for submission of a refund application. GSTN will enable this functionality on the common portal shortly.
2. The following types of refunds shallalso be made available throughFORM GST RFD- 01A:

1. Refund on account of Assessment/Provisional Assessment/Appeal/Any Other Order;
2. Tax paid on an intra-State supply which is subsequently held to be inter-State supply and vice-versa;
3. Excess payment of Tax; and
4. Any other refund.

3. In case of applications for refund in FORM GST RFD-01A(except those relating to refund of excess balance in the cash ledger)which are generated on the common portal before the roll out of the functionality described in point (10) above, and which have not been submitted in the jurisdictional tax office within 60 days of the generation of ARN, the claimants shall be sent communications on their registered email ids containing information on where to submit the said refund applications. If the applications are not submitted within 15 days of the date of the email, the said refund applications shall be summarily rejected, and the debited amount, if any, shall be re-credited to the electronic credit ledger of the claimant.

Miscelaneous & Late Fees

One more window for completion of migration process is being allowed. The due date for the taxpayers who did not file the complete FORM GST REG-26 but received only a Provisional ID (PID) till 31.12.2017 for furnishing the requisite details to the jurisdictional nodal officer shall be extended till 31.01.2019. Also, the due date for furnishing FORM GSTR-3B and FORM GSTR-1 for the period July, 2017 to February, 2019/quarters July, 2017 to December, 2018 by such taxpayers shall be extended till 31.03.2019.

Late fee shall be completely waived for all taxpayers in case FORM GSTR-1, FORM GSTR-3B &FORM GSTR-4 for the months / quarters July, 2017 to September, 2018, are furnished after 22.12.2018 but on or before 31.03.2019.

Taxpayers who have not filed the returns for two consecutive tax periods shall be restricted from generating e-way bills. This provision shall be made effective once GSTN/NIC make available the required functionality.

The due date for furnishing FORM GSTR-8 by e-commerce operators for the months of October, November and December, 2018 shall be extended till 31.01.2019.

The due date for submitting FORM GST ITC-04 for the period July 2017 to December 2018 shall be extended till 31.03.2019.

Clarifications shall be issued on certain refund related matters like refund of ITC accumulated on account of inverted duty structure, disbursal of refunds within the stipulated time, time allowed for availment of ITC on invoices, refund of accumulated ITC of compensation cess etc.

Changes made by CGST (Amendment) Act, 2018, IGST (Amendment) Act, 2018, UTGST (Amendment) Act, 2018 and GST (Compensation to States) Amendment Act, 2018 and the corresponding changes in SGST Acts would be notified w.e.f. 01.02.2019.