On Thursday the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) released a notification and notified the Central Goods and Services Tax (Tenth Amendment) Rules, 2020 which further amended the Central Goods and Services Tax Rules, 2017. A new provision for physical verification of the business premises on non-authentication of Aadhaar was inserted in the new amended rules.
The notification states, “In the Central Goods and Services Tax Rules, 2017 (hereinafter referred to as the said rules), in rule 8, for sub-rule (4A), the following sub-rule shall be substituted with effect from 01st April 2020, namely: –
“(4A) Where an applicant, other than a person notified under sub-section (6D) of section 25, opts for authentication of Aadhaar number, he shall, while submitting the application under sub-rule (4), with effect from 21st August 2020, undergo authentication of Aadhaar number and the date of submission of the application in such cases shall be the date of authentication of the Aadhaar number, or fifteen days from the submission of the application in Part B of FORM GST REG-01 under sub-rule (4), whichever is earlier.”.”
It further said, “In the said rules, in rule 9, with effect from 21st August 2020,-
(i) in sub-rule (1), for the proviso, the following provisos shall be substituted, namely:-
“Provided that where a person, other than a person notified under sub-section (6D) of section 25, fails to undergo authentication of Aadhaar number as specified in sub-rule (4A) of rule 8 or does not opt for authentication of Aadhaar number, the registration shall be granted only after physical verification of the place of business in the presence of the said person, in the manner provided under rule 25;
Provided further that the proper officer may, for reasons to be recorded in writing and with the approval of an officer not below the rank of Joint Commissioner, in lieu of the physical verification of the place of business, carry out the verification of such documents as he may deem fit.”;
(ii) in sub-rule (2), before the Explanation, the following proviso shall be inserted, namely: – “Provided that where a person, other than a person notified under sub-section (6D) of section 25, fails to undergo authentication of Aadhaar number as specified in sub-rule (4A) of rule 8 or does not opt for authentication of Aadhaar number, the notice in FORM GST REG-03 may be issued not later than twenty-one days from the date of submission of the application.”;
(iii) in sub-rule (4), for the word, “shall”, the word “may” shall be substituted;
(iv) for sub-rule (5), the following sub-rule shall be substituted, namely: –
“(5) If the proper officer fails to take any action, –
(a) within a period of three working days from the date of submission of the application in cases where a person successfully undergoes authentication of Aadhaar number or is notified under sub-section (6D) of section 25; or
(b) within the time period prescribed under the proviso to sub-rule (2), in cases where a person, other than a person notified under sub-section (6D) of section 25, fails to undergo authentication of Aadhaar number as specified in sub-rule (4A) of rule 8; or
(c) within a period of twenty-one days from the date of submission of the application in cases where a person does not opt for authentication of Aadhaar number; or
(d) within a period of seven working days from the date of the receipt of the clarification, information or documents furnished by the applicant under subrule (2),
the application for grant of registration shall be deemed to have been approved.”.”
At last, the words “or due to not opting for Aadhaar authentication” was also inserted after the words “failure of Aadhaar authentication” in Rule 25 of the Central Goods and Services Tax Rules, 2017.
This notification was published by the CBIC in the Official Gazette of India and came into force on the date August 20, 2020.
With Warm Regards,
CL Bureau.
