Recommendations of 53rd GST Council Meeting

 Note: The recommendations of the GST Council have been presented in this release containing major items of decisions in simple language for information of the stakeholders. The same would be given effect through the relevant circulars/ notifications/ law amendments which alone shall have the force of law.

Amnesties:

• 1.       GST Council recommends waiving interest and penalties for demand notices issued under Section 73 of the CGST Act (i.e. the cases not involving fraud, suppression or wilful misstatement, etc.) for the fiscal years 2017-18, 2018-19 and 2019-20, if the full tax demanded is paid upto 31.03.2025.
• 2.       Insertion of Section 128A in CGST Act, to provide for conditional waiver of interest or penalty or both, relating to demands raised under Section 73, for FY 2017-18 to FY 2019-20 : Considering the difficulties faced by the taxpayers, during the initial years of implementation of GST, the GST Council recommended, waiving interest and penalties for demand notices issued under Section 73 of the CGST Act for the fiscal years 2017-18, 2018-19 and 2019-20, in
• cases where the taxpayer pays the full amount of tax demanded in the notice upto 31.03.2025. The waiver does not cover demand of erroneous refunds. To implement this, the GST Council has recommended insertion of Section 128A in CGST Act, 2017.
• 3.       GST Council recommends the time limit to avail input tax credit w.r.t. any invoice or debit note under Section 16(4) of CGST Act, through any GSTR 3B return filed up to 30.11.2021 for FY 2017-18, 2018-19, 2019-20 and 2020-21, may be deemed to be 30.11.2021.
• 4.       GST Council recommends amending provisions of CGST Act to provide that the three-month period for filing appeals in GST Appellate Tribunal will start from a date to be notified by the Government

Proposed Amendments in the Act:

• 1.     Amendments in Section 73 and Section 74 of CGST Act, 2017 and insertion of a new Section 74A in CGST Act, to provide for common time limit for issuance of demand notices and orders irrespective of whether case involves fraud, suppression, willful misstatement etc., or not: Presently, there is a different time limit for issuing demand notices and demand orders, in cases where charges of fraud, suppression, willful misstatement etc., are not involved, and in cases where those charges are involved. In order to simplify the implementation of those provisions, the GST Council recommended to provide for a common time limit for issuance of demand notices and orders in respect of demands for FY 2024-25 onwards, in cases involving charges of fraud or willful misstatement and not involving the charges of fraud or willful misstatement etc. Also, the time limit for the taxpayers to avail the benefit of reduced penalty, by paying the tax demanded along with interest, has been recommended to be increased from 30 days to 60 days.
• 2.       The threshold for reporting of B2C inter-State supplies invoice-wise in Table 5 of FORM GSTR-1 was recommended to be reduced from Rs 2.5 Lakh to Rs 1 Lakh.
• 3.       The Council recommended that return in FORM GSTR-7, to be filed by the registered persons who are required to deduct tax at source under section 51 of CGST Act, is to be filed every month irrespective of whether any tax has been deducted during the said month or not. It has also been recommended that no late fee may be payable for delayed filing of Nil FORM GSTR-7 return. Further, it has been recommended that invoice-wise details may be required to be furnished in the said FORM GSTR-7 return.
• 4.       The Council recommended providing a new optional facility by way of FORM GSTR-1A to facilitate the taxpayers to amend the details in FORM GSTR-1 for a tax period and/ or to declare additional details, if any, before filing of return in FORM GSTR-3B for the said tax period. This will facilitate taxpayer to add any particulars of supply of the current tax period missed out in reporting in FORM GSTR-1 of the said tax period or to amend any particulars already declared in FORM GSTR-1 of the current tax period (including those declared in IFF, for the first and second months of a quarter, if any, for quarterly taxpayers), to ensure that correct liability is auto populated in FORM GSTR-3B.
• 5.     Amendment in Section 107 and Section 112 of CGST Act for reducing the amount of pre-deposit required to be paid for filing of appeals under GST: The GST Council recommended reducing the amount of pre-deposit for filing of appeals under GST to ease cash flow and working capital blockage for the taxpayers.
• 6.     Amendment of Rule 88B of CGST Rules, 2017 in respect of interest under Section 50 of CGST Act on delayed filing of returns, in cases where the credit is available in Electronic Cash Ledger (ECL) on the due date of filing the said return: The GST Council recommended amendment in rule 88B of CGST Rules to provide that an amount, which is available in the Electronic Cash Ledger on the due date of filing of return in FORM GSTR-3B, and is debited while filing the said return, shall not be included while calculating interest under section 50 of the CGST Act in respect of delayed filing of the said return.
• 7.     Insertion of Section 11A in CGST Act for granting power not to recover duties not levied or short-levied as a result of general practice under GST Acts: The GST Council recommended inserting a new Section 11A in CGST Act to give powers to the Government, on the recommendations of the Council, to allow regularization of non-levy or short levy of GST, where tax was being short paid or not paid due to common trade practices.
• 8.    The Council recommended amendment in rule 142 of CGST Rules and issuance of a circular to prescribe a mechanism for adjustment of an amount paid in respect of demand through FORM GST DRC-03 against the amount to be paid as pre-deposit for filing appeal.

Proposed Change of Rate of Tax:

GST Council proposed changes in the rate of tax in a number of goods/services, but the important change in 18% to 12% GST on milk cans (steel, iron, aluminium) irrespective of use; Carton, Boxes And Cases of both corrugated and non-corrugated paper or paperboard;

Clarification to be provided on the following issues:

• 1.      The Council recommended to clarify that in cases where the foreign affiliate is providing certain services to the related domestic entity, for which full input tax credit is available to the said related domestic entity, the value of such supply of services declared in the invoice by the said related domestic entity may be deemed as open market value in terms of second proviso to rule 28(1) of CGST Rules. Further, in cases where full input tax credit is available to the recipient, if the invoice is not issued by the related domestic entity with respect to any service provided by the foreign affiliate to it, the value of such services may be deemed to be declared as Nil, and may be deemed as open market value in terms of second proviso to rule 28(1) of CGST Rules.
•  2.       The Council recommended to clarify that input tax credit is not restricted in respect of ducts and manhole used in network of optical fiber cables (OFCs), under clause (c) or under clause (d) of sub-section (5) of section 17 of CGST Act.
• 3.      The Council recommended to clarify that place of supply of the Custodial services supplied by Indian Banks to Foreign Portfolio Investors is determinable as per Section 13(2) of the IGST Act, 2017.
• 4.       GST Council recommended amendment of rule 28(2) of CGST Rules retrospectively with effect from 26.10.2023 and issuance of a circular to clarify various issues regarding valuation of services of providing corporate guarantees between related parties. It is inter alia being clarified that valuation under rule 28(2) of CGST Rules would not be applicable in case of export of such services and also where the recipient is eligible for full input tax credit.
• 5.      The Council recommended to clarify that in cases of supplies received from unregistered suppliers, where tax has to be paid by the recipient under reverse charge mechanism (RCM) and invoice is to be issued by the recipient only, the relevant financial year for calculation of time limit for availment of input tax credit under the provisions of section 16(4) of CGST Act is the financial year in which the invoice has been issued by the recipient.
• 6.       Clarification on the following issues to provide clarity to trade and tax officers and to reduce litigation:

i. Clarification on taxability of re-imbursement of securities/shares as ESOP/ESPP/RSU  provided by a company to its employees

ii. Clarification on requirement of reversal of input tax credit in respect of amount of premium in Life Insurance services, which is not included in the taxable value as per Rule 32(4) of CGST Rules.

iii. Clarification on taxability of wreck and salvage values in motor insurance claims

iv. Clarification in respect of Warranty/ Extended Warranty provided by Manufacturers to the end customers

v. Clarification regarding availability of input tax credit on repair expenses incurred by the insurance companies in case of reimbursement mode of settlement of motor vehicle insurance claims.

vi. Clarification on taxability of loans granted between related person or between group companies.

vii. Clarification on time of supply on Annuity Payments under HAM Projects.

viii. Clarification regarding time of supply in respect of allotment of Spectrum to Telecom companies in cases where payment of licence fee and Spectrum usage charges is to be made in instalments.

ix. Clarification relating to place of supply of goods supplied to unregistered persons, where delivery address is different from the billing address

x. Clarification on mechanism for providing evidence by the suppliers for compliance of the conditions of Section 15(3)(b)(ii) of CGST Act, 2017 in respect of post-sale discounts, to the effect that input tax credit has been reversed by the recipient on the said amount.

xi. Clarifications on various issues pertaining to special procedure for the manufacturers of the specified commodities, like pan masala, tobacco etc.

Rolling out of bio-metric based Aadhaar authentication on All-India basis: The GST Council recommended to roll-out the biometric-based Aadhaar authentication of registration applicants on pan-India basis in a phased manner. This will strengthen the registration process in GST and will help in combating fraudulent input tax credit (ITC) claims made through fake invoices.