GOODS AND SERVICE TAX

GST  is a path breaking indirect tax reform attempting to create a common national market. It came into effect on July 1, 2017. GST registration is based on consumption of goods and services and is a destination based tax which is collected at the point of consumption. All the existing state and central indirect taxes are subsumed under GST.

Registration:

In order to supply goods and products in India, it is mandatory to do GST registration. Once you have registered under this regime, you will receive a unique GSTIN (Goods and Service Tax Identification Number). The Central Government issues a state-wise, 15-digit number to you once you complete registration. There are many advantages of GST registration including the fact that you will get a legal identity as a supplier. You can also avail input tax credit and collect GST from recipients of goods and services.

New GST Limit For Sale Of Goods.

Kindly find the below new GST limit w.e.f 1st April 2019 for sales of goods -

Category

Turnover

Applicability

For Normal Category States

Exceeds ₹20 lakh

From 1st April 2019

For Special Category States

Exceeds ₹20 lakh

From 1st April 2019

GST Limit For Service Providers.

There has been no change in threshold limits for Service Providers. Kindly find below the GST limits for service providers -

Category

Turnover

Applicability

For Normal Category States

Exceeds ₹20 lakh

-

For Special Category States

Exceeds ₹20 lakh

-

States Who Opted For The New GST Limit.

Normal Category States who opted for a new limit of ₹40 lakh

Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Delhi, Goa, Gujarat, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, J&K, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Odisha, Punjab, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu ,Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal

Normal Category States who choose status quo

Kerala and Telangana

Special Category States who opted for new limit of ₹20 lakh

Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Manipur, Nagaland Puducherry, Sikkim, Tripura, Uttarakhand
 

The following categories of businesses are required to register for GST Compulsory:
  • Interstate suppliers
  • Casual Taxable persons
  • Taxes when embassies make purchases
  • Supplies to developers and units in special economic zones
  • Accrued input tax credit on account of inverted duty structure
  • Refund of pre-deposit
  • Arising from order, judgment, direction or decree of the Appellate Tribunal, Appellate Authority or any court of law
  • Finalization of provisional assessment
  • Excess payment because of an error
  • Due to issuance of refund vouchers for taxes paid on advances against which commodities or services haven’t been supplied
  • Refunds to overseas tourists of GST paid on commodities within the country and carried to an international location when they depart India
  • Refund of SGST and CGST paid by considering the supply in the course of inter-state commerce or trade
Voluntary GST Registration

Even businesses that have no requirement to register under the Goods and Services Tax can choose to voluntarily register themselves under the new tax regime. Every provision under the tax that applies to registered entities shall be applicable to those who voluntarily register too.

Benefits of Voluntary GST Registration

  • Passing on input tax credit: Taxable invoices can be issued by businesses that are legally recognized under GST. As a result, buyers can avail input tax credit when they make purchases from such businesses. In turn, the customer base of the business can expand and eventually, it becomes more competitive.
  • Inter-state sales can be made more freely: Inter-state sales can be made more freely by businesses once they have registered under the new regime. Therefore, the prospective market widens, especially for small and medium-sized businesses.
  • Availing input tax credit: Persons who have registered voluntarily under the Goods and Services Tax have the option to avail input tax credit on the purchases they make as well as input services such as consultation fees, legal fees, etc., which will ultimately result in enhancing their profitability and business margin.
  • Better standing: Renting premises, availing loans from banks and such other business areas will become easier for businesses that are registered under the Goods and Services Tax due to a good compliance rating.

“My Tax Advisor helps clients to determine and obtain GST registration, identifying opportunities for voluntary registration and outlining the related advantages.”

Refunds:

When GST payment made is more than the GST liability a situation of claiming GST refund arises. Under GST the process of claiming a refund is standardized to avoid confusion. The process is online and time limits have also been set for the same. Any person claiming refund of any tax and interest, if any, paid on such tax or Refund of Tax, any other amount paid by him, may make an application before the expiry of two years from the relevant date. The same can be filed while filing of GST Return by a registered person in case it is related to the balance in the electronic cash ledger. Application in case of exports shall be filed only after the export manifests or an export report, as the case may be, is delivered under section 41 of the Customs Act, 1962 in respect of such goods.

Who can claim Refund?
  • Exports of commodities or services
  • Deemed exports
  • when embassies make purchases
  • Supplies to developers and units in special economic zones
  • Accrued input tax credit on account of inverted duty structure
  • Refund of pre-deposit
  • Arising from order, judgment, direction or decree of the Appellate Tribunal, Appellate Authority or any court of law
  • Finalization of provisional assessment
  • Excess payment because of an error
  • Due to issuance of refund vouchers for taxes paid on advances against which commodities or services haven’t been supplied
  • Refunds to overseas tourists of GST paid on commodities within the country and carried to an international location when they depart India
  • Refund of SGST and CGST paid by considering the supply in the course of inter-state commerce or trade

What’s New in Refund under GST?

What is the Rate of Interest for Refund?

In Case

Rate P.A.

Refund is withheld*

 
6

Refund of any unutilized input tax credit at the end of any tax period

24

Other Cases

18

Interest on Delayed Refund#

 
6

Interest on Delayed Refund$

9

*Where an order giving rise to a refund is the subject matter of an appeal or further proceedings or where any other proceedings under this Act is pending and the Commissioner is of the opinion that grant of such refund is likely to adversely affect the revenue in the said appeal other proceedings on account of malfeasance or fraud committed, he may, after giving the taxable person an opportunity of being heard, withhold the refund till suchtime as he may determine.
*Where tax is not refunded within 60days from the date of prder of refund.
*Where refund is due after the final decree or order and refund has not been paid within 60 Days.
Returns:

A GST return is a document or statement of supplies or services (Inward & Outward), Input Service distributed (ISD) or Tax deducted or collected TDS/TCS that a taxpayer is required to file as per the governing law of GST. Under GST Law, a regular taxpayer needs to furnish three monthly returns i.e. GSTR-1, GSTR-2 and GSTR-3 and one annual return. There are separate returns for a composition scheme taxpayer, nonresident taxpayer, taxpayer registered as an Input Service Distributor, a person liable to deduct or collect the tax (TDS/ TCS) and a person granted Unique Identification Number

Return Filing Process

What is the due date of GST returns?

Return Form

Particulars

 Frequency

GSTR-1

Details of outward supplies of taxable goods and/or services affected

10th of the next month

GSTR-2

Details of inward supplies of taxable goods and/or services affected claiming the input tax credit.

15th of the next month

GSTR-3

Monthly return on the basis of finalization of details of outward supplies and inward supplies along with the payment of tax

20th of the next month

GSTR-3B

Simple Return in which summary of outward supplies along with Input Tax Credit is declared and payment of tax is affected by taxpayer

Monthly

GSTR-4

Return for a taxpayer registered under the composition levy

18th of next month following end of quarter

GSTR-5

 Return for a Non-Resident foreign taxable person

Last day of registration

GSTR-6

Return for an Input Service Distributor

13th of next month

GSTR-7

Return for authorities deducting tax at source.

10th of next month

GSTR-8

 Details of supplies effected through e-commerce operator and the amount of tax collected

10th of next month

GSTR-9

 Annual Return for a Normal Taxpayer

31st December following F.Y.

GSTR-9A

Annual Return a taxpayer registered under the composition levy anytime during the year

31st December following F.Y.

GSTR-10

Final Return

3 months from date of cancellation or order of cancellation whichever is later (to include all transactions from last return to date of cancellation)

“My Tax Advisor has expertise to handle the complete indirect tax compliance life cycle. Starting from extracting the data from the software to sense checking the data from GST stand point to validating the required fields to advising on reasoning for mismatch to filing the returns and ultimately supporting the update in the software.”

Do You Know?

  • Penalty for Late filing of GSTR 3B is Rs. 50 per day.
Consultancy & Advisory
GST advance ruling:

An advance tax ruling is a written interpretation of tax laws. It is issued by tax authorities to corporations and individuals who request for clarification of certain tax matters. An advance ruling is often requested when the taxpayer is confused and uncertain about certain provisions. Advance tax ruling is applied for before starting the proposed activity.</blockquot

Advance Ruling is available for the following categories:
  • Classification of any goods and/or services under the Act
  • Applicability of a notification which affects the rate of tax
  • Determination of time and value of supply of goods/services
  • Whether input tax credit paid (or deemed to be paid) will be allowed
  • Determination of the liability to pay tax on any goods/services
  • Whether the applicant has to be registered under GST
  • Whether any particular thing done by the applicant regarding goods/services will result in a supply.
Whether Services provided by you are Taxable or Exempt?

Although GST implementation is done and is smooth sailing, the GST law is evolving. There are many changes happening. A lot of notifications, circulars and press releases are being issued all the time. With each notification, circular and press release, the services which were previously taxable have now become exempt and vice versa. Registered persons need opinion and day to day consulting support with regard to GST.

"My Tax Advisor understands your business and provides possible solutions."
Reverse Charge Mechanism (RCM):

Normally, the supplier of goods or services pays tax on supply. In the case of Reverse Charge, the receiver becomes liable to pay the tax, i.e., the chargeability gets reversed

Are you receiving any service covered under RCM?
Whether to go for Composition scheme or Regular supply?

Composition scheme under the law is for small businesses. This is to bring relief to small businesses so that they need not be burdened with the compliance provisions under the law. Thus, an option has been provided where they can opt to pay a fixed percentage of turnover as fees in lieu of tax and be relieved from the detailed compliance of the provisions of law. Composition levy would generally be opted by persons who are supplying goods & services or both to the end consumer.
My Tax Advisor simplifies GST compliance by determining the applicability of special scheme GST registration, identifying the associated benefits and obtaining registration when applicable.

Electronic invoicing or E-invoicing:

Electronic invoicing or E-invoicing: This concept has been introduced in order to curb tax evasion which will be implemented in phased manner. A taxable person which falls under a certain threshold will be given a unique number whenever an e-invoice will be generated. E-invoicing is the submission of an already generated standard invoice on a common portal. It is a system in which B2B invoices are authenticated electronically by GSTN for further use on the common GST portal.

Criteria for Applicability of E-Invoicing:
  • The e-invoicing will be available from 1st January, 2020 on a voluntary basis. It will be implemented in a phased manner by GSTN.
  • The generation of E-invoice will be mandatory from 1st April, 2020 for businesses having turnover of Rs. 100 Crores or more.
  • The Quick Response (QR) code will be mandatory from 1st April, 2020 for B2C invoices issued by suppliers having aggregate turnover in a financial year exceeding Rs. 500 Crores.
E way Bill:

E-Way Bill is the short form of Electronic Way Bill. It is a unique document/bill which is electronically generated for the specific consignment/movement of goods from one place to another, either inter-state or intra-state and of value more than Rs. 50,000, required under the current GST regime.
When e-Way Bill is generated, a unique e-Way Bill Number (EBN) is made available to the supplier, recipient and the transporter.
The e-Way Bill replaces the Way Bill, which was a physical document and existed during the VAT regime for the movement of goods.

When Should E-Way Bill Be Issued:

Ideally, e-Way Bill should be generated before the commencement of movement of goods above the value of Rs. 50,000 (either an individual invoice or a consolidated invoice of multiple consignments). The movement of goods will be either about a supply/ reasons other than supply (like return)/ inward supply from an unregistered person.
For the purpose of an e-Way Bill, supply is considered either a payment in the course of business/ a payment which may not be in the course of business/ no consideration of payment (in the case of barter/ exchange).

GST E-Way Bill Format?

FORM GST EWB-01
See rule 138)
E-Way Bill

PART – A

A.1

GSTIN of Recipient

A.2

Place of Delivery

A.3

 Invoice or Challan Number

A.4

Invoice or Challan Date

A.5

Value of Goods

A.6

HSN Code

A.7

Reason for Transportation

A.8

 Transport Document Number

PART – B

B

Vehicle Numnber

GST Annual Return:

GSTR 9 is a document or statement that has to be filed once a year by a registered taxpayer. This document will contain the details of all supplies made and received under various tax heads (CGST, SGST, UTGST and IGST) during the entire year along with turnover and audit details for the same.
The government has introduced a GSTR 9C audit form, which is to be filed annually by taxpayers who have a turnover of more than Rs. 2 Crores. It is basically a reconciliation statement between the annual returns filed in GSTR 9 and the audited annual financial statements of the taxpayer.

Do You Know?
  • Audit Report once filed cannot be revised.
Annual Return - Information required to be disclosed
  • Taxable/Exempted Outward Supplies
  • Tax Liability and Tax Payments
  • Debit / Credit Notes + Any Amendments
  • Supplies to developers and units in special economic zones
  • Refund/ Litigation, if any
  • Input Tax Credits
  • Inward supply from Composition Dealers, goods sent on approval
  • HSN Details - Inward/Outward
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