According to India’s CEA, India as a developing country must continue to focus on growing the size of economic pie for the foreseeable further. The aggregate growth output of core sectors is a robust 8.6% in April- November, 2023. As per Fitch ratings, it is expected that India may be among the world’s fastest growing countries, with resilient GDP growth of 6.5% during the next fiscal of 2024-25 despite a challenging global backdrop. Economic growth will boost the demand of corporate India including sectors like cement, steel, electricity etc.
CBIC has issued a notification for extending the limitation period for issuance of orders under section 73 of CGST Act, 2017 for the years 2018-19 and 2019-20 to facilitate tax officers to complete the adjudication process which is not being liked by the assessees. Such extension is further extension to the already extended period. The principal bench of GST Appellate Tribunal has been notified to be in New Delhi vide Notification dated 29.12.2023. GSTN has also issued few advisories which have been captured in this Article.
According to reports, Government is planning to ease the return filing and reduce litigation in cases where tax evasion is not contemplated. Also revision of returns is being discussed.
The collection of GST in December, 2023 is reported to be Rs. 164882 crore which is 10.3% higher than the GST collected in December, 2023. The gross GST revenue collected in the month of December, 2023 is Rs.1,64,882 crore out of which CGST is Rs.30,443 crore, SGST is Rs.37,935 crore, IGST is Rs.84,255 crore (including Rs.41,534 crore collected on import of goods) and cess is Rs.12,249 crore (including Rs.1,079 crore collected on import of goods). Notably, this marks the seventh month so far this year with collections exceeding Rs. 1.60 lakh crore.
This year (2024) is going to be election year and we may witness few changes on account of tax reforms during pre-election period, i.e., in first four months of 2024.
Further Extension of Time for Order U/s 73 of CGST
- Central Government has further extended the time limit provided under section 73(10) for issuance of order under section 73(9) of CGST Act, 2017 for recovery of tax not paid or short paid or input tax credit wrongly availed or utilised for FY 2018-19 and 2019-20.
- The following time limits shall be in force now:
|
Financial Year
|
Existing time limit for issuance of order U/s 73(9) of CGST Act
|
Extended time limit for issuance of order U/s 73(9) of CGST Act
|
Extended period
|
|
2017-18
|
Up to 31stday of December, 2023
|
-
|
-
|
|
2018-19
|
Up to 31st day of March, 2024
|
Upto 30th day of April, 2024
|
One month
|
|
2019-20
|
Up to 30th day of June, 2024
|
Upto 31st day of August, 2024
|
Two months
|
(Source: Notification No. 56/2023-Central Tax dated 28.12.2023)
Constitution of GSTAT Bench
- The Central Government has constituted the Principal Bench of GST Appellate Tribunal (GSTAT).
- This has been done on the recommendation of GST Council.
- The Principal Bench of the GSTAT shall be situated at New Delhi.
- This shall come into force w.e.f. 29.12.2023.
(Source: Gazette Notification [F.No. A-50050/99/2018-Ad.1CCESTAT (Pt.)] dated 29.12.2023)
GSTN adds new Banks for GST payment
- GSTN has added two new banks to facilitate GST payments.
- The two banks added to the list of banks are :
- Karnataka Bank Ltd.
- RBL Bank Ltd.
- With these two banks, the total number of banks through which payment of tax can be made is 25 now.
- These banks are- Axis Bank, Bank of Baroda, Bank of India, Bank of Maharashtra, Canara Bank, Central Bank of India, City Union Bank, Federal Bank, HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank Limited, IDBI Bank, Indian Bank, Indian Overseas Bank, Induslnd Bank Limited, Jammu and Kashmir Bank Limited, Karnataka Bank Limited, Karur Vysya Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank Limited, Punjab and Sind Bank, Punjab National Bank, RBL Bank Limited, South Indian Bank Limited, State Bank of India, UCO Bank and Union Bank of India.
(Source: https://twitter.com/Infosys_GSTN/status/173987600 dated 27.12.2023)
Option for forward charge by GTAs
- GSTN has enabled a new feature for online filing of declaration in Annexure-V by newly registered Goods Transport Agencies (GTAs).
- This declaration is required for opting for payment of GST under forward charge by the GTAs.
- This utility is designed and meant for GTAs newly registered by which users can upload manual Annexure -V.
- Annexure -V Form can be accessed through Dashboard > Services > User Services > GTA > Opting Forward Charge payment by GTA(Annexure-V).
(Source: GSTN Portal dated 27.12.2023)
Date extension for reporting opening balance for ITC reversal
- GSTN has issued an advisory on date extension for reporting opening balance for ITC reversal
- In order to facilitate the taxpayers in correct and accurate reporting of ITC reversal and reclaim thereof and to avoid clerical mistakes, a new ledger namely Electronic Credit and Re-claimed Statement was introduced on the GST portal. This statement was made available to help the taxpayers in tracking their ITC that has been reversed in Table 4B(2) and thereafter re-claimed in Table 4D(1) and 4A(5).
- Now to facilitate taxpayers further, opportunity to declare opening balance for ITC reversal in the statement has been extended till 31st January, 2024.
- After declaring the opening balance for ITC reversal, only three amendment opportunities post the declaration will be provided to correct declared opening balance in case of any mistakes or inaccuracies in reporting.
- Facility to amend declared opening balance for ITC reversal will be available till 29th February, 2024.
(Source: GSTN Advisory dated 29.12.2023)
Advisories for Functionalities on GSTN Portal for GTAs
The following Functionalities have been made available on the portal for the GTA Taxpayers:
- To Access Annexure V Form: Post login on the FO portal-Navigate to Services>>User Services>>GTA>>Opting Forward Charge Payment by GTA (Annexure V).
- To Access Annexure VI Form: Post login on the FO portal-Navigate to Services>>User Services>>GTA>>Opting to Revert under Reverse Charge Payment by GTA (Annexure VI).
- Filing of Online Declaration in Annexure V for the Newly registered GTA Taxpayers [As per the Notification No. 5/2023-Central Tax (Rate), dated 09.05.2023]
- To Access: Post login on the FO portal-Click YES on the pop up message on post login (or) Navigate to Services>>User Services>>GTA>>Opting Forward Charge Payment by GTA (Annexure V).
- Uploading manually filed Annexure V Form for the FY 2023-24 on the portal.
- By utilizing the manual upload facility, one can upload the legible copy of duly acknowledged manually filed Annexure V for 2023-24, with correct particulars.
- It is also advised that:
- The option exercised by GTA to itself pay GST on the services supplied by it during a Financial Year shall be deemed to have been exercised for the next and future financial years unless the GTA files a declaration in Annexure VI to revert under reverse charge mechanism.
- The GTAs who filed declaration for the FY 2024-25 on the portal for the period from 27.07.2023 till 22-08-2023 has been considered as filed and valid. Those taxpayers are requested that they need not file declaration in Annexure V Form for the subsequent FYs if they wish to continue their option for pay GST on Forward charge mechanism.
(Source: GSTN Advisory dated 01.01.2024)
GST Collection in December, 2023
- Rs. 1,64,882 crore is the gross GST revenue collection for December, 2023
- Gross GST collection averages to Rs. 1.66 lakh crore in first 9months of FY 24
- Posting a growth rate of 12% Y-o-Y, Rs.14.97 lakh is the crore gross GST collection during April-December, 2023 period.
- The revenues for the month of December, 2023 are 10.3% higher than the GST revenues in the same month last year. During the month, the revenues from domestic transactions (including import of services) are 13% higher than the revenues from these sources during the same month last year.
- The States / UTs with growth of more than 25% on YoY basis are Chandigarh, Arunachal Pradesh, Lakshadweep, Andaman & Nicobar Island and Andhra Pradesh.
- While Sikkim is in negative range (-13%), states with growth in single digit include Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, Rajasthan, Nagaland, Manipur, Tirupra, Meghalaya, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh and Gujarat.
(Source: GST PIB Release ID 1992123 dated 01.01.2024)
