RECENT DEVELOPMENTS IN GST

[Dr. Sanjiv Agarwal]

US President trump has imposed reciprocal tariffs on various countries including India which is bound to disrupt global trade. The tariff imposed on India is @ 27%. This may hit various sectors such as textile, automobile, electronics, jewelery etc. RBI feels that the reciprocal tariffs imposed by the US will negatively affect domestic growth, but the impact on India will be far less severe than in many other countries.

Asian Development Bank (ADB) has lowered India’s GDP forecast for FY 2025-26 from 7% to 6.7% in its latest report as a major risk arises from US Tariff levies on India’s exports which could reduce trade and investment flows and potentially create volatility in the domestic financial market. Tariffs cast a shadow on growth prospects. Other growth forecasts also range between 5.9 and 6.7%.

While there is no legislative change or update for the current period, GSTN has issued advisories on case insensitivity in IRN generation to align with the treatment of invoice numbers in GSTR-1 return. This would apply w.e.f. 1^st June, 2025 and Table-12 of GSTR-1 / GSTR-1A.

Supreme Court has fixed 05.05.2025 for deciding upon levy of 28% GST on online gaming retrospectively.

GST Tribunals are yet to be set up and it appears that there is some delay in the ongoing process of recruitments and acquisition of infrastructure. There is no clear timeline in place as of now.

GSTN advisory on Case Insensitivity in IRN Generation

• GSTN has issued an advisory on case insensitivity in IRN generation.
• Effective 1st June 2025, the IRP (Invoice Reporting Portal) would treat invoice/document numbers as case-insensitive for the purpose of IRN generation.
• To ensure consistency and avoid duplication, invoice numbers reported in any format (e.g., "abc", "ABC", or "Abc") would be automatically converted to uppercase before IRN generation.
• This change aligns with the treatment of invoice numbers in GSTR-1, which already treats them as case-insensitive.

 (Source: GST Advisory dated 04.04.2025)

GSTN Advisory on Table 12 of GSTR-1 / 1A

• GSTN has implemented phase wise changes in Table-12 of GSTR-1 or GSTR-1A.
• GSTN shall implement Phase-III of Table 12 of GSTR 1 & 1A from April, 2025 tax period onwards.
• Accordingly, 

• Table-12 has been bifurcated into two tables namely B2B and B2C, to report these summary of these supplies HSN wise separately in corresponding table.
• Manual entry of HSN will not be allowed. Taxpayer will be able to choose correct HSN from given Drop down.

(Source: GST Advisory dated 11.04.2025)

GSTN Advisory on reporting values (Table 3.2, GSTR-3B)

• GSTN has issued an advisory on Table 3.2 of Form GSTR-3B captures the inter-state supplies made to unregistered persons, composition taxpayers, and UIN holders out of the supplies declared in Table 3.1 & 3.1.1 of GSTR-3B along with few FAQs.
• The values in Table 3.2 of GSTR-3B auto-populates from corresponding inter-state supplies declared in GSTR-1, GSTR-1A, and IFF in requisite tables.
• From April-2025 tax period, inter-state supplies auto-populated in Table 3.2 of GSTR-3B will be made non-editable. The GSTR-3B shall be filed with the auto-populated values as generated by the system only.
• Wherever any modification/amendment is required in auto-populated values of Table 3.2 of GSTR-3B, same can be done only by amending the corresponding values in respective tables of GSTR-1A or through Form GSTR-1/IFF filed for subsequent tax periods.
• To ensure that GSTR-3B is filed accurately with the correct values of inter-state supplies, it has been advised to report the correct values in GSTR-1, GSTR-1A, or IFF. This will ensure the auto-populated values in Table 3.2 of GSTR-3B are accurate and compliant with GST regulations.

Readers may also refer to FAQ’s given in the said advisory.

(Source: GST Advisory dated 11.04.2025)