TMI BlogMinutes of the 26th GST Council Meeting held on 10 March, 2018X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ary and February, 2018 under GST 5. Accounting for provisional settlement of IGST and devolution of balance IGST at the end of any financial year 6. Amendments to Anti-Profiteering Rules 7. Grievance Redressal Mechanism in GST regime in light of recent judgements of Hon'ble High Courts of Allahabad and Mumbai 8. Extension of suspension of reverse charge mechanism under section 9(4) of the CGST Act, 2017, section 5(4) of the IGST Act, 2017 and section 7(4) of the UTGST Act, 2017 and provisions relating to TDS (section 51) and TCS (section 52) 9. Minutes of 6 th and 7 th Meeting of Group of Ministers (GoM) on IT Challenges in GST Implementation for information of the Council and discussion on GSTN issues 10. Decision of date of reintroduction of e-Way Bill requirement 11. Status of e-Wallet scheme for exports and decision on continuance of payment of IGST through advance authorization, EPCG, etc. / exemption to EOU and SEZ units 12. New System of Return Filing 13. Applicability of Goods and Services Tax on Extra Neutral Alcohol (ENA) 14. Any other agenda item with the permission of the Chairperson i. Consideration of representation dated 22.09.2 ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... the details of supply to be uploaded by the supplier. In his option, there are two models, say, Model A which envisages grant of provisional credit to the recipients for missing supplies and Model B which envisages 'admissibility of input tax credit only if supplier uploads the invoices. The model proposed by Shri Nandan Nilekani is nothing but Model B of option II with a new feature that credit will be allowed even when tax is not paid by the supplier. 14.12.1. The CCT, Gujarat, further stated that the model proposed by Shri Nandan Nilekani was a harsher one, which was not earlier agreed to by the Law Committee. He stated that in this model, too much of power was being placed in the hands of the suppliers. He further stated that in the model proposed by Shri Nandan Nilekani (i.e. revised version of Model B), once an invoice was uploaded by the supplier and accepted by the buyer, the buyer would get credit automatically. However, the structure on which GST has been designed has two elements: (i) the seller uploads the invoices; (ii) the payment of tax against the invoice should have been made. If the proposed model was accepted, where the buyer would get credit on the basis ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... of ₹ 1 lakh crore could be taken out from the accumulated IGST account and distributed to the States on pro rata basis. The criteria can be the proportionate rate of the total amount of the IGST credit hitherto distributed an1ong the States. ' The Council agreed to replace the version of the Hon'ble Minister from Kerala recorded in paragraph 6.5 of the Minutes, with the one proposed above. 4.3. The Hon'ble Minister from Haryana stated that his version recorded as the first sentence in paragraph 24.5 of the Minutes ('The Hon'ble Minister from Haryana stated that similar exemption should be available for his State Government for supplies by Pollution Control Board and HSIDC (Haryana State Industrial Development Corporation') should be replaced with the following: 'The Hon'ble Minister from Haryana stated that the exemption of the share of profit petroleum paid to the Central Government from the purview of the levy of GST was similar to various contracts that the State Goverrm1ents enter into with business entities and the same should also be exempted. The agencies of the State Government of Haryana like HSIIDC (Haryana State Industrial Infrast ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... be very difficult. 14.12.2. He further stated that under Model A of Option II, input tax credit was being made available provisionally on the basis of missing invoices uploaded by the buyer subject to its acceptance later by the seller. He stated that this model could be acceptable to trade and chartered accountants, but Model B of option II would never be acceptable to the stakeholders. He added that for 98% of taxpayers, average number of invoices to be uploaded may be only 9, but a single chartered accountant or consultant handled returns of 100 to 150 taxpayers, both as a supplier and recipient. He gets all the details from taxpayers just 3-4 days before the due date of return filing, and he would need to verify how many invoices were uploaded and all this would lead to a lot of difficulties. The stakeholders would find it easier to receive a mismatch report and accept reversal of credit if mismatch persisted beyond a period of time, as may be approved by the Council. He stated that the best model would be where the buyer accepts invoices with a mechanism for provisional credit for missing invoices of the buyer. He stated that in the said Model, Departmental intervention wo ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... .gov.in. 7. For Agenda item 2 , the Council approved deemed ratification of the notifications and circulars mentioned at paragraph 6 above which are available on the CBEC website, www.cbec.gov.in. Agenda item 3: Decisions of the GST Implementation Committee (GIC) for information of the Council 8. The Commissioner (GST Policy Wing), CBEC, made a brief presentation summarising the decisions of the GIC (attached as Annexure 3 of the Minutes). He stated that GIC took a decision by circulation to extend the time limit to file Form GSTR-3B for December, 2017 by two days, i.e. up to 22-01-2018 (implemented by Notification No.02/2018-Central Tax dated 20 January, 2018) and to postpone the implementation of e-Way bill Rules for both inter-State and intra-State movement of goods due to technical glitches as reported by GSTN and it was decided that the rules would come into force from a date to be notified later (implemented by Notification No. 11/2018-Central Tax dated 02 February, 2018). He further stated that during the 12th GIC meeting a proposal, to set up a Grievance Redressal Mechanism to address technical glitches in GSTN, was discussed in view of the orders of the Hon ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... tended by the Commissioner, on the recommendations of the Council; (ii) change in declaration form to be submitted in FORM GST RFD-01A; (iii) rescinding Notification No.06/201 8-Central Tax dated 23 January, 2018 as the IGST Act gave no power to levy late fee on late filing of FORM GSTR-5A(supplier of OIDAR services). The Council took note of the decisions of the GIC. 9. For Agenda item 3 , the Council took note of the above decisions of the GIC and approved to insert the following explanation in Rule 138(2A) of e-Way bill Rules: Explanation - For the purposes of this Chapter, the expression ' railways or rail' does not include the 'leasing of parcel space by railways'. Agenda item 4: Review of Revenue position for the months of January and February, 2018 under GST 10. The Secretary invited Shri Udai Singh Kumawat, Joint Secretary, Department of Revenue [JS (DOR)] to make a presentation on this Agenda item. The JS (DOR) made a presentation, which is attached as Annexure 4 to the Minutes. In the presentation, the JS (DOR) stated that the total revenue collection for the month of January, 2018 was ₹ 88,929 crore and for the month of February, 201 ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ut in detailed monitoring mechanism and they were monitoring the top taxpayers regularly. He also referred to the analysis of the figures of value of goods coming into the States of Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and West Bengal on the basis of 'C' Form in the year 2016-17 in comparison with value of goods entering into the States after GST was rolled out and this was done by using the figures of IGST used by taxpayers for payment of SGST with some extrapolation and analysis of those figures. The analysis showed that for the State of West Bengal, the value of goods appears to be under reported as shown entering the State for the period of July, 2017 to March, 2018 (with extrapolation) was approximately to the tune of ₹ 50,000 crore; in Madhya Pradesh, it was around ₹ 60,000 crore and in Maharashtra, it was around ₹ 1,50,000 crore. He stated that these were huge amounts and that the other States could carry out a similar exercise to examine taxpayer-wise under reporting of goods coming into their States during pre and post-GST regime. He stated that this analysis showed the need for enhanced enforcement activity. 10.2. The Hon'ble Minister from Jammu ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... t it would provide GSTR-2 data for every State for data analysis at State level. The Hon'ble Minister from Jammu Kashmir suggested to set up a research and analysis wing in GST Council to do a proper data analysis and that its results should be brought before the Council to formulate policies. The Secretary informed that GSTN and CBEC had started detailed data analytics across a number of data sets available with them. The outcome of preliminary data analysis had given some interesting insights hike variance between the amount of IGST and Compensation Cess paid by importers at Customs ports and input tax credit of the same claimed in GSTR-3B; and major data gaps between self-declared liability in FORM GSTR-1 and FORM GSTR-3B. The Secretary further stated that an Analytic and Research Management Wing had been created in CBEC and they would be making regular presentations to him on specific issues and statistics. The Hon'ble Minister from Kerala also emphasised the importance of data analytics and research and stated that the Economic Survey had given a lot of insights through data analytics. The Hon'ble Chairperson observed that all relevant data must be shared with th ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ing shortfall shall be met through compensation fund. He observed that the amount paid by way of provisional settlement would be recovered from the final settlement. He observed that the States could not be compensated beyond the assured growth rate of 14%. The JS (DOR) stated that in the case of State of Kerala for the months of November and December, 2017, the amount which was settled provisionally was greater than the States' compensation requirement and that is why no compensation was released for those months and there were other such States as well. The Hon'ble Minister from Kerala stated that during the last meeting of the Council, discussion was held only with regard to provisional release of IGST amount and it was not clear how it got linked to compensation. The JS(DOR) stated that the money provisionally released goes in the form of SGST, hence it is calculated as State revenue for purpose of release of compensation. The Hon'ble Minister from Jammu Kashmir stated that in such a situation, the Centre should not collect this IGST in instalments next year. The Hon'ble Deputy Chief Minister of Delhi stated that his State would lose revenue if IGST was taken ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ld also be divided between the Centre and the States. 10.9. The Hon'ble Minister from Haryana stated the compensation was to be paid after every two months. The provisional settlement was a kind of revenue to States. The States having no shortfall would not be getting compensation. Be stated that this amount should either be treated as revenue of States or compensation should be given. The Secretary stated that the Union Controller General of Accounts (CGA) had suggested to do adjustment in the next financial year against the final settlement. The Hon'ble Minister from Haryana advised that one should stick to the provisions of the Compensation Act, which provides that compensation should be paid after every two months. He stated that provisional settlement should be done after the payment of compensation, otherwise there would be a violation of law. The Secretary stated that there would be no violation of law as the question of giving compensation would arise only if there was a shortfall in revenue of States after taking into account the 14% assured rate of revenue growth. 10.10. The Hon'ble Minister from Haryana stated that in the next financial year, there woul ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... if the IGST amount was part of the Consolidated Fund of India and it reduced fiscal deficit; then it was part of central receipts. In such case, the IGST amount should be in the Public Account and not in Consolidated Fund of India. The Secretary stated that all money received by Government of India would form part of tl1e Consolidated Fund of India unless it is specifically excluded by the Constitution. The Constitution provides that the part of IGST which is used for settlement of SGST will not form part of Government of India's kitty. By implication, the rest of the money would remain in the Consolidated Fund of India. 10.12. The Hon'ble Deputy Chief Minister of Bihar invited officers from the Council to visit the State of Bihar and analyse the reasons for shortfall in revenue. The Secretary informed that during the officers meeting held on 9 March, 2018, the Chief Economic Advisor had offered to do a diagnostic for Bihar and for a few other States. Shri Rajendra Kumar Tiwari, ACS, Uttar Pradesh, stated that the amount of shortfall in revenue shall increase and he stressed that data should be made available to the States at the earliest. The Secretary stated that he pr ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... that changes were being proposed on the suggestions of the National Anti Profiteering Authority (NAA). He further informed that the Committee of Officers had agreed to the proposed changes during its meeting held on 9 March, 2018, with a slight modification in respect of formulation for 'Explanation to Rule 134, which, after amendment, reads as follows: Explanation -any other person organisation or entity alleging, under sub-rule (1) of Rule 128, that a registered person has not passed on the benefit to be treated as 'interested party' to file application before NAA''. The Council agreed to the amendments to the Anti Profiteering Rules as proposed in the Agenda notes along with modification as indicated above. 15. For Agenda item 6 , the Council approved the changes in the Anti-Profiteering Rules, as proposed in the Agenda notes, with the following further modification in ' Explanation' to Rule 134: Explanation - any other person alleging, under, sub-rule (1) of Rule 128, that a registered person has not passed on the benefit to be treated as 'interested party' to file application before NAA . Agenda item 7: Grievance Redressal Mechani ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... e mechanism for composition taxpayers. He stated that the general view during the officers meeting was to bring reverse charge mechanism for composition dealers from 1 April, 2018 and to extend it by two months for other situations. 18.1. The Hon'ble Minister from Kerala stated that the reverse charge mechanism was meant to be an anti-evasion tool to prevent leakages and it should not be postponed indefinitely. He added that the reverse charge mechanism also existed under VAT and there must be a definite time frame for introducing reverse charge mechanism in GST. He suggested that reverse charge mechanism for composition taxpayers should not be postponed and for other categories of taxpayers, it should be introduced at the earliest possible and two months' extension seemed fair. 18.2. The Hon'ble Minister from Rajasthan stated that for the composition taxpayers, there was a decision by the Council to increase the threshold of annual turnover to ₹ 1.5 crore but it had not been implemented as yet. The Secretary stated that this change would be done along with other changes to be carried out in the GST law, including the changes relating to return filing. He po ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... 18. The Hon'ble Chairperson stated that extension of time could be linked with the timeline for implementation of thee-Way bill system as this was also part of the anti-evasion measure. The Secretary stated that since e-Way Bill system was being implemented from 1 st of April, 2018, a staggered roll out of reverse charge mechanism could be worked out for composition taxpayers 1 st of July, 2018. He further stated that as far as IT system was concerned, even under the present system, there was full mechanism available for inputing of invoices related to reverse charge, so no difficulty was foreseen with regard to IT system. He added that the reverse charge mechanism was not proposed to be started for non-composition taxpayers at this juncture. He also stated that under VAT, reverse charge mechanism was meant only for composition taxpayers in most of the State Laws. The Hon'ble Minister from Kerala stated that in all States, reverse charge mechanism was applied in the form of purchase tax. Shri Ritvik Pandey, Finance Secretary, Karnataka, stated that there was no purchase tax in the State of Karnataka. Shri Sanjeev Kaushal, Additional Chief Secretary, Haryana, stated that i ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... 77; 40 lakh and that the idea of having an annual turnover threshold of ₹ 1.5 crore for composition taxpayers came on account of Central Excise exemption available to small scale industries up to this turnover limit. The composition scheme and exemptions given under Central Excise were two different issues but now if reverse charge mechanism was brought on all, then indirectly, one would be bringing to an end the composition scheme and the exemption threshold limit. Therefore, some other mechanism needed to be worked out. 18.8. The Principal Secretary (Finance), Odisha, stated that if a composition taxpayer purchased from an unregistered seller, he would pay full tax under reverse charge mechanism as would have been the case as if he was buying from a registered seller. However, on his own value addition, he would pay only 1% of tl1e value of his turnover. The Secretary observed that under VAT, composition scheme was only for traders whereas in the GST regime, it was proposed to be brought in for manufacturers as well as traders and also some service providers. The only additional benefit available to composition taxpayers under the GST regime was procedural simplification ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... f taxpayers could be examined by a committee to be constituted for the purpose. The Hon'ble Chairperson stated that a Group of Ministers (GoM) from five States could look into this issue and then a decision could be taken before 1 July, 2018. The Hon'ble Ministers from Kerala, Chhattisgarh, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar volunteered to be the members of the GoM. The Secretary stated that in view of this discussion, the Council may approve to defer the introduction of reverse charge mechanism by three months and a GoM consisting of the five Hon'ble Ministers would examine the issue in detail. 18.10. Shri Prakash Kumar, Chief Executive Officer (CEO), GSTN, stated that for TCS, it was envisaged that data would go from GSTR-1 to the taxpayer's return and since GSTR-2 was on hold, the date for TCS implementation should be decided only after the new return module was finalised. The Secretary stated that TDS could be implemented from 11 July, 2018 and for TCS, the issue could be reviewed further. 18.11. The Hon'ble Minister from Tamil Nadu in his written speech suggested that the Council may consider granting a one-time amnesty to the taxpayers whose registratio ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... movement, they sought some more time and suggested its staggered implementation. He stated that for introduction of intra-State e-Way bill system, the Agenda note had suggested its implementation in a staggered manner where the first lot of States could commence intra-State e-Way bill from 15 April, 2018. The second lot could implement from 20 April, 2018, the third lot from 25 April, 2018 and the remaining States from 30 April 2018. He suggested that the GIC could be delegated the responsibility to tweak dates for introduction of intra-State e-Way bill system, if so required. 22.1. The Secretary further informed that during the officers meeting held on 9 March, 2018, it was agreed that the States falling in the first lot would be Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, Uttar Pradesh, Telangana and Gujarat. He stated that the CCT, Karnataka, had informed that his State had implemented the e-Way bill system from September, 2017 and would like to continue with the same. He added that during the officers meeting held on 9 March, 2018, the States of Telangana and Uttar Pradesh had also expressed that they would like to continue their system of e-Way bill under their State law until the national e- ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... o out of the purview of e-Way bill Rules due to security reasons. The Secretary stated that all these States did not have a system of precious cargo movement and requested to drop the suggestion to bring movement of gold under thee-Way bill system. 22.3. The Hon'ble Chairperson stated that India's demand for gold was about 1,200 tonnes every year and its import was charged to Customs duty at the rate of 10%. If Customs duty was increased, smuggling would start in a big way. He stated that it was better to allow import of gold through formal method instead of through informal method. The Hon'ble Minister from Kerala stated that in his State, the annual revenue from gold had been reduced from ₹ 650 crore to ₹ 200 crore. He stated that his State would prepare a note on this issue after full data on supplies under GST was made available. 22.4. The Hon'ble Minister from Tan1il Nadu in his written speech expressed the hope that GSTN would put in place a robust IT infrastructure before the actual implementation of the e-Way Bill system. 23. For Agenda item 10, the Council approved the following: (i) to start e-Way bill system for inter-State movemen ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... arch, 2018, progress in the grant of refunds to exports of both IGST and input tax credit was reviewed and it was noted that the pace of grant of IGST refund had picked up. It was also decided that GSTN would expeditiously forward the balance refund claims to the Customs/Central GST/ State GST authorities, as the case may be, for their immediate sanction and disbursal. The Council appreciated these developments. 25. For Agenda item 11 , the Council approved the following: (i) To defer the implementation of e-Wallet scheme by six months i.e. up to 1 October, 2018; (ii) To extend the present dispensation in terms of exemptions etc., which is currently available till 31 March, 2018 for a further period of six months i.e. up to 1 October, 2018. Agenda item 12: New System of Return Filing 26. The Secretary invited the Chairman, GSTN, to make opening remarks to be followed by a presentation by Shri Manish Sinha, Commissioner (Central Excise), CBEC. The Chairman, GSTN in his opening remarks, stated that the new return design had been finalised after detailed and extensive meetings, several rounds of discussion including discussion with the team of Shri Nandan Nilekani, ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... 3B and have as its annexure, invoices for outward supplies and such inward supplies which attracted tax on reverse charge basis. No system-based matching was proposed and instead matching would be done offline by the taxpayers. He stated that online matching by the system could lead to mismatches to the tune of 30% to 40% (based on the information received from Karnataka) which would be humanly impossible to reconcile. On this account, matching was proposed to be done offline. 26.2. The Hon'ble Minister from Kerala stated that the supply details filed in GSTR-1 could be auto-populated in GSTR-2 and samples could be taken to see whether the two matched. The CEO, GSTN, stated that since GSTR-2A was being auto-populated from GSTR-1, the same would match. He explained that the Commissioner (Central Excise), CBEC was referring to a system of return filing where buyer uploaded details of both sales and purchases and it was matched by the system. In such cases, the percentage of mismatch was 30% to 40% based on the experience of four States (Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat and Maharashtra) who had adopted this system of return filing. The Chairman, GSTN, stated that there was ag ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... redit so reversed can be taken again by the buyer if the seller pays the tax due later. Cases of large difference between input tax credit taken by the buyer and the tax paid by the seller could be taken up for audit/.scrutiny. A system of auto reversal of input tax credit would be introduced only if it was programmable in the IT system and the mismatches betwveen the sale and purchase details were within acceptable limits. 26.4. The Commissioner (Central Excise), CBEC, further stated that it was important to maintain a linkage between tax payment and input tax credit availment and, therefore, the concept of provisional credit was very important. He stated that as per the present data, tax payment by a taxpayer was in the ratio of 3:1 for input tax credit and cash. This meant that a taxpayer if required to pay tax of four rupees, was paying the same by utilising three rupees as input tax credit and one rupee in leash. He stated that if 20% of invoices were not uploaded, this would lead to an extra requirement of ₹ 50, 000 crore in cash for tax payment, which would be a very big burden on the economy. He informed that during the meeting of the officers held on 9 March, 2018 ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... manpower to audit and assess each and every case of mismatch between the tax paid and the input tax credit taken. 26.6. The Hon'ble Deputy Chief Minister of Delhi stated that two issues may arise from this model. The first was that if input tax credit was being reversed at the buyer's end due to wrong doing at the seller's end as the tax was to be paid at the seller's end, it would lead to double taxation at the buyer's end. Secondly, the requirement of filing monthly return would be a problem for small traders. The Secretary stated that currently small traders were filing GSTR-1 return quarterly and GSTR-3B return on monthly basis and 30% of GSTR-3B returns were nil returns. The nil return filers could file their returns by a simple click of a button. He stated that if small taxpayers were given three months' time to file returns, then monthly matching of input tax credit would not be possible. Further, the data of settlement of tax for States also came from returns and if returns for small taxpayers was filed on quarterly basis, settlement of funds to the States would also suffer. It was, therefore, desirable that every taxpayer should file one monthly ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ised that buyers should not be made responsible for reversal of input tax credit. 26.8. The Hon'ble Minister from Karnataka stated that as part of the GoM on IT Related Issues, he had seen both the models. The tax authorities were of the opinion that the interest of revenue might not be protected in the model proposed by Shri Nandan Nilekani. He proposed that some safety mechanism could be adopted in the model proposed by Shri Nandan Nilekani. For instance, if a seller kept on uploading invoices and not paying taxes, he should be blocked from further uploading invoices. He stated that some such other interventions could also be considered. He further observed that the scheme of provisional credit could also be abused and undoing such abuse could be a time-consuming process. He stated that some caveat regarding uploading of invoices could be introduced for buyers. 26.9. The Secretary raised a question whether payment of tax should be delinked from availment of input tax credit, as suggested in the model of Shri Nandan Nilekani. Another issue to be considered was whether the buyer should be completely absolved of the responsibility from any wrong availment of input tax cred ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ax on which input tax credit was taken. Secondly, the proposed concept of blockage of uploading of invoices by supplier was an unchartered legal territory. The Central Excise law tried to introduce this provision and the courts quashed it. Thirdly, blocking of invoice upload by a supplier could hurt multiple buyers. If a supplier made supplies to a buyer A in the month of April and defaulted in paying tax for his May return, and made supplies to a buyer B in the month of May, the input tax credit to B would also be blocked due to default in tax payment in respect of supplies made to buyer A. The fourth issue related to limitation in the number of tax officers who could take up audit and scrutiny. He stated that in one year, the Central tax administration was able to do audit of about 40,000 units, return scrutiny of about 30,000 units and anti-evasion cases of about 10,000 units. He stated that the maximum intervention possible by the Central administration would be about 1, 00,000 cases. States could possibly make about 2,00,000 interventions in a year as they have similar number of assessing officers but double the number of support staff. This implied that the Central and the ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ted that the proposed model was difficult to understand. He recalled that the earlier model had got stuck because of IT related Issues. The Hon'ble Chairperson stated that Shri Nandan Nilekani also had a meeting with the members of the GoM as well as the officers of the Centre and the States. He observed that broadly, the political executive found the model of Shri NandanNilekani to be simpler but the tax bureaucracy considered it to be a risk to revenue. The Hon'ble Minister from Punjab observed that the tenor of discussion reminded him of a quotation from a dictator in Pakistan: Democracy only works in cold countries and not in hot countries . The Hon'ble Minister from Kamataka stated that this was a very important Agenda item and before taking a final decision, both the models could be looked into more deeply and further simplified. He stated that the final outcome should satisfy the concerns of trade as well as the tax administration. The Hon'ble Deputy Chief Minister of Bihar observed that the GoM on IT Challenges could not arrive at any conclusion on the issue and the Council could take a decision. 26.14. The Secretary stated that once the model is fina ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ucity of time, this Agenda item could be deferred for consideration in the next meeting. The Council agreed to the suggestion. 29. For Agenda item 13 , the Council approved to defer consideration of this item to its next meeting. Agenda item 14: Any other agenda item with the permission of the Chairperson Agenda item 14(i): Consideration of representation dated 22.09.2017 by M/s Honda Siel Power Products as per the directions of the Hon'ble High Court of Delhi 30. The Secretary stated that the proposal in this Agenda item had arisen on account of the Writ Petition filed before the Hon'ble High Court of Delhi where the Hon'ble Court had directed that the GST Council could appropriately consider the Petitioner's pending representation on the differential GST rates between its products, i.e. petrol/kerosene engines and fixed speed diesel engines below 15 HP. The Petitioner, M/s Honda Siel Power Products Ltd., in its representation dated 22 September, 2017 addressed to the Secretary, Department of Revenue, Union Ministry of Finance, had stated that differential rates of tax between petrol/kerosene engines and fixed speed diesel engines not exceeding 15 HP a ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... on orders, after their issue, shall be placed before the Council for information. The Council agreed to this proposal. 33. For Agenda item 14(ii), the Council approved that the Hon'ble Union Finance Minister shall approve grant of ad hoc exemption from IGST payable on imported goods as per the guidelines laid down in Circular No.09/2014-Customs dated 19 August, 2014, as was the case prior to the introduction of GST. All such ad hoc exemption orders, after their issue, shall be placed before the Council for information. Agenda item 14(iii): Appointment of Deputy Commissioner as member of Authority for Advance Ruling- Amendment in Rule 103 of the CGST Rules, 2017 34. The Secretary informed that this Agenda item proposed to amend Rule 103 of the CGST Rules, 2017 to permit appointment of officers up to the rank of Deputy Commissioner as members of the Authority for Advance Ruling. This was proposed because the State of Manipur and the Union Territory of Puducherry had represented that they had no post of Joint Commissioner in their State/UT. The Secretary informed that this proposal was discussed during the meeting of the officers held on 9 March, 2018 wherein it was re ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... the Secretary as also the addition proposed by the Special Chief Secretary (Revenue), Andhra Pradesh. 37. For Agenda item 14 (iv) , the Council approved that GST was not leviable on licence fee and application fee by whatever name it is called for alcoholic liquor for human constm1ption and that this would also apply mutatis mutandis to the demand raised by Service Tax/Excise authorities on licence fee for alcoholic liquor for human consumption in the pre-GST era i.e. for the period from 1 April, 2016 to 30 June, 2017; Other issues: 38. The Hon'ble Minister from Kerala raised the issue regarding making available State specific data up to the end of the financial year. The CEO, GSTN, stated that they had available with them invoice level data by way of GSTR-1 as well as data of GSTR-3B. These were automatically going to Model 1 States, which also included the State of Kerala. He added that GSTR-2A was generated on the basis of GSTR-1 and that two weeks back, they had made this data available through API (Application Programming Interface). He informed that Kerala officers could now see supplies received by buyers located in Kerala from sellers located anywhere in I ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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