Recent changes in GST law consequent to 31st GST council meeting

GST Council met for the 31st time on 22nd December 2018, Saturday at Vigyan Bhavan, through video conferencing New Delhi.

It was chaired by the Finance Minister Shri Arun Jaitley.

Consequent to that following orders/Circulars or Notification issued on 31^st of Dec’2018.

Sr. No	Particulars	From	To	Numbers
1	Central Tax	67/2018-Central Tax ,Dt.31-12-2018	79/2018-Central Tax ,Dt.31-12- 2018	13
2	Central  Tax   Rate	24/2018-Central Tax (Rate), Dt.31-12-2018	30/2018-Central Tax (Rate), Dt.31-12-2018	07
3	Circulars	76/50/2018 Date 31- 12-2018	81/55/2018 Date 31-12-2018	06
4	Orders	02/2018/31.12.2018	04/2018/31.12.18	03
	Total			29

Here are the highlights of amendment

or changes made are as follows:

Ø  GST 2.0 to be implemented on trial basis in April 2019

New return filing system to be started on a trial basis from April 1, 2019, and will be to be implemented by July 1, 2019

Ø  E-way bills norms made strict

Taxpayers cannot generate e-way bill if they do not file GST returns for two consecutive tax periods

Ø  Waiver of fees to improve GST return compliance

• Late fee waiver for all the GST returns yet to be filed as on 22nd December 2018 up to 31st March 2019, for the months July 2017 up to September 2018.
• Further time to claim the Input tax credit for FY 2017-18 allowed up due date of filing GSTR-3B of March 2019, subject to conditions.

Ø  Simplification of Form GSTR-9 & GSTR-9C

• HSN code may be declared only for those inward supplies whose value independently accounts for 10% or more of the total value of inward supplies.
• If any additional payments are to be made they can be done through the FORM GST DRC-03 in cash.
• ITC cannot be availed through FORM GSTR-9 and FORM GSTR-9C.
• Verification by a taxpayer who is uploading the reconciliation statement would also be included in FORM GSTR-9C.
• All monthly/quarterly GST Returns must be filed before filing Annual return.
• Outward or Inward supplies to be declared in the Annual returns to be ‘supplies made during the financial year’ and not ‘supplies, as declared in GST returns filed.
• Value of ‘No Supply’ can be declared under Exempt supplies section at Table 5D, 5E or 5F of GSTR-9
• In GSTR-9, Table 8A-ITC as per GSTR-2A – auto-populates all invoices related to FY 2017-18 irrespective of the month of filing GSTR-1 by suppliers

Ø  Due date extensions recommended

• The due date for filing of GST Annual Return (GSTR-9) and Reconciliation statement ( GSTR-9C) after GST Audit to be extended till 30th June 2019.
• GSTR-8 to be filed by e-commerce operators for the period 1st October 2018 to 31st December 2018 will be extended to 31st January 2019.
• Filing of ITC-04 for the months July 2017 to December 2018 to be extended to 31st March 2019.

Ø  The scope of Composition scheme to be expanded

Council to meet again in January 2019 to decide whether or not to include under  Composition scheme: the supply of residential properties under real estate and supply of services by small service providers. A group of ministers(GoM) is to be formed for looking into the same.

Ø  GST Rates rationalized

• Today’s GST rates reduction will have an overall impact on revenue of Rs 5500 crore, said Jaitley.
• Recommendations made by the Fitment committee reports have been taken into consideration in today’s meet.
• No change in tax rate on Cement: 13 items of automobile parts, 8 items of the cement industry still remain under 28 %GST Slab.
• Third party insurance lowered to 12 percent GST Slab from the earlier 18%.
• 6 goods and 1 service have been removed from the 28 % GST Slab tax bracket under the Good Services Tax (GST) regime.
• GST for cinema tickets being less than Rs 100 has a reduced tax rate from 18% to 12% GST Slab, for tickets equal to or above Rs 100, GST reduced from 28% to 18%.
• Lithium-ion batteries charges, video games consoles, small sport related items, accessories for carriages for disabled removed from 28% slab.
• Items claimed to be used by the upper segments such as Air conditioners, dishwashers will remain at 28% GST Slab.
• Bank charges (savings bank), and Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana has been exempted from GST.
• GST rate on special flights for pilgrims slashed for the economy to 5 percent and business class to 12 percent. These include travel by non-scheduled/chartered operations for religious pilgrimage, which is facilitated by GoI under bilateral agreements.