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A Composition taxpayer may now file NIL statement in Form GST CMP-08 for a quarter, through an SMS, apart from filing it through online mode, on GST Portal. 1.To file NIL Form GST CMP-08 through SMS, the taxpayer must fulfil following conditions: Taxpayer must be registered as composition taxable person (by filing Form GST REG-01) or the taxpayer might have opted for composition levy (by filing Form GST CMP-02). Taxpayer must have filed all the applicable statement(s) in Form GST CMP-08 for the previous quarter(s). Authorized signatory and his/ her phone number must be registered on the GST Portal. There must not be any data in save stage, in online version of Form GST CMP-08, on the GST Portal. 2.NIL Form CMP-08 for a tax period must be filed by the taxpayer, if there is no: Outward Supplies; liability due to reverse charge (including import of services); and other tax liability for the quarter, for which the statement is being filed. 3.Steps to File Nil Form GST CMP-08 through SMS ar...

In terms of Rule 138 E (b) of the CGST Rules, 2017, the E Way Bill generation facility of a person is liable to be restricted, in case the person fails to file their GSTR-3B returns, for a consecutive period of two months or more. As you might be aware that the GST Council in its last meeting has decided that this provision will be made applicable for the taxpayers whose Aggregate Annual Turn Over (AATO, PAN based) is more than Rs 5 Crores.   Thus, if the GSTIN associated with the respective PAN (with AATO over Rs 5 Cr.) has failed to file their GSTR-3B Return for 02 or more tax periods, up to the month of tax period of  August, 2020, their EWB generation facility will be blocked on the EWB Portal.  Please note that the EWB generation facility for such GSTINs (whether as consignor or consignee or by transporter) will be blocked on EWB Portal after 15th October, 2020. To avail continuous EWB generation facility on EWB Portal, Taxpayers are therefore advised to file yo...

The 42nd GST Council met under the Chairmanship of Union Finance & Corporate Affairs Minister Smt Nirmala Sitharaman through video conferencing on 5th October 2020. The meeting was also attended by Union Minister of State for Finance & Corporate Affairs besides Finance Ministers of States & UTs and senior officers of the Ministry of Finance & States/ UTs. The GST Council has made the following recommendations: 1. Levy of Compensation Cess to be extended beyond the transition period of five years i.e. beyond June, 2022, for such period as may be required to meet the revenue gap. Further details to be worked out. 2. Centre is releasing compensation of ₹ 20,000 crore to States today towards loss of revenue during 2020-21 and an amount of about ₹ 25,000 crore towards IGST of 2017-18 by next week. 3. Enhancement in features of return filing:In its 39th Meeting held in March 2020, the Council had recommended an incremental approach to incorporate features of the new return sy...

‘E-Invoicing’ for certain classes of taxpayers has come into effect from 1-10-2020. Keeping in view the hardships faced by the taxpayers due to COVID-19 lockdown and as some of these taxpayers are still not ready, as a last chance, Government had given relaxation that invoices raised by notified taxpayers during October, 2020 without following e-invoice procedure (i.e. uploading invoice details on e-invoice portal (IRP), obtaining IRN and issuing invoice with QR Code) will be deemed to be valid and no penalty will be there if the IRN for such invoices is obtained within 30 days of date of invoice. Further, vide notifications (Central Tax) 70/2020 and 72/2020 dated 30-9-2020, certain amendments and additions were made in respect of e-invoicing. Below is the summary of amendments: Regarding aggregate turnover threshold, it was specified that those who crossed Rs. 500 Cr. in any preceding financial year from 2017-18 onwards, will be covered. Supplies for ‘exports’ are also specifically i...

I.Relief to Composition Taxpayers in late fees for delayed filing of Form GSTR-4 (Quarterly Return): Vide Notification No 67/2020 dated 21.09.2020, the taxpayers who were under Composition Scheme, during any period till 31st March, 2019, have been provided relaxation in payment of late fees, on filing Form GSTR-4 (Quarterly Return). This relaxation is available, if Form GSTR-4 (Quarterly Return) is filed by them, between 22nd Sept., 2020 and 31st Oct., 2020, for any tax period of financial year 2017-18 or 2018-19. The details are as given below: II.Relief in late fees for delayed filing of Final Return in Form GSTR-10 Vide Notification No 68/2020 dated 21.09.2020, the taxpayers who had failed to file final return, in Form GSTR-10, by due date, have been provided relaxation in payment of late fees, on filing of Form GSTR 10 (Final Return). Such taxpayers can now file Form GSTR 10 (Final Return) between 22nd Sept., 2020 and 31st Dec., 2020, by paying a maximum late fee of Rs 500 (Rs 25...

A PDF statement has been made available to taxpayers, filing monthly GSTR-1 statement, with system computed values of Table 3 of Form GSTR-3B. This PDF will be prepared on the basis of the values reported by them, in their GSTR-1 statement, for the said tax period. Note: This facility will also be provided to quarterly GSTR-1 filers in due course of time. This PDF will be available on their GSTR-3B dashboard, from tax period of August 2020 onwards, containing the information of GSTR-1 filed by them on or after 4th September 2020. This will make filing of their Form GSTR-3B easier for them. This facility is provided to all taxpayers registered as a Normal taxpayer, SEZ Developer, SEZ unit and casual taxpayer. Tables of Form GSTR 3B will be Auto-Drafted in PDF statement : Following Tables of Form GSTR-3B will be auto drafted, on basis of values reported in GSTR-1 statement, for the said period: 3.1(a) - Outward taxable supplies (other than zero rated, nil rated and exempted) 3.1(b) - Ou...

The Central Board of Indirect Taxes & Customs (CBIC) has recently enabled new functionalities for Taxpayers liable to file GSTR-8 as well as for Composition Taxpayers effecting supplies through E-Commerce Operators in the wake of Covid-19.These Changes aims at easing the process of furnishing of Return under Form GSTR-8 by the E-Commerce Operators.Detailed Explanation of the Changes is as follows: Provision to make amendment, multiple times, in Table 4 of Form GSTR-8 Earlier, if no action was taken on TCS details, auto-populated in TDS/TCS credit form, by the supplier or if the same were rejected by them in the said form, the TCS (e-commerce operators) could amend the details only once. Based on requests received from stakeholders, the restriction of amending the transaction details only once, in the table 4 (i.e. amendment table) of Form GSTR-8, has now been removed. Thus, details of table 4 (i.e. amendment table) of Form GSTR-8, can now be amended multiple times, by e-commerce op...

A facility has been provided to the taxpayers to download document wise details of Table 8A of Form GSTR-9, from the portal in excel format. This can be done by using a new option of ‘ Document wise Details of Table 8-A ’ given on the GSTR-9 dashboard, from Financial Year 2018-19 onwards. This will help the taxpayer in reconciling the values appearing in Table 8-A of Form GSTR 9, thus facilitate filling the Form GSTR 9. Table 8-A of Form GSTR 9 is populated on basis of documents in filed Form GSTR-1 or Form GSTR-5 of the supplier. Thus, all documents which are present in GSTR-2A (Table 3 & 5), will not be available here, as documents which are in uploaded or submitted stage in Form GSTR 1 or 5, are not accounted for credit in table 8A of Form GSTR 9. This excel download will address issues like: Figures of Input Tax Credit (I.T.C.), as Pre-Populated in table 8A of GSTR-9, not matching with the figures, as appearing in their Form GSTR-2A. To view details of documents that are auto-p...

Covid-19 Pandemic is being dubbed as the worst disaster of this century so far which has resulted in forced lock down measures across the globe. Every business sector barring few have been affected by this Pandemic causing a serious dent in their cash flows and profits. In India, Central Government forced the nationwide lock down on 24th March. However,various relief to businesses were announced by government as part of their AatmaNirbhar (Self-Reliant) Bharat (India). On similar lines, CBIC (Central Board of Indirect Taxes & Customs) has announced relief measures pertaining to GST law and compliance to help businesses. These relief measures range from Relaxations & Extensions in Return Filing as well as regarding applicability of certain provisions under GST Law.This article covers all such measures in detail. Relaxations & Extensions given in Filing Dates of GSTR-3B (Notification No.54/2020-CT dated 24th June 2020) For Taxpayers having Aggregate Turnover > Rs.5 Cr in ...

The Goods & Services Tax Network (GSTN) Portal has recently released Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) related to filing of "Nil" GSTR-1 through Simple Messaging Service (SMS) Facility. The Central Board of Indirect Taxes & Customs (CBIC) via Notification No.44/2020-CT dated 8th June 2020  amended Rule "67A" of CGST Rules,2017 by prescribing that a Taxpayer can File "Nil" Return in Form GSTR-1 and GSTR-3B through SMS Facility. "Nil" Return was explained as a Return under Section 37 for a tax period that has nil or no entry in all Tables in Form GSTR-1. However, The Manner of Filing Return through SMS was not provided by CBIC. Thus, with these FAQs GSTN Portal has now prescribed the manner of filing of GSTR-1. Some of the Important FAQs which a taxpayer should be aware of in order to file "Nil" GSTR-1 return are: 1. When can Form GSTR-1 be filed as Nil? Ans. Form GSTR-1 can be filed as a nil return if there are no outward suppli...

The Central Board of Indirect Taxes (CBIC) has recently confirmed the date of Applicability of E-Invoicing Regime under GST from 1st October 2020 onwards via Notification No.61/2020-CT dated 30th July 2020 . CBIC has now changed the limit of turnover earlier specified by it for Taxpayers Required to Issue Invoice with Invoice Reference Number (I.R.N.) from E-Invoice System.Taxpayers with turnover exceeding Rs. 500 Crores in a financial year are required to Generate E-Invoice as against Taxpayers having Turnover exceeding Rs.100 Crores in a Financial Year as prescribed earlier by CBIC. For Starters, E-Invoicing System was introduced via  Notification No.70/2019-CT dated 13th December 2019 by CBIC for Taxpayers having turnover exceeding Rs.100 Crores in a Financial Year from 1st April 2020. Due to Covid-19 Pandemic and the resulting disruptions in business operations, CBIC deferred the applicability of E-Invoicing Regime from 1st October 2020 onwards instead of 1st April 2020 via No...

The Central Board of Indirect Taxes & Customs (CBIC) has notified vide instruction no.CBEC-20/06/11/2020-GST dated 17th July 2020 to dispose of all pending applications of Registration on or before 30th July 2020 as a "special drive". Sub-Section 10 of Section 25 of CGST Act, 2017 read with Rule 9 of CGST Rules, 2017 provides that Application of Registration shall be deemed as approved after a period of three working days if the proper officer fails to take any action on the said application within the said period of three working days. Strong apprehensions were raised on the possible misuse of the deeming provision during the COVID lockdown period, where either the central/state tax offices were closed or were functioning with skeletal staff. Since lockdown applied across all establishments including those belonging to the Governments (Central and State), during the lockdown period there being no "working days", it had been decided that the approval of the ap...

The Goods & Services Tax Network(GSTN) Portal has now enabled facility of filing GSTR-4 Annual Return by Composition Taxpayers. What is GSTR-4 (Annual Return)? GSTR-4 is an Annual Return which is required to be filed by Taxpayers who have opted for Composition Scheme. Such Taxpayers are required to file Annual Return under form GSTR-4 from FY:2019-20. How is it different from GSTR-4 Quarterly Return? Form GSTR-4 Quarterly Return was applicable up to the Tax Period ending on 31st March 2019, for composition taxpayers. Earlier, For Tax Periods up to 31st March 2019, Composition Taxpayers were required to file Form GSTR-4 Quarterly Return. From 1st April 2019, Composition Taxpayers are now required to file Form CMP-08 on a quarterly basis, Due Date of Filing GSTR-4 (Annual Return) The Due Date for Filing of GSTR-4 Annual Return is 30th April 2020 as prescribed by CBIC vide Notification No.21/2019-CT dated 23rd April 20. However, CBIC had not enabled the facility to file GSTR-4 on GST...

The Central Board of Indirect Taxes & Customs (CBIC) as part of the Government of India's (GOI) Covid-19 relief measures brought in a number of notifications to ease out the Compliance burden on the Taxpayers in the Current times of Pandemic. With Business Activities disrupted due to Several Lockdowns imposed as part of tackling the Coronavirus Crises, These measures were announced to offer some respite to Taxpayers as they adjust to the new normal of Working from Home and other social distancing measures. Several Notifications were issued in this regard and few more expected in the coming times. These notifications primarily aim at extending the timelines of compliances so that businesses can accomplish their compliances without any penal provisions enforced upon them. CBIC has extended timelines for Compliances such as filing of Details of Outward Supplies reported under Section 37 in form GSTR-1 , Return of Inward and Outward Supplies, Input Tax Credit availed, tax payable a...

Ministry of Finance(MoF) vide Instruction No.3/2/2020-GST  dated 24th June 2020 clarified the Subject Matter of "Payment of GST by Real Estate Promoter/Developer supplying construction of residential apartment etc, on the shortfall value of inward supplies from registered supplier at the end of the financial year" . To get a grasp of the whole matter, let us rewind back and understand an early Notification , wherein the Central Board of Indirect Taxes & Customs (CBIC) prescribed in one of the conditions of notification that w.e.f 1 April 2019, At least Eighty Percent of the value of inputs and input services(other than services by way of grant of development rights, long term lease of land or Floor Space Index, electricity, high-speed diesel, motor spirit, natural gas), used in supplying of construction service, shall be received by the promoter/developer from registered supplier only. In the case of the shortfall from the said threshold of 80 per cent, the promoter/devel...

The Central Board of Indirect Taxes & Customs (CBIC) waived off late fees payable under Section 47 of CGST Act,2017 for the delay in furnishing of Form GSTR-1 i.e. Details of Outward Supplies under Section 37 of CGST Act,2017 for the period March 2020 to June 2020. CBIC in its Notification no.53/2020-CT dated 24th June 2020 prescribed that the amount of late fee payable under Section 47 of CGST Act,2017 shall stand waived for registered persons who fail to furnish the details of outward supplies in Form GSTR-1 by the due date but files his return on or before the dates mentioned in the table below. For Taxpayers required to furnish GSTR-1 on a monthly basis: For Taxpayers required to furnish GSTR-1 on a quarterly basis: This Notification amends the earlier Notification issued on 3rd April 2020 wherein late fee was waived for the period March 2020 to May 2020 if GSTR-1 was filed till 30th June 2020.Issuance of the above notification scraps off the earlier notification. Earlier on ...