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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...

1. An offline tool has been made available to the taxpayers to match Input Tax Credit (ITC), as auto populated in their Form GSTR-2B, with their purchase register. This tool will help the taxpayer to compare their ITC as per their Purchase Register, with the ITC as shown available in their auto drafted Form GSTR-2B and thus help them to claim correct ITC, while filing Form GSTR-3B. 2. To use the Matching Offline Tool, taxpayer need to : Download and Install the Offline tool on their system Download the Form GSTR-2B JSON file from the GST portal Prepare purchase register in the template provided with offline tool Total number of documents to match should be preferably be less than 3000 in number. 3. Steps to use the utility: Download the utility from GST common portal by navigating to Downloads>Offline Tools> Matching Offline Tool Open the tool. Following boxes are displayed on Offline tool dashboard page: GSTR-2B Import Purchase Register (PR) Matching Result Import GSTR-2B JSON f...

The GSTN Portal has now done away with the mandatory requirement of linking of credit notes with Invoices Nos. issued by the Supplier while filing of GSTR-1, GSTR-6 or Filing of Refunds. Till now, original invoice number was mandatorily required to be quoted by the taxpayers, while reporting a Credit Note or Debit Note in Form GSTR-1 or Form GSTR-6. The taxpayers have now been provided with a facility on the GST Portal to: Report in their Form GSTR-1 or in Form GSTR-6, single credit note or debit note issued in respect of multiple invoices Choose the note supply type as Regular, SEZ, DE, Export etc., to identify the table to which such credit note or debit note pertains Indicate Place of Supply (POS) against each credit note or debit note, to identify the supply type i.e. Intra-State or Inter-State Debit /Credit Notes can be declared with tax amount, but without any taxable value also i.e. if credit note or debit note is issued for difference in tax rate only, then note value can be re...

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 Reserve Bank of India(RBI) issued its Bi-Monthly Monetary Policy Statement via a Press Release. RBI Governor Shaktikant Das addressed the media and put forward the highlights and the major changes that have been brought in by the Monetary Policy Committee. Similar to the June 2020 Monetary Policy Statement, this time too, RBI focused on easing the financial stress caused by the Covid-19 Disruptions. Following are the focal points of the Monetary Policy Statement issued by RBI today: 1.Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) decided to keep the Repo Rate unhinged at 4 Percent. Consequently, the Reverse Repo Rate stands at 3.35 Percent and the Bank Rate stands at 4.25 Percent. The MPC decided to continue with the accomodative stance to revive growth and mitigate the impact of Covid-19 on the Indian Economy, while ensuring that inflation remains within the target going forward.  Assessments of Global Economy 1.MPC has assessed that the Contractions in the economic activity have been more ...

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 ...