The GST Council held its 31st meeting in New Delhi on 22nd December, 2018. In the meeting, GST council has broadly taken the following decisions –

A. Policy Recommendations:

1. The new return filing system shall be introduced on a trial basis from 01.04.2019 and on mandatory basis from 01.07.2019.
2. The due date for furnishing the annual returns in FORM GSTR-9, FORM GSTR-9A and reconciliation statement in FORM GSTR-9C for the Financial Year 2017 – 2018 shall be further extended till 30.06.2019.
3. The following changes shall be carried out in the formats/instructions according to which the annual return / reconciliation statement is to be submitted by the taxpayers:

• Amendment of headings in the forms to specify that the return in FORM GSTR-9 &FORM GSTR-9A would be in respect of supplies etc. ‘made during the year’ and not ‘as declared in returns filed during the year’;
• All returns in FORM GSTR-1&FORM GSTR-3B have to be filed before filing of FORM GSTR-9&FORM 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;
• Additional payments, if any, required to be paid can be done through FORM GST DRC-03 only in cash;
• ITC cannot be availed through FORM GSTR-9 &FORM GSTR-9C;
• All invoices pertaining to previous FY (irrespective of month in which such invoice is reported in FORM GSTR-1) would be auto-populated in Table 8A of FORM GSTR-9;
• Value of “non-GST supply” shall also include the value of “no supply” and may be reported in Table 5D, 5E and 5F of FORM GSTR-9;
• Verification by taxpayer who is uploading reconciliation statement would be included in FORM GSTR-9C

4. The due date for furnishing FORM GSTR-8 by e-commerce operators for the months of October, November and December, 2018 shall be extended till 31.01.2019.

5. The due date for submitting FORM GST ITC-04 for the period July 2017 to December 2018 shall be extended till 31.03.2019.

6. ITC in relation to invoices issued by the supplier during FY 2017-18 may be availed by the recipient till the due date for furnishing of FORM GSTR-3B for the month of March, 2019, subject to specified conditions.

7. All the supporting documents/invoices in relation to a claim for refund in FORM GST RFD-01A shall be uploaded electronically on the common portal at the time of filing of the refund application itself, thereby obviating the need for a taxpayer to physically visit a tax office for submission of a refund application.

8. The following types of refunds shall also be made available through FORM GST RFD01A:

• Refund on account of Assessment/Provisional Assessment/Appeal/Any Other Order;
• Tax paid on an intra-State supply which is subsequently held to be inter-State supply and vice-versa;
• Excess payment of Tax; and iv) Any other refund.

9. Changes made by CGST (Amendment) Act, 2018, IGST (Amendment) Act, 2018, UTGST (Amendment) Act, 2018 and GST (Compensation to States) Amendment Act, 2018 and the corresponding changes in SGST Acts would be notified w.e.f. 01.02.2019.

10. Taxpayers who have not filed the returns for two consecutive tax periods shall be restricted from generating e-way bills.

11. Late fee shall be completely waived for all taxpayers in case FORM GSTR-1, FORM GSTR-3B &FORM GSTR-4 for the months / quarters July, 2017 to September, 2018, are furnished after 22.12.2018 but on or before 31.03.2019.

B. Proposed Amendments in the GST Acts:

The GST Council gave in principle approval to the following amendments in the GST Acts:

• Creation of a Centralised Appellate Authority for Advance Ruling (AAAR) to deal with cases of conflicting decisions by two or more State Appellate Advance Ruling Authorities on the same issue.1
• Section 50 of the CGST Act to be amended to provide that interest should be charged only on the net tax liability of the taxpayer, after taking into account the admissible input tax credit, i.e. interest would be leviable only on the amount payable through the electronic cash ledger.

C. Issues referred by GST Council to various Committees / GoM

The GST Council decided to refer the following issues to Committees / GoM indicated against them:

1. Extending the Composition scheme to small service providers. The rate of tax and threshold limit to be proposed.
2. Tax rate on lotteries
3. Taxation of residential property in real estate sector
4. Threshold limit of exemption under GST regime

D. Rate Changes

The GST Council has taken various decisions relating to exemptions / changes in GST rates / ITC eligibility criteria, rationalization of rates / exemptions and clarification on levy of GST on Goods and services. The major recommendations are as-

1. Monitors and TVs of upto screen size of 32 inches will now be taxed @ 18%
2. GST on supply of Music Books has been reduced from 12% to Nil.
3. GST rates of Digital cameras , video camera recorders, video games consoles , power banks reduced from 28 % to 18%
4. GST rate on cinema tickets above Rs. 100 shall be reduced from 28% to 18% and on cinema tickets upto Rs. 100 from 18% to 12%.
5. GST rate on third party insurance premium of goods carrying vehicles shall be reduced from 18% to 12%

For more information please refer the attached Press Releases

Source: Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs

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