Refund of IGST paid on export of goods

The Central Board of Excise & Customs, Ministry of Finance, have issued INSTRUCTION NO.15/2017-CUSTOMS dated 9th October, 2017.

which explains that;
Rule 96 of the CGST Rules 2017 deals with refund of Integrated Tax paid on goods exported out of India.

It provides that the shipping bill filed by an exporter shall be deemed to be an application for refund of integrated tax paid on the goods exported out of India once export general manifest (EGM) and valid return in Form GSTR-3 or Form GSTR-3B, as the case may be has been filed.

Once these conditions are met, the Customs System shall process the claim for refund and an amount equal to the integrated tax paid in respect of each shipping bill or bill of export shall be electronically credited to the bank account of the applicant mentioned in his registration particulars and as intimated to the Customs authorities.

The Committee on Exports setup by the GST Council has recommended that IGST refunds for exports made in July 2017 must start by 10.10.2017.

This recommendation has been endorsed by GST Council in its meeting on 06-10-2017. Necessary background work is being done by the Directorate General of Systems, GSTN and Controller General of Accounts (PFMS). In order to ensure that refunds start smoothly, following guidelines are issued for the field formations.

GSTN unveils excel template for to help taxpayers perform easy data entry offline before uploading on the GST portal

source: Press Information Bureau / July 02, 2017

GSTN unveils excel template for to help taxpayers perform easy data entry offline before uploading on the GST portal; 

Excel template together with an offline tool will make uploading large numbers of invoices much easier and quick; 

Offline Tool to be unveiled on July 17, 2017. 

Goods and Services Network (GSTN) has unveiled a simple excel based template that will facilitate the taxpayers in preparing and filing their monthly returns with maximum ease and minimal cost.

The excel template is a part of GST Council’s approach to make tax compliance highly easy and convenient for taxpayers and also reduce the time of compliance to improve ease of doing business. This excel workbook template can be freely downloaded from the GST Common portal (www.gst.gov.in), and can be used by taxpayers to collate all invoice related data on a regular basis.

The Excel format can be used by businesses to start maintaining their data. The taxpayer can prepare the details of his outward supply on weekly or any other suitable regular interval which can then be uploaded on GST portal on or before the 10th of subsequent month. The GSTR1 excel template workbook can be used to prepare the data for GSTR 1 return without connecting to internet in offline mode. This also benefits taxpayers in remote areas where Internet connectivity might not be good.

The template comprises of eight worksheets. Summary of key values in each worksheet has been provided at the top to help taxpayers easily reconcile the data entered in the worksheets with that recorded in his accounting system/books to accurately prepare the return. Based on data entered in the Excel sheet, offline tool will prepare a file which will have to be uploaded by the taxpayer on GST Portal to create GSTR-1. Only while uploading the file on the GST portal, Internet connectivity will be required. 

GST roll-out – Complete transformation of the Indirect Taxation Landscape; Some minute details of how it happened

source: Press Information Bureau / June 30, 2017

Goods and Services Tax (GST), a historic tax reform, will come into effect from tomorrow i.e.1^st July, 2017. GST will completely transform the Indirect Taxation landscape in the country involving both the Central and State levies. In a departure from the normal practice, GST will be administered together by the Centre and States.

To commemorate the historic occasion, a function will be held in the Central Hall of Parliament on the mid-night of 30th June - 1st July, 2017. The occasion will be graced by the Hon’ble President, Hon’ble Vice President,  Hon’ble Prime Minister, Hon’ble Speaker of Lok Sabha and Hon’ble Union Finance Minister among other dignitaries.

Why is GST so important?

The biggest tax reform since independence - GST - will pave the way for realization of the goal of One Nation - One Tax - One Market. GST will benefit all the stakeholders namely industry, government and consumer. It will lower the cost of goods and services, give a boost to the economy and make the products and services globally competitive, giving a major boost to ‘Make in India’ initiative. Under the GST regime, exports will be zero-rated in entirety unlike the present system where refund of some of the taxes does not take place due to fragmented nature of indirect taxes between the Centre and the States. GST will make India a common market with common tax rates & procedures and remove economic barriers. GST is largely technology driven and will reduce the human interface to a great extent. GST is expected to improve ease of doing business in India.

In majority of supplies of goods, the tax incidence approved by the GST Council is much lower than the present combined indirect tax rates levied [on account of central excise duty rates / embedded central excise duty rates / service tax post-clearance embedding, VAT rates or weighted average VAT rates, cascading of VAT over excise duty and tax incidence on account of CST, Octroi, Entry Tax, etc.] by the Centre and State(s). 

  Journey of GST after the Constitutional Amendment Act, 2016

 After the assent of the Hon’ble President on 8^th September, 2016, the 101^th Constitutional Amendment Act, 2016 came into existence. The GST Council was constituted on 15.9.2016.

Since its formation in September, 2016 the GST Council has held 18 meetings. The Finance Ministers of all the States or their representative along with State and Central govt officials have participated in these extensive meetings and formulated the law and procedure to implement this historic tax reform. It was a mammoth task involving 27000+ man hours of intensive work. More than 200 meetings of the officers of the Centre and States took place in different parts of the country to expedite the implementation of GST.

While framing GST Acts and Rules, enhanced ‘Ease of doing business’ for the taxpayers was a key consideration and accordingly the roles and responsibilities of the States and Central govt have been defined. In a short span of time, the GST council has cleared GST laws, GST Rules, Tax rate structure including Compensation Cess, Classification of goods and services into different rate slabs, exemptions, thresholds, structure for tax administration, etc. All the decisions of Council were taken with consensus. While formulating the Acts and Rules, extensive participatory consultations with trade and industry including other significant stakeholders were undertaken. Feedback was also obtained by posting draft Acts and Rules on the websites and inviting comments from the public.

On 29^th March, 2017, the Hon’ble Finance Minister of India tabled four Goods and Services Tax (GST) Bills for consideration and passage in the Lok Sabha namely The Central Goods and Services Tax (CGST) Bill, 2017, The Integrated Goods and Services Tax (IGST) Bill, 2017, The Union Territories Goods and Services Tax (UTGST) Bill, 2017 and the GST (Compensation to States) Bill, 2017. They were passed by the Lok Sabha on 29^th March, 2017 and by the Rajya Sabha on 6^th April, 2017.

The GST Council has decided the final structure of GST as follows:

·         The threshold limit for exemption from levy of GST is Rs. 20 lakh for the States except for the Special Category, where it is Rs 10 Lakh.

·         A four slab tax rate structure of 5%, 12%, 18% and 28% has been adopted for GST.

·         A cess would be levied on certain goods such as luxury cars, aerated drinks, pan masala and tobacco products, over and above the GST rate of 28% for payment of compensation to the states.

·         The threshold for availing the Composition scheme is Rs. 75 lakh except for special category States where it is Rs. 50 lakh and they are required to file quarterly returns only. Certain categories of manufacturers, service providers (except restaurants) are out of the Composition Scheme.

Other Important Features of GST

·                 GST envisages all transactions and processes to be done only through electronic mode, to achieve non-intrusive administration.  This will minimise tax payers physical interaction with the tax officials.

·                 GST provides for the facility of auto-populated monthly returns and annual return.

·                 It also facilitates the taxpayers by prescribing grant of refund within 60 days, and provisional release of 90% refund to exporters within 7 days. Further facilitation measures include interest payment if refund is not sanctioned in time, and refund to be directly credited to bank accounts.

·                 Comprehensive transitional provisions for ensuring smooth transition of existing taxpayers to GST regime, credit for available stocks, etc.

·                 Other provisions include system of GST Compliance Rating, etc.

·                 Anti-profiteering provisions for protection of consumer rights.

Role of GST Network (GSTN) – IT backbone of GST

GSTN has been created as a section 25 private limited company with Strategic Control with the Government, to function as a common Pass-through portal for taxpayers. On this common portal, taxpayers will submit their registration applications, file returns, make tax payments, claim refunds etc. GSTN has been provided with a robust IT platform and it will provide interface to 80 lakh taxpayers and thousands of tax officials. All filings under GST will be done electronically.  While GSTN remains a front-end, at the back end, the IT systems of CBEC and different states interface with the GSTN IT network to provide a seamless end to end processing of tax returns for the taxpayers. 64,000 officials have been trained on the GST portal from February till June 2017. The GSTN IT systems have undergone load tests, performance tests, vulnerability tests, security and all other mandatory tests.

Enrolment of existing taxpayers of the State tax administrations and the Central Board of Excise and Customs to the GST system commenced on 8^thNovember, 2016. More than 66 lakh taxpayers have activated their account at the GST portal.

GST Application on Payment has been operationalized. 25 banks have been integrated with the GST Common portal and will be providing e-payment and Over the counter payment facilities as well as payment through NeFT/RTGS and credit/debit card.

GST OUTREACH PROGRAMME

The Government has stepped up its outreach programme through various events, workshops, media, television to reach masses. Field formations of CBEC, at all levels have been activated to carry out interaction with the trade and industry to help them with the migration to GST and to clear their doubts. The field units of CBEC have run campaigns using mobile vans to reach the assessees at their door-step to help them with the GST migration and transitional issues. A total of 4700 workshops have been conducted across India.

An extensive multi-media campaign through print and electronic media, outdoor hoardings, etc. has been carried out for informing, educating and assisting taxpayers and other stake-holders to enable a smooth transition to GST. 

 RE-ORGANISATION OF CBEC

 Implementation of GST has necessitated reorganisation of the Central Board of Excise & Customs formations for administration of GST. The reorganisation involved bringing about structural changes and redeployment of human resources. Redeployment has been done to ensure outreach to the remotest corner. The Directorates which have significant role under the GST have been adequately expanded and strengthened.

The field formations have been restructured as 21 CGST & CX Zones, 107 CGST & CX Commissionerates, 12 Sub-Commissionerates, 768 CGST & CX Divisions, 3969 CGST & CX Ranges, 48 Audit Commissionerates and 49 Appeal Commissionerates.

TRAINING

 For a smooth roll out of GST, it was imperative to carry out adequate capacity-building exercise and awareness. National Academy of Customs Indirect Taxes and Narcotics (NACIN) have conducted extensive training programs. In the first phase, nearly 52,000 officers were trained during September, 2016 to January, 2017 through a multi-layered training programme across India. A Refresher Training was also conducted on updated Law, Rules and Procedures and a total of 17,213 officials were trained till 23rd June, 2017.  Under the Accredited GST Training Programme, 20 institutes have been certified as ‘Approved Training Partners’ to impart ‘quality training at reasonable cost’ to members of trade/industry and other stakeholders. 2,565 participants have been trained so far (ongoing). NACIN have also trained 2,611 officers from 92 Ministries/PSUs trained so far.  

Besides that, training resources such as 500 FAQs on GST have been released in English, Hindi and 10 regional languages. A number of Flyers on different topics of GST explaining the GST concepts, for dissemination to trade & industry, PPTs and Learning Videos for GST training and other training materials for the officials have also been released.

SERVICE THROUGH SOCIAL MEDIA

 A twitter seva started by the Government as an initiative to answer queries of the Tax Payers on a real time basis. The twitter handle askGST_GOI attracts thousands of taxpayer queries every day. A list of FAQs based on frequent questions asked on Twitter has been already got published.

GST (GOODS AND SERVICES TAX) REGISTRATION

source: sns124.com

Introduction

In any tax system, registration is the most fundamental requirement for identification of tax payers ensuring tax compliance in the economy.

Registration of any business entity under the GST Law implies obtaining a unique number from the concerned tax authorities for the purpose of collecting tax on behalf of the government and to avail Input Tax Credit for the taxes on his inward supplies.

Without registration, a person can neither collect tax from his customers nor claim any input Tax Credit of tax paid by him.

Need and advantages of registration

Registration will confer the following advantages to a taxpayer:

• He is legally recognized as supplier of goods or services.

• He is legally authorized to collect taxes from his customers and pass on the credit of the taxes paid on the goods or services supplied to the purchasers/recipients.

• He can claim Input Tax Credit of taxes paid and can utilize the same for payment of taxes due on supply of goods or services.

• Seamless flow of Input Tax Credit from suppliers to recipients at the national level.

Liability to register

GST being a tax on the event of “supply”, every supplier needs to get registered.

However, small businesses having all India aggregate turnover below Rupees 20 lakh (10 lakh if business is in Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, J&K, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Manipur, Mizoram, Sikkim, Meghalaya, Nagaland or Tripura) need not register. The small businesses, having turnover below the threshold limit can, however, voluntarily opt to register.

The aggregate turnover includes supplies made by him on behalf of his principals, but excludes the value of job-worked goods if he is a job worker. But persons who are engaged exclusively in the business of supplying goods or services or both that are not liable to tax or wholly exempt from tax or an agriculturist, to the extent of supply of produce out of cultivation of land are not liable to register under GST.

Nature of registration

The registration in GST is PAN based and State specific. Supplier has to register in each of such State or Union territory from where he effects supply.

In GST registration, the supplier is allotted a 15-digit GST identification number called “GSTIN”, and a certificate of registration incorporating therein this GSTIN is made available to the applicant on the GSTN common portal. The first 2 digits of the GSTIN is the State code, next 10 digits are the PAN of the legal entity, the next two digits are for entity code, and the last digit is check sum number.

Registration under GST is not tax specific, which means that there is single registration for all the taxes i.e. CGST, SGST/UTGST, IGST and cesses.

A given PAN based legal entity would have one GSTIN per State, that means a business entity having its branches in multiple States will have to take separate State wise registration for the branches in different States. But within a State, an entity with different branches would have single registration wherein it can declare one place as principal place of business and other branches as additional place of business. However, a business entity having separate business verticals (as defined in section 2 (18) of the CGST Act, 2017) in a state may obtain separate registration for each of its business verticals.

Generally, the liability to register under GST arises when you are a supplier within the meaning of the term, and also your aggregate turn over in the financial year is above the exemption threshold of 20 lakh rupees.

However, the GST law enlists certain categories of suppliers who are required to get compulsory registration irrespective of their turnover that is to say, the threshold exemption of 20 lakh is not available to them.

Some of such suppliers who need to register compulsorily irrespective of the size of their turnover are:

• Inter-state suppliers

• A person receiving supplies on which tax is payable by recipient on reverse charge basis

• Casual taxable person who is not having fixed place of business in the State or Union Territory from where he wants to make supply

• Non-resident taxable persons who are not having fixed place of business in India

• A person who supplies on behalf of some other taxable person (i.e. an Agent of some Principal)

• E-commerce operators, who provide platform to the suppliers to supply through it

• Suppliers who supply through an e-commerce operator

• Those ecommerce operators who are notified as liable for GST payment under Section 9(5)

• TDS Deductor

• Those supplying online information and data base access or retrieval services from outside India to a non-registered person in India.

A Casual taxable person is one who has a registered business in some State in India, but wants to effect supplies from some other State in which he is not having any fixed place of business. Such person needs to register in the State from where he seeks to supply as a Casual taxable person.

A Non-Resident taxable person is one who is a foreigner and occasionally wants to effect taxable supplies from any State in India, and for that he needs GST registration.

GST law prescribes special procedure for registration, as also for extension of the operation period of such Casual or Non-Resident taxable persons. They have to apply for registration at least five days in advance before making any supply. Also, registration is granted to them or period of operation is extended only after they make advance deposit of the estimated tax liability.

In respect of supplies to some notified agencies of United Nations organisation, multinational financial institutions and other organisations, a unique identification number (UIN) is issued.

Standardisation of procedures

A total of 30 forms/formats have been prescribed in the GST registration rules. For every process in the registration chain such as application for registration, acknowledgment, query, rejection, registration certificate, show cause notice for cancellation, reply, cancellation, amendment, field visit report etc, there are standard formats.

This will make the process uniform all over the country. The decision making process will also be fast. Strict time lines have been stipulated for completion of different stages of registration process.

An application has to be submitted online through the common portal (GSTN) within thirty days from the date when liability to register arose. The Casual and Non-Resident taxable persons need to apply at least five days prior to the commencement of the business. For transferee of a business as going concern, the liability to register arises on the date of transfer.

The Proper Officer has to either raise a query or approve the grant of registration within three working days failing which, registration would be considered as deemed to have been approved. The applicant would have to respond within seven working days starting from the fourth day of filing the original application. The Proper Officer would have to grant or reject the application for registration within seven working days thereafter.

Amendment of registration

Except for the changes in some core information in the registration application, a taxable person shall be able to make amendments without requiring any specific approval from the tax authority. In case the change is for legal name of the business, or the State of place of business or additional place of business, the taxable person will apply for amendment within 15 days of the event necessitating the change. The Proper Officer, then, will approve the amendment within the next 15 days. For other changes like the name of day-to-day functionaries, e-mail IDs, mobile numbers etc. no approval of the Proper Officer is required, and the amendment can be affected by the taxable person on his own on the common portal.

Cancellation of registration

The GST law provides for two scenarios where cancellation of registration can take place; the one when the taxable person no more requires it (voluntary cancellation), and another when the Proper Officer considers the registration liable for cancellation in view of certain specified defaults (Suo-motu cancellation) like when the registrant is not doing business from the registered place of business or if he issues tax invoice without making the supply of goods or services.

The taxable person desirous of cancellation of registration will apply on the common portal within 30 days of the event warranting cancellation. He will also declare in the application, the stock held on the date with effect from which he seeks cancellation. He will also work out and declare the quantum of dues of payments and credit reversal, and the particulars of payments made towards discharge of such liabilities. In case of voluntary registration (taken despite not being liable for), no cancellation is allowed until expiry of one year from the effective date of registration. If satisfied, the Proper Officer has to cancel the registration within 30 days from the date of application or the date of reply to notice (if issued, when rejection is concluded by the officer).

Revocation of cancellation

In case where registration is cancelled suo-motu by the Proper Officer, the taxable person can apply within 30 days of service of cancellation order, requesting the officer for revoking the cancellation ordered by him. However, before applying, the person has to make good the defaults (by filing all pending returns, making payment of all dues and so) for which the registration was cancelled by the officer. If satisfied, the proper officer will revoke the cancellation earlier ordered by him. However, if the officer concludes to reject the request for revocation of cancellation, he will first observe the principle of natural justice by way of issuing notice to the person and hearing him on the issue.

Physical verification for registration

Physical verification is to be resorted to only where it is found necessary in the subjective satisfaction of the proper officer. If at all, it is felt necessary, it will be undertaken only after granting the registration, and the verification report along with the supporting documents and photographs, shall have to be uploaded on the common portal within fifteen working days.

GST registration for businesses to reopen on June 25

source: sns124.com / June 20, 2017

NEW DELHI, JUNE 14:  

If you have not been able to register on the GST Network within the deadline ending tomorrow, do not panic! There’s one more chance coming your way as the registration for existing excise, service tax and VAT payers will reopen on June 25.

There are about 80 lakh excise, service tax and VAT assessees at present, of which 64.35 lakh have already migrated to the portal of GST Network — the company readying the IT backbone for the GST regime.

The window for migration to the GSTN, which opened on June 1, will close tomorrow and during the fortnight, 4.35 lakh taxpayers have enrolled taking the total to 64.35 lakh.

However, this is 80 per cent of the existing assessees.

GSTN Chairman Navin Kumar sought to allay concerns of businesses who have not registered so far saying that the tax department is “obligated” to provide them smooth transition into the GST regime but traders should also come forward and complete the registration process by filling up the application form.

“Whosoever wants to do business under GST and wants to migrate, we will provide facility to them even after June 15. From June 25, anyone who is left out now, can come and file information and migrate to GST,” Kumar told PTI.

Registration with the GSTN is necessary for doing business in the Goods and Services Tax (GST) regime as businesses will have to upload monthly sales data as well as file return forms on this portal.

“People should not panic. If you are left out, you will get another opportunity because the law says anybody who is registered under taxes which are subsumed under GST if they have a valid PAN then they will be given a valid registration.

“So, it is the tax department’s obligation to give them provisional GST registration provided they have PAN. Therefore, even if they miss this window of June 15, they can come back on June 25,” Kumar added.

However, GSTN is prodding taxpayers and has sent e-mails to over 30 lakh assesses who have not completed their registration process to make them ready by the scheduled rollout date of July 1.

When a business registers under GST, it is given a provisional GSTIN. After that, in the second stage, the business has to log in to the GSTN portal and give details of its business, such as the main place of business, additional place of business, directors and bank account details.

Thereafter, the business has to verify its registration through digital signature, or by generating an electronic verification code (EVC).

Kumar said of the 64.35 lakh assessees who have migrated into the GSTN portal, about 30 lakh have not completed the second stage of registration since they are having trouble uploading the digital signature or getting EVC.

“What we are telling the businesses is if you do not complete the migration process you cannot issue invoices. In the e-mail, we have asked them to complete the registration by filling up the required documents and saving them on the portal. The GSTN will then e-mail them the Application Reference Number (ARN) after June 15,” he said.

Businesses with turnover above Rs. 20 lakh have to register with the GSTN. Those with turnover below the threshold too have to register if they want to claim input tax credit.

Kumar said not all assessees would migrate to the GSTN portal as businesses with turnover of up to Rs. 5 lakh are currently exempt from VAT.

Since in GST up to Rs. 20 lakh turnover is exempt, so all of the VAT assessees would not migrate to the GSTN. However, if they supplying to other businesses or if they want to pass on credit, then registration of business would be required.

Till April 30, around 60 lakh taxpayers out of a total of 80 lakh, had migrated to the new payment portal of GSTN. The tally has now gone up to 64.35 lakh.

The process of migration of existing assessees to the GSTN had started in a phased manner from November 2016. The Centre had earlier set March 31 as the migration deadline, which was later extended to April 30.

Last week, Prime Minister Narendra Modi reviewed the IT and other preparedness for the rollout of GST from July 1 and said it will be “a turning point” in the country’s economy. He had directed the officials that maximum attention be paid to cyber-security in IT systems linked to the GST.

Technology preparedness is an important aspect of the proposed indirect tax regime, as the GSTN would be processing about 300 crore invoices every month.