GST Amnesty Scheme

 As per the proposals made in  43rd GST Council meeting  on 28th May, 2021 via video conferencing, the Finance Ministry has notified the  GST Amnesty Scheme. 

As per the Amnesty Scheme, the taxpayers having an aggregate turnover of more than rupees 5 crores in the preceding financial year for the tax period March, 2021, April, 2021 and May, 2021, the period for which the late fee waived will be 15 days from the due date of furnishing return. 

The Taxpayers having an aggregate turnover of up to rupees 5 crores in the preceding financial year who are liable to furnish the return as specified under sub-section (1) of section 39 in case of the tax period of March, 2021 the period for which the late fee waived will be 60 days from the due date of furnishing return; in case of the tax period of April, 2021 the period for which the late fee waived will be 45 days from the due date of furnishing return and  in case of the tax period of May, 2021 the period for which the late fee waived will be 30 from the due date of furnishing return. 

Taxpayers having an aggregate turnover of up to rupees 5 crores in the preceding financial year who are liable to furnish the return as specified under proviso to sub-section (1) of section 39 for the quarter January-March, 2021 the late fee waived will be for 60 days from the due date of furnishing return. 

The government has notified that the registered persons who failed to furnish the return in FORM GSTR-3B for the months /quarter of July, 2017 to April, 2021, by the due date but furnish the said return between the period from the 1June, 2021 to the 31August, 2021, the total amount of late fee under section 47 of the said Act, shall stand waived which is in excess of five hundred rupees. 

The Board has further notified that where the total amount of central tax payable in the said return is nil, the total amount of late fee under section 47 of the said Act shall stand waived which is in excess of two hundred and fifty rupees for the registered persons who failed to furnish the return in FORM GSTR-3B for the months / quarter of July, 2017 to April, 2021, by the due date but furnish the said return between the period from the 1 June, 2021 to the 31 August, 2021. 

The total amount of late fee payable under section 47 of the said Act for the tax period June, 2021 onwards or quarter ending June, 2021 onwards, as the case may be, shall stand waived which is in excess of Rs. 250/- for the registered persons whose total amount of central tax payable in the said return is nil, who fail to furnish the returns in FORM GSTR-3B by the due date. 

The Government has further waived the late fee for the tax period June, 2021 onwards or quarter ending June, 2021 which is in excess of Rs.1000 for Registered persons having an aggregate turnover of up to Rs.1.5 crores in the preceding financial year. 

Lastly, the late fee has been waived for the tax period June, 2021 onwards or quarter ending June, 2021 which is in excess of Rs.2500/- for taxpayers having an aggregate turnover of more than rupees 1.5 crores and up to rupees 5 crores in the preceding financial year. 

Notifications: Amendments as per recommendations of GST Council

Real-time tracking details of e-way bill and vehicle

With effect from January 1, 2021, the government has integrated RFID/Fastag with the e-way bill system and a transporter is required to have a RFID tag in his vehicle and details of the e-way bill generated for goods being carried by the vehicle is uploaded into the RFID. When the vehicle passes the RFID Tag reader on the highway, the details fed into the device gets uploaded on the government portal. 

The information is later used by the revenue officials to validate the supplies made by a GST registered person. To improve tax compliance, the government has also started blocking of EWB bill generation if a GST registered taxpayer has not filed GSTR- 3B return for the last two successive months. Also, the government has blocked the generation of multiple EWBs on one invoice. If the EWB is once generated using an invoice number or document number, then none of the other parties can generate another EWB using the same invoice number.

Besides, the e-way bills system has enabled auto calculation of distance based on PIN codes. The system will auto calculate the distance between the source and destination, based on PIN codes.

GST officers have been armed with real-time data of commercial vehicle movement on highways with integration of the e-way bill (EWB) system with Fastag and RFID, a move which will help in live vigilance of such vehicles and check GST evasion. Additional features have been added to the e-way bill mobile application of tax officers, which will provide them real-time tracking details of e-way bill and vehicle to help them nab tax evaders who are misusing the e-way bill system.

Taxmen can now access reports on vehicles that have passed the selected tolls without e-way bills in the past few minutes. Also, the vehicles carrying critical commodities specific to the state and have passed the selected toll can be viewed. Any suspicious vehicles and vehicles of EWBs generated by suspicious taxpayer GSTINs , that have passed the selected toll on a near real time basis, can also be viewed in this report. The officers can use of these reports while conducting vigilance and make the vigilance activity more effective. Also, the officers of audit and enforcement wing can use these reports to identify the fraudulent transactions like bill trading, recycling of EWBs.

Source: EWB Vehicle Tracking Module

Budget 2021 Indirect Tax Proposals

The Union Budget 2021-22 was presented by the Hon’ble Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on 1st February 2021 in the Parliament. Highlights of Indirect Tax Proposals: Bugget 2021- Highlights of Indirect Tax Proposals 

Recent Amendments in GST Act and Rules

 Recently, Government has issued 2 Notifications both are very critical.

With the amendments in GST Laws, GST officials will enjoy more powers which adds on the difficulties in the miserable life of tax payers and tax professionals, these amendments are directly going to affect working capital of the tax payer and will also affect the tax compliance procedures making it more cumbersome. In this article we will touch upon only two notifications, namely: 

1.     Notification No. 92/2020- Central Tax dated 22^nd December 2020 – amended the act.

2.     Notification No. 94/2020- Central Tax dated 22nd December 2020  – amended the rule.   

      Read the full article:  Recent amendments in GST Act and Rules