26th GST Council Meeting

The 26th GST Council Meeting was held on 10th March 2018 at New Delhi, India. In the meeting, various decisions pertaining to GSTR 3B return filing, e-way bill, reverse charge mechanism, TDS/TCS provisions and grievance redressal mechanism were announced. In this article, we look at the highlights of the 26th GST Council Meeting in detail.

 GSTR 3B Return Filing – Extended up to June 2018

GSTR 3B return was introduced as a temporary measure until the full-fledged implementation of GSTR 1, GSTR 2 and GSTR 3 returns. All taxpayers having GST registration were mandatorily required to file GSTR 3B returns upto March 31 2018 every month. However, as GSTR 2 and GSTR 3 returns have been suspened, the GST Council has decided to extended GSTR 3B return filing upto June, 2018.

Hence, all taxpayers registered under GST would now be required to file GSTR 3B return for upto the month of June 2018.

Reverse Charge Mechanism – Not Applicable up to June 2018

GST reverse charge is applicable on some types of transactions. If reverse charge is applicable, the recipient of the goods or services would be liable for payment of GST instead of the supplier. GST reverse charge supplier was suspended up to March 2018.

The 26th GST Council Meeting has decided to extend the suspension of reverse charge mechanism upto June 2018.

TDS & TCS Provisions – Not Applicable upto June 2018

The GST TDS and TCS provisions are applicable for e-commerce companies and certain types of taxpayers. The GST TDS and GST TCS provisions were also suspended and will not be applicable upto June 2018.

E-Way Bill Mechanism

In the 26th GST Council Meeting, e-way bill rollout has been announced from 1st April 2018 across India. From 1st April 2018, e-way bill would be mandatorily required for all transport of goods from one state to another (inter-state) with a value of more than 50,000. E-way bill would be mandatorily required for all transport of goods (both inter-state and intra-state) with a value of more than Rs.50,000 from 1st June, 2018. Some of the major changes announced to the e-way bill mechanism are as follows:

• E-way bill would be required if the value of the consignment exceeds Rs. 50000/-. For smaller value consignments, no e-way bill is required.
• The value of exempted goods has been excluded from value of the consignment, for the purpose of a-way bill generation.
• Public conveyance has also been included as a mode of transport and the responsibility of generating an e-way bill in case of movement of goods by public transport would be that of the consignor or consignee.
• Goods transport by railways has been exempted from generation and carrying of ea-way bill with the condition that without the production of an e-way bill, railways will not deliver the goods to the recipient. But railways are required to carry invoice or delivery challan etc.
• Time period for the recipient to communicate his acceptance or rejection of the consignment would be the validity period of the concerned a-way bill or 72 hours, whichever is earlier.
• In case of movement of goods on account of job-work, the registered job worker can also generate an e-way bill.
• Consignor can authorize the transporter, courier agency and e-commerce operator to fill PART-A of an e-way bill on his behalf.
• Movement of goods from the place of consignor to the place of transporter up to a distance of 50 Km [increased from 10 km] does not require filling of PART-B of an e-way bill. They have to generate PART-A of an e-way bill.
• Extra validity period has been provided for Over Dimensional Cargo (ODC).
• If the goods cannot be transported within the validity period of the a-way bill, the transporter may extend the validity period in case of transhipment or in case of circumstances of an exceptional nature.
• Validity of one day will expire at midnight of the day immediately following the date of generation of an e-way bill.
• Once verified by any tax officer, the same conveyance will not be subject to the second check in any State or Union territory, unless and until specific information for the same is received.
• In case of movement of goods by railways, airways and waterways, the e-way bill can be generated even after commencement of movement of goods.
• Movement of goods on account of Bill-To-Ship-To supply will be handled through the capturing of place of despatch in PART-A of an e-way bill.

GST Export & Refund Procedures

The GST Council has decided to extend the available tax exemptions on imported goods for a further 6 months beyond 31.03.2018. Hence, exporters availing various export promotion schemes can continue to avail such exemptions on their imports up to 01.10.2018, by which time an e-wallet scheme is expected to be in place to continue the benefits in future.

Fast Processing of GST Refund for Exports

The pace of grant of GST refunds for exports has increased. The Council has also directed GSTN to expeditiously forward the balance refund claims to the Customs/Central GST/State GST authorities, as the case may be, for their immediate sanction and disbursal.

Extension of Various Benefits for Exporters

For merchant exporters, a special scheme of payment of GST @ 0.1% on their procured goods was introduced to improve cash-flow for the taxpayers. Also, domestic procurement made under Advance Authorization, EPCG and EOU schemes were recognized as ‘deemed exports’ with flexibility for either the suppliers or the exporters being able to claim a refund of GST / IGST paid thereon. All these avenues and benefits have been extended upto 1.10.2018.

E-Wallets

The e-Wallet scheme is basically the creation of electronic e-Wallets, which would be credited with notional or virtual currency by the DGFT. This notional / virtual currency would be used by the exporters to make the payment of GST / IGST on the goods imported / procured by them so their funds are not blocked. The GST Council has decided to implement e-wallets as a permanent solution for easing the GST refunds process and compliance for exporters. GST e-wallets are expected to be implemented from 1.10.2018.

Controlling GST Evasion

The Government has noticed that there are major discrepancies between the amount of IGST & Compensation Cess paid by importers at Customs ports and input tax credit of the same claimed in GSTR 3B return. There are major data gaps between self-declared liability in FORM GSTR-1 and FORM GSTR 3B return. The Government has started analysing such discrepancies and started taking action against tax evaders.

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