Indian GST Council Approves Changes To Filing Rules, Rates

by Mary Swire, Tax-News.com, Hong Kong

27 September 2019

India's GST Council agreed a number of changes to the country's goods and services tax regime, at its meeting on September 20, 2019.

It agreed to waive the requirement to file Form GSTR-9A for Composition Taxpayers for the 2017-18 and 2018-19 fiscal years.

In addition, filing of Form GSTR-9 will be optional for the same fiscal years for those businesses whose turnover does not exceed INR200,000 (USD2,820).

Further, the GST Council agreed to extend the deadline for filing appeals against orders of the Appellate Authority before the GST Appellate Tribunal as the Appellate Tribunals are not yet functional.

It agreed that the new return system should be introduced from April 2020, rather than October 2019, and that input tax credits should be restricted for those businesses who fail to report taxable supplies.

It announced that an integrated refund system by a single authority was established from September 24.

It also agreed the release of guidance on GST refund claims in Form GST RFD-01A, and on the tax rules for IT-enabled services, and on the repeal of Circular No.105/24/2019-GST, which discussed post-sales discounts.

At future meetings, the Council will examine the possibility of making the provision of Aadhar (taxpayer ID) mandatory for claiming refunds. A Committee of Officers is also to be appointed to examine the simplification of annual return forms and the reconciliation statement.

Finally, the Council agreed numerous changes to GST rates, effective October 1, 2019, including for precious stones, public transportation vehicles, and caffeinated drinks, among numerous other things.

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