Highlights of GST Council meeting held on December 22,2018

Highlights from today 31st gst council meeting

KEY POINTS:

1. Annual Return due date further extended:
The due date for furnishing the annual returns (GSTR 9 & 9A) and reconciliation statement (9C) for the FY 2017 – 2018 further extended till 30th June 2019.

2. Late fee waiver:
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.

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

4. Time limit extended for ITC on 2017-18 Invoices:
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.

5. New Return filing system on trial basis:
The new return filing system shall be introduced on a trial basis from 01.04.2019 and on mandatory basis from 01.07.2019.

6. Single Cash Ledger:
There would be a single cash ledger for each tax head.

7. Single Authority for Disbursing Refund:
A scheme of single authority for disbursement of the refund amount sanctioned by either the Centre or the State tax authorities would be implemented on pilot basis.

8.Changes in Annual Return:

• Amendment of headings – supplies – ‘made during the year’ and not ‘as declared in returns filed during the year’
• All returns in FORM GSTR-1&FORM GSTR-3B to be filed before filing of GSTR 9 series
• HSN code may be declared only for inward supplies value 10% or more of total inward
• Additional payments, if any, required, can be done through FORM GST DRC-03 only in cash
• ITC cannot be availed through FORM GSTR-9 & FORM GSTR-9C
  CA Rana Pratap
• All invoices pertaining to previous FY (irrespective of month in which such invoice is reported in FORM GSTR-1) would be auto-populated in 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.

9.Due date extension:

• FORM GSTR-8 by e-commerce operators for the months of October, November and December, 2018 shall be extended till 31.01.2019.
• FORM GST ITC-04 for the period July 2017 to December 2018 shall be extended till 31.03.2019.

The requisite Notifications/Circulars for implementing the above recommendations of the GST Council shall be issued shortly.