Central and state GST officers will meet on Friday under the chairmanship of Revenue Secretary Sanjay Malhotra and are likely to discuss various issues like stricter registration norms to deter fake companies set up to evade taxes, sources said.
The meeting comes within days of GST collections scaling a record high of Rs 2.10 lakh crore in April on the back of strong economic momentum, increased domestic transactions and tighter audit and scrutiny.
The third National Co-ordination Meeting of senior officers of Central and State Tax administrations would, among other things, discuss further tightening of registration under Goods and Services Tax (GST) to curb fake companies, set up only to claim an input tax credit (ITC).

India’s gross goods and services tax (GST) collections rose 12.4% on year to hit a record high of Rs 2.1 trillion in April, due to a variety of factors, including streamlining of accounts by businesses for FY24, electoral expenses by political parties and a modest recovery in rural consumption. Previously, the highest-ever GST collection figure stood at Rs 1.87 lakh crore in April 2023.

According to data released by the finance ministry on Wednesday, GST collections during April (mostly for March transactions) were driven by a stronger increase in domestic sales (up 13.4%) than imports (up 8.3%). This too cements the notion that consumption, which has remained subdued and skewed towards premium articles, may now have a tendency to be more broad-based. But this, according to economists, would still need to be borne out by other high-frequency data.

The Gujarat High Court has ruled that mango pulp attracts 12 per cent Goods and Services Tax (GST) since the introduction of the indirect tax regime in July 2017.
Giving details of the judgement, Sandeep Sehgal, partner at tax and consulting firm AKM Global, said the court rejected the contention of companies concerned—Vimal Agro Products and others—that a 12 per cent tax was effective from July 2022 when a government notification clarified the position in this regard.

It also rejected the position of revenue officials that mango pulp will draw 18 per cent GST as it falls under the residual entry.
The court said that the item is covered by the category—mangoes other than sliced and dried.

Dear Taxpayers,

1. GSTN is pleased to inform that an enhanced version of the GST portal would be launched on 3rd May 2024. The effort is to improve user experience and ensure that the information you need is accessible and easy to navigate.

2. Key Enhancements Include (PDF with screenshots attached):

i. News and Updates Section: We have introduced a dedicated tab for all news and updates. This section now includes a beta search functionality, module wise drop downs and access to archived advisories dating back to 2017.

Units operating within special economic zones (SEZs) could potentially be exempt from paying the integrated goods and services tax (IGST) on specified services taken from the domestic tariff area (DTA) through the reverse charge mechanism, if a ruling by the Gujarat-based Authority for Advance Rulings (AAR) sets a precedent.
To qualify for this exemption, these units will need to provide a letter of undertaking (LUT) or furnish a bond.

The principal commissioner has been made responsible for developing and approving any intelligence, conducting search, and completing investigations and relevant subsequent actions, including at the lower field formations, points out T N C Rajagopalan.

This has reference to the facility for re-filing of GSTR-3B for some of the taxpayers. It was noticed that there were discrepancies in the returns of some taxpayers during the filing process between the saved data in the GST system and actually filed data in the fields of ITC availment and payment of tax liabilities. The matter was examined and deliberated by the Grievance Redressal Committee of the GST Council and as a facilitation measure the Committee decided that these returns shall be reset, in order to give opportunity to such taxpayers to correct the discrepancy.

Accordingly, only the affected taxpayers have been communicated on their registered email-ids and the affected returns are visible on their respective dashboards for the purpose of refiling with the correct data. The taxpayers who have received such communication, are requested to visit their dashboard and re-file their GSTR-3B within 15 days of receipt of such communication.

GSTN is pleased to inform that a new feature to auto-populates the HSN-wise summary from e-Invoices into Table 12 of GSTR-1 is now available on the GST portal. This allows for direct auto-drafting of HSN data into Table 12 based on e-Invoice data.

Please note that the HSN-wise summary data auto-populated into Table 12 is intended for your convenience. Please ensure that you reconcile the data with your records before its final submission.

The Supreme Court has consolidated multiple pleas challenging the 28% GST on online gaming companies, ordering the transfer of 27 writ petitions to be heard together. During a hearing led by a three-judge bench headed by Chief Justice D.Y. Chandrachud on Friday, the Supreme Court ordered the transfer of 27 writ petitions pending in 11 high courts across the country.

If your turnover exceeds INR 5 crores in the financial year 2023-2024, you will be required to start e-Invoicing from the next financial year, i.e., from 1st April 2024 onwards

2. For those who meet the notification criteria but have not yet been enabled on the portal, you can self-enable for e-Invoicing by visiting https://einvoice.gst.gov.in and start reporting through any of the 4 new Invoice Registration Portals (IRPs) - from e-Invoice IRP 3 to e-Invoice IRP 6

India recorded gross Good and Services Tax (GST) revenue for the month of March 2024 at Rs 1.78 lakh crore, posting an increase of 11.5 per cent on-year, the finance minister said in a release on April 1. It is the second-highest monthly gross GST revenue collection in March.

The surge was driven by a 17.6 per cent increase in GST collection from domestic transactions. GST revenue net of refunds for March 2024 is Rs 1.65 lakh crore which is growth of 18.4 per cent over same period last year, the finance ministry said.

The Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) has issued a detailed standard operating procedure, dated March 30, to be followed by CGST field officers while undertaking investigation against taxpayers. The guidelines, seen by FE, are similar to a circular issued to the Directorate General of GST Intelligence (DGGI) by the CBIC in February, and are aimed at improving ease of doing business and preventing harassment to taxpayers. The guidelines say that in initiating an investigation with respect to a listed company, PSU or government department, the practice to be adopted by the CGST field formation should be of initially addressing official letters, instead of summons, to the designated officer of such entity, and requesting the submission of the relevant specified details in a reasonable time.

The letter/summons should disclose the specific nature of the inquiry being initiated. The vague (or general) expressions such as that the officer is making inquiry in connection with ‘GST inquiry’ or ‘evasion of GST’ or ‘GST evasion’, etc, must not be mentioned, said the CBIC circular.

The Central Board of Indirect Tax and Customs (CBIC) has approved a detailed standard operating procedure for officials of the Directorate General of GST Intelligence (DGGI) with specific instructions regarding their conduct during tax investigation, summons and searches to improve the ease of doing business and to prevent any incident of harassment to taxpayers.

The six-page detailed SOP mandates officials to stick to Goods and Services Tax (GST) cases within their zonal units for investigation, skip investigation which fall under the ambit of audit and scrutiny and issue summons with specific details of subject of enquiry and clear timelines and not for “vague” and piecemeal information, which can be submitted in written.

In case of questioning and searches, the statement and outcome must be uploaded in the system within four working days.

The GST collection data for March 2024 is expected on April 1 as government normally releases the numbers for a month on the first day of the next month
Goods and Services Tax (GST) collection in the current financial year ending March 31 is expected to surpass the ?20 lakh crore mark with an annualised growth of approximately 12%, two officials aware of the development said, attributing the increase to heightened economic activity and ease of compliance driven by technology.

The Goods and Services Tax (GST) authorities have served notices to about 50 importers of spices, dry fruits, processed food and poultry over storage of products at warehouses different from the actual place of supply seeking additional tax payment of an estimated Rs 1,000 crore, said people with knowledge of the development.

In some cases, the authorities have also warned the importers of cancellation of registration, they said.

ET has seen some of the notices. Importers of perishable agricultural commodities usually store the products at a warehouse close to a port or at a specialised cold storage unit, from where supplies are later made to domestic customers.

Exhorting GST authorities to exercise caution and deeper examination before authorizing arrest of businessmen for tax evasion, Justice Ujjal Bhuyan of the Supreme Court on Saturday said the reasons “you have to suspect a person cannot be equated with the reasons to believe”.
The extreme action of arresting a person should be backed by strong reasons to believe that the person was an evader and the same should be recorded in writing, he said.The judge, who is considered an expert in tax laws, was addressing the National Tax Conference organized at Federation of Telangana State Chamber of Commerce and Industries Bhavan here as a chief guest.
“I should flag off two issues which I think are relevant and contemporary. One relates to arrest under Section 69 of the Central Goods and Services Tax (CGST) Act, 2017, and the other relates to provisional attachment under Section 83 of CGST Act. Sub-section(1) of Section 69 says that where the commissioner has reasons to believe that a person has committed any offence specified in sub-section(1) of Section 132 of the CGST Act, which is a punishable offence, he may by an order authorize any officer of central tax to arrest such person”, he said.

Pointing out that rentals attract GST only if the rented building is used for commercial purposes, Madras high court has quashed GST demand on hostels for working women and girls.
Justice Krishnan Ramaswamy, setting aside the GST demand notice, said: “While adverting to the imposition of GST on hostel accommodation, it has to be looked into as to whether the inmates of the hostel rooms are using the premises as their residential dwelling or commercial purpose since renting of residential unit attracts GST only when it is rented for commercial purpose.” Since the end-use of the property is for residential purposes, it would not attract GST, he ruled.“So, in order to claim exemption of GST, the nature of the end-use should be residential and it cannot be decided by the nature of the property or the nature of the business of the service provider, but by the purpose for which it is used,” Justice Krishnan Ramaswamy added.
Therefore, this court is of the considered view that the issue of levy of GST on residential accommodation should be viewed from the perspective of the recipient of service and not from the perspective of service provider, who offers the premises on rental basis, the judge said.

Existing GST taxpayers can avail of the GST Composition Scheme for FY 2024-25 by March 31, 2024. The GST Composition Scheme is a simplified tax structure that eligible taxpayers can opt for provided their annual turnover is within a specified threshold. However, once the intimation for switching to GST Composition Scheme is given, taxpayers do not need to file another intimation
as long as certain conditions are satisfied. The conditions are that the taxpayer remains eligible for GST Composition Scheme or they do not withdraw from the scheme.

According to Sanjay Chhabria, Director, Indirect Tax at Nexdigm, a tax and business consultancy services company, "Taxpayers, including restaurants, with annual aggregate turnover up to Rs 1.5 crore (Rs 75 lakhs for special category States) can opt for GST Composition Scheme.

The Central Board of Indirect Tax and Customs (CBIC) has directed officials in the Directorate General of Goods and Services Tax Intelligence (DGGI) to follow a “bottom-up” approach while investigating tax liability of multinational companies (MNCs). In the guidelines issued recently, the indirect-tax board instructed officials at field formations to first question the “authorised person” in an MNC, responsible for ensuring tax compliance, instead of directly summoning the company’s chief executive officer (CEO), chief financial officer (CFO) or directors at the first instance.

It is informed to all taxpayers that as per Notification No. 26/2022 – Central Tax dated 26th December 2022 two new Table 14A and Table 15A have been introduced in GSTR-1 to capture the amendment details of the supplies made through e-commerce operators (ECO) on which e-commerce operators are liable to collect tax under section 52 or liable to pay tax u/s 9(5) of the CGST Act, 2017. These tables have now been made live on the GST common portal and will be available in GSTR-1/IFF from February 2024 tax period onwards. These amendment tables are relevant for those taxpayers who have reported the supplies in Table 14 or Table 15 in earlier tax periods. Please click here to view the complete advisory on the captioned subject.