GST WEEKLY UPDATE :32/2024-25 (10.11.2024)

-By CA Vipul Khandhar

1. Advisory for Form GST DRC-03A (Nov 5th, 2024):

It has been observed that some taxpayers have paid the demanded amount vide DRC 07/DRC 08/MOV 09/MOV 11/APL 04 through DRC-03 instead of using payment facility ‘Payment towards demand’ available on GST portal. This led to a situation where demand has been paid by the taxpayer, however the demand is not closed in the electronic liability register. To address this issue, the government has notified a new form named GST DRC-03A which was notified vide Notification No. 12/2024 dated. 10th July 2024.

Accordingly, GSTN has developed the new Form GST DRC-03A on GST portal which is available now to adjust the paid amount through DRC-03 against the corresponding demand order. Therefore, it is advised to the taxpayers to use the DRC-03A form to link the payment made vide DRC-03 with the demand order. Only DRC-03 forms where the cause of payment is either ‘Voluntary’ or ‘Others’ can be used in the Form GST DRC-03A.

Taxpayers will be required to enter the ARN of the DRC-03 along with the relevant demand order number on the portal. Upon entering the ARN and selecting the demand order number of any outstanding demand, the system will auto-populate relevant information of the DRC-03 form as well as from the specified demand order against which the payment is to be adjusted.

Once the adjustment is made, corresponding entries will automatically be posted in the taxpayer’s liability ledger to reflect the updated status of demands.

For detailed process, please click on Detailed Advisory.

Taxpayer may refer to the FAQson the same topic.

In case taxpayers face any technical issue, a ticket shall be raised under category ‘DRC-03A-Filing’ on Grievance Redressal Portal:https://selfservice.gstsystem.in

2. Advisory related to ‘Other Territory’ applications (Nov 7th, 2024):

As per Notification No. 2/2017-Central Tax dated 19th June, 2017 read with Trade Notice No. 01/2017-Central Tax dated 21st June, 2017 issued by Office of the Chief Commissioner of Central Excise, Mumbai Zone I and GST Trade Notice No. 002/2017 dated 20th June, 2017 issued by Central Excise Zone, Chennai, the applicant applying for new registration application and selecting the category of ‘Other Territory’ in the tab of State/UT in Part-A of GST registration form, shall only be administered under ‘Mumbai South’ or ‘Chennai North’ Commissionerate’s and shall select centre jurisdiction as follows:

1. For ‘Other Territory’ pertaining to the continental shelf and exclusive economic zone contiguous to the western coast of India adjacent to States/ Union Territories of Gujarat, Maharashtra, Goa, Daman and Diu, Karnataka, Kerala and Lakshadweep, the applicant shall select as :

                Commissionerate: ‘Mumbai South’

                Division: ‘Division 1’

                 Range: Range I- A-D (as per first alphabet of applicant’s name)

                              Range II- E-H

                              Range III- I-M

                              Range IV- N-R

                              Range IV- N-R

                              Range V- S-Z

2. For ‘Other Territory’ pertaining to the continental shelf and exclusive economic zone contiguous to the eastern coast of India adjacent to States/ Union Territories of West Bengal, Odisha, Andhra Pradesh, Puducherry, Tamil Nadu and Andaman and Nicobar Islands, the applicant shall select as:

Commissionerate: ‘Chennai North’

Division: Any of the divisions corresponding to ‘Chennai North’ which will be displayed in the dropdown.

Range: Any of the ranges corresponding to selected division which appear in the dropdown.

The applicant is advised to select the division and range corresponding to ‘Chennai North’ Commissionerate as per the first alphabet of applicant’s name as mentioned in the trade notice.

3. ADVISORY FOR WAIVER SCHEME UNDER SECTION 128A (Nov 8th, 2024):

For reducing the tax disputes and to provide a big relief to the taxpayers, GST Council in its 53rd meeting held on 22nd June, 2024 had recommended for waiver of interest and penalties in the demand notices or orders issued under Section 73 of the CGST Act, 2017 (i.e. the cases not involving fraud, suppression or willful misstatement, etc.) for the Financial years 2017-18, 2018-19 and 2019-20. To avail this waiver, the condition is that the full tax demanded is paid on or before 31.03.2025.

In view of the above, Rule 164 of CGST rules, 2017 was notified through Notification No. 20/2024 dated. 8th October 2024, effective from 1st November 2024. This rule provides procedural guidelines for the said waiver scheme. As per the waiver scheme, if a notice or order is issued under Section 73 for the financial years 2017-18, 2018-19 and 2019-20, the taxpayers are required to file an application in FORM GST SPL-01 or FORM GST SPL-02, respectively on the common portal within three months from notified date, which is 31.03.2025.

In this regard it is to inform that Form GST SPL-01 and Form GST SPL-02 are under development and same will be made available on the common portal tentatively from the first week of January 2025. In the meantime, taxpayers are advised to pay the tax amount demanded in the notice, statement, or order issued under Section 73 on or before March 31st, 2025, to ensure that they receive the waiver benefits by paying their taxes before the deadline.

Taxpayer can pay the demanded tax amount through the “payment towards demand” facility in case of demand orders and through Form GST DRC-03 in case of notices. However, if payment has already been done through Form GST DRC-03 for any demand order then taxpayer need to link the said Form GST DRC 03 with such demand order through Form GST DRC-03A, which is now available on the common portal.

4. Advisory: Time Limit for Reporting e-Invoice on the IRP Portal – Lowering of Threshold to AATO 10 Crores and Above (Nov 5th, 2024):

With reference to the earlier advisory dated 13th September 2023, where a time limit of 30 days for reporting e-Invoices on IRP portals for taxpayers with an AATO of 100 crores and above was implemented, the threshold has now been lowered to cover taxpayers with an AATO of 10 crores and above.

Therefore, from 1st April 2025, taxpayers with an AATO of 10 crores and above would not be allowed to report e-Invoices older than 30 days from the date of reporting on IRP portals.

This restriction would apply to all document types (Invoices/Credit Notes/Debit Notes) for which an IRN is to be generated.

For example, if an invoice is dated 1st April 2025, it cannot be reported after 30th April 2025. The validation built into the invoice registration portals (IRP) would disallow the user from reporting the e-Invoice after the 30-day window. Hence, it is essential for taxpayers to ensure that they report the e-Invoice within the 30-day window provided by the new time limit.

It is further clarified that there would be no such reporting restriction on taxpayers with an AATO of less than 10 crores as of now.

To provide sufficient time for taxpayers to comply with this requirement, the above limit would come into effect from 1st April 2025 onwards.

5. Barring of GST Return on expiry of three years (Oct 29th, 2024)

As per the Finance Act,2023 (8 of 2023), dt. 31-03-2023, implemented w.e.f 01-10-2023 vide Notification No. 28/2023 – Central Tax dated 31th July, 2023, the taxpayers shall not be allowed file their GST returns after the expiry of a period of three years from the due date of furnishing the said return under Section 37 (Outward Supply), Section 39 (payment of liability), Section 44 ( Annual Return) and Section 52 (Tax Collected at Source). These Sections cover GSTR-1, GSTR 3B, GSTR-4, GSTR-5, GSTR-5A, GSTR-6, GSTR 7, GSTR 8 and GSTR 9.

The said changes are going to be implemented in the GST portal from early next year (2025). Hence, the taxpayers are advised to reconcile their records and file their GST Returns as soon as possible if not filed till now.

6. CBIC mandates Virtual Hearing for Indirect Tax – GST, Customs, Excise and Service Tax appeal cases

The CBIC Judicial Cell vide Instructions No. F. No. 390/Misc/3/2019-JC dated November 05, 2024 has issued guidelines for conduct of personal hearings under CGST Act, 2017, IGST Act, 2017, Customs Act, 1962, Central Excise Act, 1944 and Chapter V of Finance Act, 1994.

Kind attention is invited towards Board’s instruction dated 21.08.2020 on the subject cited above. The instruction dated 21.08.2020, was amended vide Instruction dated 28.07.2022, whereby the said para 5, had been substituted as under: “The conduct of personal hearing by adjudicating/ appellate authority shall be done in the virtual mode only at the request of the assessee. The virtual mode of hearing shall not be mandatory. For the assesses not opting for the virtual mode, the personal hearing shall be taken in physical mode.” The instruction in the subject matter, as amended, has been re-examined in the light of representations received subsequently.

 On re-examination of the subject matter, the amendment dated 28.07.2022 has now been withdrawn. With this change, the original instruction dated 21.08.2020 has been reinstated, making it mandatory for all departmental quasi-judicial/appellate authorities to conduct personal hearing for proceedings under the specified Acts through Video Conferencing (VC), i.e., in the Virtual Mode. Exception to allow personal hearing in Physical mode by the concerned authorities may be resorted to on receipt of specific request from the party concerned, and after recording the reasons for the same in writing.

(Author is a well known Chartered Accountant practicing in the field of Direct and Indirect Tax at Ahmedabad)

Disclaimer:

This publication contains information for general guidance only. It is not intended to address the circumstances of any particular individual or entity. Although the best of endeavour has been made to provide the provisions in a simpler and accurate form, there is no substitute to detailed research with regard to the specific situation of a particular individual or entity. We do not accept any responsibility for loss incurred by any person for acting or refraining to act as a result of any matter in this publication.