GST WEEKLY UPDATE : 48/2021-22 (27.02.2022) By CA Vipul Khandhar

By CA Vipul Khandhar

1. Revision of Limit of Aggregate Turnover For E-Invoice W.E.F. 01.04.2022:

• CBIC made E-invoice under GST mandatory for registered persons having aggregate turnover above ₹20 crore in any of the previous years from 2017-18 till 2021-22 with effect from 01st April, 2022.
• A registered person (other than a government department, a local authority, a Special Economic Zone unit and those referred to in sub-rules (2), (3), (4) and (4A) of rule 54) having aggregate turnover exceeding ₹20 crores in any preceding financial year from 2017-18 onwards, shall mandatorily prepare invoices and other prescribed documents, in terms of Rule 48(4) of the CGST Rules, 2017 in respect of supply of goods or services or both to a registered person or for exports. The said amendment shall come into force w.e.f. 01st April, 2022.

2. GSTN enabled the facility for filing LUT for FY 2022-23 on GST Portal:

The Goods and Services Tax Network (“GSTN”) has enabled facility for filing Letter of Understanding (“LUT”) for FY 2022-23 on GST Portal for taxpayers.

LUT application is required to be completed before March 31, 2022 or before supply for Exports and SEZ.

3. Welcome Circular issued by Maharashtra State w.r.t. errors in GST in initial 2 years:

• GST Department issued Clarifications regarding Issues relating to Incorrect Reporting of GSTR-1 and ITC

The guidelines with respect to technical issues pertaining to return scrutiny have been issued by Mumbai GST Department. Such errors are largely due to a lack of understanding of the provisions of law and issues of the GSTN system in the initial stage (FY 17-18 and 18-19) of implementation of GST.

Issues arising from incorrect reporting of GSTR 1:

The proper officers may Obtain the transaction-wise details of outward supplies from taxpayers for the period under scrutiny and reconcile it with category-wise outward supplies reported in GSTR-1 of the corresponding period. Identify the transactions reported in B to B and B to C category.

Figure out the transactions which have been shifted to B to B from its original B to C. Take on record the details of GSTR-1 in which such shifting had been done.

Issues arising from ITC claim

The proper officer may in cases where the difference in ITC claim (CGST+SGST or IGST) per supplier is 2.5 Lakh or more ask the claimant to obtain certification from the Chartered accountant of the said supplier certifying the output transactions and tax paid thereon so as to comply with provisions of Section 16.

In cases where the difference in ITC Claim (GSST+SGST+IGST) per supplier is below 2.5 Lakh ask the claimant to obtain ledger confirmation of the concerned supplier along with his/ her certification.

Differences in ITC May be allowed on the Basis of the Above.

In the circular, it is Further Mentioned that these guidelines are clarificatory in nature and be applied as per the facts and circumstances of the cases. These guidelines shall not be used in the interpretation of the provisions of law. The difficulties in the implementation of this circular shall be brought to the notice of this office.

4. Upcoming GSTR-1/IFF improvements & enhancements on GST Portal:

The following enhancements are being done in this phase of the GSTR-1/IFF improvement:

1. Removal of ‘Submit’ button before filing:Earlier there was a two step filing of GSTR-1/IFF. Taxpayers first clicked on the ‘Submit’ button and then clicked on the ‘File’ button to file the GSTR-1/IFF through DSC or EVC. No change in the data entered was allowed after pressing the ‘Submit’ button (post submission of GSTR1/IFF). In this phase of GSTR-1 enhancement, the ‘Submit’ button now will be removed from GSTR-1/IFF, and taxpayers will now have the flexibility to add or modify records till the Filing is completed by pressing the ‘File Statement’ button. Thus the two step filing process will now be a single step filing process.

1. Consolidated Summary:Taxpayers will now be shown a table-wise consolidated summary before actual filing of GSTR-1/IFF. This consolidated summary will have a detailed & table-wise summary of the records added by the taxpayers. This will provide a complete overview of the records added in GSTR-1/IFF before actual filing.

iii. Recipient wise summary: The consolidated summary page will also provide recipient-wise summary, containing the total value of the supplies & the total tax involved in such supplies. This summary will be made available in all cases where the recipient count is upto one hundred, which will cover more than 90 percent of the taxpayers. Viewing for more than one hundred recipients on the screen not being user friendly, and having technical constraints will be addressed in the next version of improvements. The recipient-wise summary will be made available with respect to the following tables of GSTR-1/IFF:

Summary PDF: Taxpayers can now view and download detailed summary of the GSTR-1/IFF in a new PDF format. The earlier format of the GSTR-1 summary was slightly different from the notified format, in which few tables of the notified format were clubbed together and made available to the users. The new summary format has been aligned with the notified format of GSTR-1. It will also contain the total outward supplies liability of the taxpayer (other than reverse charge), to be auto-populated in GSTR-3B.

 Steps to file GSTR-1: The existing filing steps of form GSTR-1/IFF shall be replaced with the following steps :

i.) Click ‘Generate Summary’ button to generate the summary,

ii.) Click ‘Proceed to File/Summary’ button to view the final summary before filing and

iii.) Click ‘File Statement’ button to file GSTR-1/IFF.

• It may be noted that with the removal of Submit button in GSTR-1/IFF, the information uploaded in GSTR-1/IFF shall now freeze only upon clicking the ‘File Statement’ button.
• Any document if it is added after the Summary Generation, then the summary will have to be generated again.
• In such cases, the ‘Proceed to File/Summary’ button will change to ‘Generate Summary’ button and taxpayer will have to click this ‘Generate Summary’ button again before filing.

Further details regarding the new steps in the filing process are mentioned below :

1. Generate Summary: Once the records are savedin GSTR-1/IFF, taxpayer shall be required to click on the new ‘Generate Summary’ button. System will acknowledge the request and taxpayer will then be required to refresh the GSTR-1/IFF dashboard page by clicking refresh icon at the top of page.

After successful generation of summary, taxpayer will see a new ‘Proceed to File/Summary’ button at the bottom of the GSTR-1/IFF page. In case any new record(s) are added after previous summary generation, the taxpayer will be required to click the ‘Generate Summary’ button again to get latest summary.

After this, the taxpayer will be navigated to the consolidated summary page containing table-wise summary of the total records added in GSTR-1 so far. 

1. Consolidated Summary –After generation of GSTR-1/IFF summary, taxpayers may note the following changes :
2. Status change from‘Not filed’to ‘Ready to file’.
3. ‘Generate Summary’button will be replaced by ‘Proceed to File/Summary’ button.

The summary table will also provide the recipient-wise summary in respect of B2B tables 4A, 4B, 6B, 6C & 9B of GSTR-1/IFF, in cases where the recipient count is upto one hundred.

 III. File Statement – After verifying the consolidated summary, taxpayers need to click ‘File Statement’ button, which shall be available at the bottom of the consolidated summary page. On clicking of ‘File Statement’ button, taxpayers will be navigated to the filing page to file GSTR-1/IFF using DSC/EVC.

5. Important Judgements & AARs:

(i) AAR On GST payable on Liquidated Damages recoverable from Belectric India on account of delay in Commissioning, qualify as a ‘Supply’:

(Applicant – M/s. Achampet Solar Private Limited)

The Telangana Authority of Advance Ruling (AAR) has ruled that GST payable on Liquidated damages recoverable from Belectric India on account of delay in commissioning, qualify as a ‘supply’.

 The applicant, is engaged in production and distribution of electricity obtained from solar energy. They have engaged M/s. Belectric India (P) Ltd for construction of solar power projects. The agreement has clauses for recovery of liquidated damages on (2) counts, one delay in delivering of the contract and the other regarding non-performance of the plant. The applicant is desirous of ascertaining exigibility of liquidated damages to GST on account of delay in commissioning and its time of supply. The applicant has sought the advance ruling on the issue Whether liquidated damages recoverable by the applicant from Belectric India on account of delay in commissioning, qualify as a ‘supply’ under the GST law.

(ii) AAR On Supply of food by eating joints/central kitchen falls under ‘restaurant service’
(Applicant – Shrivika Foodcraft (Prop. Mrs. Richa Jalani)

Supply of food by the entity partially or completely cooked in the central kitchen through or from the various eating joints would be covered by ‘restaurant service’ and the supply of all the items of food and beverages offered by the eating joints/central kitchen of applicant are classifiable under HSN 9963 under SI. No. 7(ii) of Notification No. 11/2017 – CT (Rate) dated 28.06.2017 as amended time to time and are taxable at the rate of 5% (without ITC). Now, we are required to discuss the second question of the applicant which is related to the classification and applicable tax rate on the supply made by the applicant. In this regard, we are of the view that in the instant case supply made by the applicant is classifiable under Chapter, Section or Heading 9963 under SI. No. 7(ii) of Notification No. 11/2017 – CT (Rate) dated 28.06.2017 as amended time to time and is taxable at the rate of 5% (without ITC). Now, we are required to discuss the Third & forth question of the applicant which is related to availability of Input Tax Credit (ITC) to the applicant if the supply considered as supply of goods or as supply of service. In this regard, we find that supply to be made by the applicant is covered under “restaurant service”, as defined in Notification No. 11/2017 – CT (Rate) dated 28.06.2017 as amended and attract 5% GST (2.5% CGST + 2.5% SGST) provided that credit of input tax charged on goods and services used in supplying the service has not been taken. The aforesaid notification is prescribing rate with specific condition, no option is provided. Wherever the intention to provide option is there, it is clearly mentioned by providing multiple rates ‘with ITC’ and ‘without ITC’. Thus, we find that applicant is not entitled to take ITC as per condition laid down at SI. No. 7(ii) of Notification No. 11/2017 – CT (Rate) dated 28.06.2017

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.

(The author is a well known Chartered Accountant Practicing at Ahmedabad)