The Finance (No. 2) Act of 2024 has been enacted on 16th August, 2024. The sections 114 to 157, which are related to GST, shall however come into force on such date as the Central Government may, by notification in the Official Gazette, appoint. The 20 most important sections which have ramifications on overall trade and industry are as follows:
1. Waiver of taxes not levied/ short levied in matters of general practice of trade/ industry – Granting power to allow regularization and not to recover duties not levied or short-levied as a result of common trade practices/ general practice. (Section 116).
2. Time of supply modified under RCM for unregistered suppliers – The time of supply under RCM from unregistered suppliers shall be the date of issue of invoice where invoice is to be issued by recipient or date of payment as per books of recipient or debit in bank whichever is earlier. (Section 117).
3. Insertion of section 16(5) to provide relaxation in condition of section 16(4) – Relaxation in condition of section 16(4) of the CGST Act in respect of initial years of implementation of GST, i.e., financial years 2017-18, 2018-19, 2019-20 and 2020-21. The time limit to avail input tax credit in respect of any invoice or debit note under Section 16(4) of CGST Act, through any return in FORM GSTR 3B filed upto 30.11.2021 for the financial years 2017-18, 2018-19, 2019-20 and 2020-21, may be deemed to be 30.11.2021. (Section 118)
4. Relaxation in condition of section 16(4) of the CGST Act with respect to cases where returns have been filed after revocation of cancellation – Relax the provisions of section 16(4) of CGST Act in cases where returns for the period from the date of cancellation of registration/ effective date of cancellation of registration till the date of revocation of cancellation of the registration, are filed by the registered person within thirty days of the order of revocation. (Section 118)
5. No blockage of ITC for taxes paid by the supplier through demand and recovery provisions w.e.f. 2024-25 – The restriction for Availment of taxes as per section 17(5), paid u/s 74, is now applicable only till 2023-24. From 2024-25, there would be no blockage of ITC for taxes paid by the supplier through demand and recovery provisions. However, this would continue to be subject to the time limit for ITC availment u/s 16(4). (Section 119)
6. Issuance of invoice by the recipient in case of reverse charge mechanism supplies from unregistered persons – Section 31(3)(f) of the CGST Act is being amended, so as to incorporate an enabling provision for prescribing the time period for issuance of invoice by the recipient in case of reverse charge mechanism supplies from unregistered persons. Further, if a person is registered solely for the purpose of TDS, he would still be considered as an unregistered person for the purposes of this section. (Section 122)
7. Mandatory furnishing of GSTR-7 for all applicable taxpayers – Mandatory furnishing of GSTR-7 would be required, irrespective of whether any deduction has been made in the said month or not, by all persons required to deduct TDS. (Section 124)
8. Restriction of refund removed on duty drawback for CGST portion – The proviso restricting refund of GST in case of drawbacks has been deleted. (Section 128)
9. Refund not allowed in case of export duty – In all cases where zero rated supplies (exports and supply to SEZ) are subject to export duty, refund of unutilized ITC would not be allowed. (Section 128)
10. Attendance of summons by authorized representative at officer’s discretion – In cases of summons, the person who has been summoned can now also authorise his representative to appear and comply with the Summon. (Section 135)
11. Insertion of new section 74A and applicability of section 73 and 74 only till the FY 2023-24 – A common section 74A has been inserted for all demand and recovery provisions in lieu of Section 73 and 74. It will have a common time limit for issue of Notice for all evasion and non-evasion cases which has been prescribed as 42 months from the due date for furnishing of annual return for the relevant FY. The order shall be passed within 12 months from the date of issue of notice. The said period can be extended by a further 6 months. Further, the time limit for reduced penalty for all cases has been increased from 30 days of notice / order to 60 days of notice / order. (Section 138)
12. Reduction in maximum amount of pre-deposit for filing appeal before Appellate Authority – The maximum amount of pre-deposit for filing appeal before Appellate Authority has been reduced from Rs. 50 crores to Rs. 40 crores. (Section 141)
13. Tribunal empowered to hear Anti Profiteering cases – The Appellate Tribunal has got the jurisdiction to hear cases w.r.t. Anti Profiteering. Such matters would be heard only by the Principal Bench. Further, the Government has also got the power to prescribe certain cases or class of cases which can be heard by the Principal Bench only. (Section 142)
14. Due date of Tribunal appeal filing and the pre-deposit – The amendment empowers the Government to notify the date for filing appeal before the Appellate Tribunal and provide a revised time limit for filing appeals or application before the Appellate Tribunal. This also enables the Appellate Tribunal to admit appeals filed by the department within three months after the expiry of the specified time limit of six months. Further, the reduction of the maximum amount of pre-deposit for filing appeals before the Appellate Tribunal would be as follows: from the existing 20% to 10% of the tax in dispute and also reduce the maximum amount payable as pre-deposit from rupees Rs. 100 crores to Rs. 40 crores. (Section 143)
15. Amnesty scheme for waiver of interest/ penalty upon full tax payment for 2017-18 to 2019-20 non-evasion cases – Insertion of Section 128A in CGST Act, to provide for conditional waiver of interest or penalty or both, relating to demands raised under Section 73, for FY 2017-18 to FY 2019-20, in cases where the taxpayer pays the full amount of tax demanded in the notice, on or before the date, as may be notified by the Government. The waiver does not cover demand of erroneous refunds. (Section 146)
16. Transitional credit for ISD for invoices before appointed date – Section 140(7) is being amended so as to enable availment of the transitional credit of eligible CENVAT credit on account of input services received by an Input Services Distributor prior to the appointed day, for which invoices were also received prior to the appointed date. (Section 147)
17. Sunset clause for anti-profiteering – The Government has been empowered to notify the date from which the Authority will not accept any application for anti-profiteering cases. Further apart from the Competition Commission of India, the Appellate Tribunal has also been included as an authority for dealing with Anti-profiteering cases. Such matters would be heard only by the Principal Bench. (Section 148)
18. Activities of insurance not considered as supply – Co-insurance premium and commission apportioned by lead insurer to the co-insurer has been declared as no supply under Schedule III. (Section 149)
19. No refund of tax paid or input tax credit reversed – No refund shall be made of all the tax paid or the input tax credit reversed, which would not have been so paid, or not reversed, had section 16(5) been in force at all material times. (Section 150)
20. Consequential changes in section wherever section3 73 and 74 was mentioned – Upon insertion of section 74A, wherever sections 73 and 74 was mentioned, the same has been amended to include section 74A w.e.f. FY 2024-25. (Various sections).
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I sincerely hope that the same will help you in your business & profession. Author CA Tarun Kr. Gupta can be reached at +91 98301 24482 | [email protected]
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