53rd GST Council Meeting – Major Highlights

The 53^rd  GST Council meeting, first after election and first in 2024 was held on 22 June, 2024 at New Delhi. Since the meeting was held after a gap of more than eight months, there were a lot of issues deliberated and decided, more so in view of the forthcoming Union Budget in July, 2024 in which legislative changes will be effected. The 53^rd GST Council meeting chaired by Finance Minister aims to ease the compliances for taxpayers by making provisions and procedures simpler and less cumbersome.

Post 53^rd GST Council meeting held on 22.06.2024, CBIC has issued 16 Circulars bearing Nos. 207 to 222, all dated 26.06.2024, clarifying taxability, place of supply, time of supply etc on various issues. These have been summarized inside in ‘GST Update’ column.

 Major Recommendations

53rd meeting of GST Council held on 22nd June, 2024 at New Delhi took the decisions / made recommendations, major ones of which are as follows:

• Measures to ease compliance for GST assessees.
• No anti-profiteering provisions after 31st March, 2025.
• The time limit to avail input tax credit w.r.t. any invoice or debit note under Section 16(4) of CGST Act, through any GSTR 3B return filed upto 30.11.2021 for FY 2017-18, 2018-19, 2019-20 and 2020-21, shall be deemed to be 30.11.2021
• No levy interest u/s 50 of CGST Act in case of delayed filing of return, on the amount which is available in Electronic Cash Ledger (ECL) on the due date of filing of the said return.
• Provision to recognize general practice of non-levy or short levy of tax by way new power under section 11A to allow regularization of non-levy or short levy of GST where tax was being short paid or not paid due to common trade practice.
• Waiver of interest and penalty for demand notices issued under section 73 (non-fraud cases) for the financial years 2017-18, 2018-19 and 2019-20 subject to the condition that full tax is paid by 31st March, 2025.
• Clarification on valuation of services of corporate guarantee, i.e., higher of 1% of guarantee amount or actual consideration; Rule 28(2) to be amended for related party transactions.
• To reduce litigation, monetary limits for revenue appeals prescribed at Rs. 20 lakh for GSTAT, Rs. one crore for high court and Rs. two crores for Supreme Court. For assesses, no monetary limits exist.
• Maximum amount of pre-deposit in appeals reduced to Rs. 40 crores.
• Cutoff date to be notified for GSTAT appeals.
• Rolling out biometric based Aadhaar authentication on pan-India basis for registration.
• New Form GSTR-1A introduced to facilitate amendment in Form GSTR-1
• Accommodation for students / working in hostels etc to be exempted if amount is Rs. 20,000 p.m. per person and such service is provided for a minimum period of 90 days continuously.

Recommendations in relation to GST Returns

53rd Meeting of GST Council held on 22 June 2024, inter alia, made the following recommendations in relation to GST returns:

• No levy of interest under section 50 for delayed filing of returns: Amendment to Rule 88B of CGST Rules, 2017 to not levy interest in case of delayed payment of taxes as a result of late filing of GSTR 3B when such amount is available in the Electronic Cash Ledger (ECL) on the due date of filing of return.
• Extended the due date for FORM GSTR-4 for composition taxpayers: Due date for filing of return in FORM GSTR-4 for composition taxpayers has been extended from 30^thApril to 30^th June following the end of the Financial Year. To apply for returns for the Financial Year 2024-25.
• New form GSTR-1A introduced: New form introduced to facilitate the taxpayers (including IFF return filers) to amend the details in Form GSTR-1 for a tax period and/ or to declare additional details, if any, before filing of return in Form GSTR-3B for the said tax period to ensure that correct liability is auto-populated in Form GSTR-3B.
• Form GSTR-9/9A: Taxpayers having aggregate annual turnover upto Rs. 2 crores for the FY 2023-24 to be exempted for filing of Annual Return.
• Threshold limit for reporting of B2C inter-state supplies reduced: The threshold for reporting of B2C inter-State supplies invoice-wise in Table 5 of Form GSTR-1 to be reduced from Rs 2.5 Lakhs to Rs 1 Lakh.

New CBIC Circulars

CBIC has issued 16 Circulars bearing Nos. 207 to 222-GST all dated 26.06.2024, based on recommendations of 53rd meeting of GST Council held on 22.06.2024. These are on following issues:

The outcomes of the 53rd GST Council meeting reflect a proactive approach towards GST reform, aiming to enhance compliance ease, reduce litigation, and clarify tax ambiguities. The introduced amendments and circulars are set to impact GST administration positively, aligning with the broader goal of fostering a more efficient indirect tax regime in India.