Available Functionality for Tax Payers in GST Portal as on 29.08.2020

• Earlier, the GST System didn’t allow clubbing of tax periods of more than one financial year while applying for refund in Form GST RFD 01.
• Now changes have been made on the GST Portal, which allows taxpayers to file refund application in Form GST RFD-01, by clubbing continuous months/periods across different Financial Years, in a single refund application.
• Thus taxpayer can now file refund for March and April in single Refund application.

• Taxpayers can now delete the refund applications in Draft/Save stage.
• This option is not available for refund applications which are already filed and ARN has been generated.

• Earlier a taxpayer could claim refund only up to the amount as available in credit in individual heads (IGST, CGST, SGST), whichever is lower, for the period for which the refund is being claimed (balance remaining after return for the relevant period is filed) and the period in which the refund is being applied for.
• Changes have been made in the GST portal and, in following cases, the amount that can be claimed as refund in Form RFD-01, would now be calculated at consolidated level for all the Heads i.e. IGST, CGST & SGST:
  • Export of Goods and Services – Without payment of tax
  • Inverted Tax Structure
  • Recipient of Deemed Exports
• The refund can now be claimed up to the minimum balance   in  Electronic Credit ledger calculated at aggregate level, at the end of tax period, for which refund is claimed (balance remaining after return for the relevant period is filed) and balance in Electronic Credit ledger, at the time of filing of refund application.

• Consequent to removing the requirement of quoting
  original invoice number while reporting a Credit Note or Debit Note in Form GSTR-1 or Form GSTR-6, corresponding changes have been made in refund module.
• While applying for refund, taxpayers can now report such credit notes or debit notes in statements (filed during filing the refund application) without    mentioning the related invoice number.
• The taxpayer would be  required  to     select the document type from a drop-down comprising of invoice/ debit note/ credit note.
• The change has been provided while filing refund application for refund for export of services with payment of tax, refund on account of goods & services without payment of tax, refund on account of supply of goods or services to SEZ with/ without payment of tax and refund on account of Inverted duty structure.

• Amendment of TCS details in Table-4 of Form GSTR-8 could earlier be done only once by e-commerce operator
• In case TCS details were not accepted by the supplier in TDS and TCS credit table or same were rejected by supplier, then in such cases e-commerce operators could amend the details only once.
• In the table 4 (i.e. amendment table) of Form GSTR-8, restriction of amending the transaction only once has been removed.
• And now the e-commerce operator would be able to amend the details for second or subsequent time as well and there would not be any limit on the number of times the amendment can be made.

• The taxpayers in Composition scheme who are permitted
  to undertake supplies through E Commerce Operators, for e.g. Restaurant Services, will now be able to view and take actions of accept/ reject the amount of tax collected at source, reported by E Commerce Operators in their Form GSTR 8.

• Government has made filing of annual return for the FY 2017-18 and 2018-19 optional, for taxpayers having aggregate turnover of up to Rs. 2 Cr. This change has been implemented on the GST Portal.
• Now no late fee will be levied in case of late filing of Form GSTR-9 (in case the aggregate turnover is up to Rs 2 Crore) and Form-9A (Annual Return by Composition
  Taxpayers) as their turnover would always be under Rs 2 Crore.

• Two new tables have been added to Form GSTR-2A, for showing of details of import of goods from overseas and inward supply of goods from SEZ units / developers. Amendment made in the details of bill of entries will also be displayed in these tables.
• This will help the taxpayers in correctly comparing Input Tax Credit on Imports in their Form GSTR-3B.

• Till now the Tax Officer could only revoke cancellation of registration in cases where the registration had been cancelled by the officer (by initiating suo-moto proceedings for cancellation).
• Now, a functionality has been made available on the portal for the Tax Officers to give effect to an order passed by the Appellate Authority/ higher authority, to revoke cancellation of registration, where such authority orders for revocation of cancellation of registration.

• Aadhaar Authentication process has been introduced, for the persons applying for GST registration as Normal Taxpayer/ Composition/ Casual Taxable Person/ Input
  Service Distributor (ISD)/ SEZ Developer/ SEZ Unit etc, in Form GST REG 01.
• Individuals, Authorised signatory of all types of businesses, Managing and Authorised partners of a partnership firm and Karta of an Hindu undivided family, applying for new registration in Form GST REG 01, can opt to undergo e-KYC authentication of their Aadhaar number.
• Applicants, who, either do not provide Aadhaar, while applying for new registration or whose Aadhar authentication fails in validation, would be subjected to site verification by the tax department. However, Tax authority based on the documents produced can grant registration.
• Timelines for grant of registration are:
  • In case of successful authentication of Aadhaar, registration will be deemed approved within 03 working days
  • If Aadhar authentication is not opted for or if authentication fails in validation and no SCN is issued within 21 days by tax official, registration will be deemed approved
  • Tax Officer can issue SCN within the period specified for grant of registration, like in cases of successful Aadhar authentication i.e. 03 working days, or in cases when taxpayer do not opt to provide Aadhaar or when Aadhar  authentication fails i.e. 21 working    days. Applicants can submit their reply within 07 working days from issue of SCN

• Important points while opting for Adhaar authentication is as follows:
  • Once registration application is submitted, an authentication link will be shared on GST registered mobile numbers and email ids mentioned in the GST application
  • On clicking the verification link, a window for Aadhaar Authentication will open where they have enter Aadhaar Number and the OTP received by them on the mobile number linked with Aadhaar
  • Taxpayer need to complete Aadhaar authentication of all Promoters/ Partners/ Authorized Signatories/ Karta etc. as mentioned in the application to avail this option
  • Applicant can access the link again for authentication by navigating to My Saved Applications > Aadhaar Authentication Status > RESEND VERIFICATION LINK
  • Persons already registered on GST portal are not required to undergo Aadhar authentication at this stage
  • Persons who are not resident /citizen of India are exempted from the Aadhaar authentication process

(refer Notification No 62/2020-CT dt 20.08.2020)