The major recommendations are as detailed below:-
1. Composition dealers:- Upper limit of turnover for opting for GST composition scheme to be raised from Rs. 1 crore to Rs. 1.5 crore. Present limit of turnover can now be raised on the recommendations of the Council.
> Composition dealers to be allowed to supply services (other than restaurant services), for upto a value not exceeding 10% of turnover in the preceding financial year, or Rs. 5 lakhs, whichever is higher.
2. Reverse Charge as per Sec 9(4) & 5(4) of CGST Act, 2017 and IGST Act, 2017,:– Levy of GST on reverse charge mechanism on receipt of supplies from unregistered suppliers, to be applicable to only specified goods in case of certain notified classes of registered persons, on the recommendations of the GST Council.
3. Increased threshold for Special Category States:- The threshold exemption limit for registration in the States of Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Meghalaya, Sikkim and Uttarakhand to be increased to Rs. 20 Lakhs from Rs. 10 Lakhs.
4. Taxpayers may opt for multiple registrations within a State/Union territory in respect of multiple places of business located within the same State/Union territory.
5. Mandatory registration is required for only those e-commerce operators who are required to collect tax at source.
6. Registration to remain temporarily suspended while cancellation of registration is under process, so that the taxpayer is relieved of continued compliance under the law.
7. Scope of Sch III widened:- The following transactions to be treated as no supply (no tax payable) under Schedule III:-
a. Supply of goods from a place in the non-taxable territory to another place in the non-taxable territory without such goods entering into India;
b. Supply of warehoused goods to any person before clearance for home consumption; and
c. Supply of goods in case of high sea sales.
8. Scope of input tax credit is being widened:- This would now be made available in respect of the following:
a. Most of the activities or transactions specified in Schedule III;
b. Motor vehicles for transportation of persons having seating capacity of more than thirteen (including driver), vessels and aircraft;
c. Motor vehicles for transportation of money for or by a banking company or financial institution;
d. Services of general insurance, repair and maintenance in respect of motor vehicles, vessels and aircraft on which credit is available; and
e. Goods or services which are obligatory for an employer to provide to its employees, under any law for the time being in force.
9. In case the recipient fails to pay the due amount to the supplier within 180 days from the date of issue of invoice, the input tax credit availed by the recipient will be reversed, but liability to pay interest is being done away with.
10. Registered persons may issue consolidated credit/debit notes in respect of multiple invoices issued in a Financial Year.
11. Amount of pre-deposit payable for filing of appeal before the Appellate Authority and the Appellate Tribunal to be capped at Rs. 25 Crores and Rs. 50 Crores, respectively.
12. Commissioner to be empowered to extend the time limit for return of inputs and capital sent on job work, upto a period of one year and two years, respectively.
13. Supply of services to qualify as exports, even if payment is received in Indian Rupees, where permitted by the RBI.
14. Place of supply in case of job work of any treatment or process done on goods temporarily imported into India and then exported without putting them to any other use in India, to be outside India.
15. Recovery can be made from distinct persons, even if present in different State/Union territories.
16. The order of cross-utilisation of input tax credit is being rationalized.
Reduction in GST rates on the following goods :-
- Consumer durable goods like washing machine, refrigerators, televisions etc.. rate bought down from 28% to 18%
- GST rates have been recommended to be brought down for specified handicraft items rate bought down from 18% to 12%
- On items like Handmade carpets and other handmade textile floor coverings, Toran, Hand-woven tapestries etc rate bought down from 12% to 5%
Goods Exempt from GST:-
- Fortified milk
- Sanitary pads.
- Raw material used in brooms.
- Commemorative coins circulated by the RBI or government.
- Saal leaves
- Deities made of stone, marbles or wood.
GST Returns simplification process:-
There were multiple reports on the technical glitches while filing GST return surfaced at the time of introduction of GST E Way Bill. Also, there were many instances that the GST return filings forms were crashing online and the details were sometimes not matching with the exact data filed up at the time of registration.
Council approved quarterly filing of return for the small taxpayers having turnover below Rs. 5 Cr as an optional facility. Quarterly return shall be similar to main return with monthly payment facility but for two kinds of registered persons – small traders making only B2C supply or making B2B + B2C supply. For such taxpayers, simplified returns have been designed called Sahaj and Sugam. In these returns details of information required to be filled is lesser than that in the regular return.
As 93% of the taxpayers have a turnover of less than Rs 5 Cr and these taxpayers would benefit substantially from the simplification measures proposed improving their ease of doing business. Even the large taxpayers would find the design of new return quite user friendly.
These amendments will now be placed before the Parliament and the legislature of State and Union territories with legislatures for carrying out the amendments in the respective GST Acts.
Conclusion:- On analysis & considering the recommendations of 28th GST Council meet it looks like Government is trying its best to make the GST act most favorable & adaptable to entire economy and balance the impact of GST overall but to bring it into reality the efforts seam to be lesser.
Press Releases related to 28the GST Council Meeting on 21st July 2018
GST rate on Services- 27 Major Changes in 28th GST Council meeting
List of Changes in GST Rate on Goods in 28th GST Council Meeting
GST council approves Simplified GST Return
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