Steps Taken under 45th GST Council Meeting for Ease of Doing Business

The 45th GST Council Meeting was held on 17^th September 2021 Friday, it was a physical meeting after a gap of two years and our Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, State Finance Ministers at Lucknow and Uttar Pradesh were presented at the meeting. The decision taken was overall people friendly and long due. Additionally, the time limit for availing of the importing of COVID treatment medicines was also extended from 30^th September 2021 to 31^st  December 2021. Below are the measures are taken in the meeting:

1. MANDATORY AUTHENTICATION OF AADHAAR CARD:

Authentication of the Aadhaar card is now mandatory to become eligible for claims of refund and also applicable for revocation of cancellation of GST registration.

2. MATTERS RELATING TO PETROL:

The matter relating to petrol was discussed in the direction of the court, and the matter came up. The finance minister informed that the matter was included in the agenda of the day. It was also discussed due to the order of the Kerala High Court. The decision was taken that it is not appropriate to levy GST on petrol or any petroleum product at a time of instability of the economy.

3. LEVY GST ON FOOD DELIVERY APPS:

GST will be also levied on the food delivery apps and e-commerce operators where the foods are delivered. Though, the customer will be not liable to pay any tax. Online food delivery apps such as Swiggy, Zomato will now also be applicable for GST and not the restaurant partners. It will be liable from 1st January 2022. Right now, there are taxes that are generated on the bills of online delivery apps, and the tax is paid back to the restaurants that are eligible to pay the tax to the government.

 4. VARIOUS GST COMPLIANCE MATTERS:

• If there is any late fee for GSTR-1 then it will be collected in the next GST-3B return.
• If Form GSTR-3B is not filed and then Form GSTR-1 will be canceled as per the CGST Rule 59(6) from 1 st January 2022.
• Once the provision under Section 16(2)(aa) is notified by the Central Board of Indirect taxes and Customs, the amendment will be made in the CGST Rule 36(4).
• There is relaxation in the furnishing of Form ITC-04 in case there is a job working reporting. It is now to be furnished once in six months for those who have an annual turnover of the preceding year is more than Rs. 5 Crore and it shall be furnished once in every
  year for the rest of them.
• Inter transfer of unutilized cash balance of CGST and IGST without refund is now allowed.

SEVERAL REVISIONS UNDER CUSTOM LAWS:

There were some suitable changes which were made in Customs law. The decision was made to avoid the double taxation which was on import of aircraft, and on the other goods is given the exemption of IGST. A lessor which is located in SEZ who is paying GST on a forward charge is also exempted.