GST in Media

Eight leading actors and a few film distributors of Malayalam cinema, who together have evaded payment of Goods and Services Tax to the tune of around Rs.20 crore, are facing legal proceedings. The intelligence wing of the State GST department, which had confronted these actors with the statements given by the producers and distributors of their movies over the last few years, have estimated the tax evasion by the actors as around Rs.8 crore. Read more

The Kerala government is gearing up to implement an exclusive ‘rating score’ for state’s traders who submit their annual returns accurately on time and remit income tax without fail. Titled as “Tax Payer Card”, the Kerala State Goods and Services Tax department is implementing the initiative for those traders who are registered under the GST Act. According to official sources, State Finance Minister K N Balagopal will launch the ambitious initiative via online on February 3. Read more

GST officers have busted a syndicate involved in the creation of fake firms and bogus invoices which led to a GST evasion of Rs.362 crore, the finance ministry said on Thursday. The Directorate of Goods and Service Tax Intelligence, Ghaziabad Regional Unit, has busted a syndicate involved in creating and controlling fake firms and issuing of bills by these fake firms without supplying any goods or services and encashment of GST refund, the ministry said. Read more

Backed by a court decision, the goods and services tax (GST) authorities may now directly recover interest accrued on non-payment of GST due to mismatch in invoices without sending any notice. In a recent matter of Bharti Airtel, the Punjab & Haryana High Court lifted a stay ordered earlier, to directly recover interest accrued to the tune of Rs 5.77 crore on late payment of tax due to a mismatch. Direct recovery means that the tax authorities are not required to send notices. The authorities may recover the amount by various means such as deducting the money owed to assesses. Read more

Concerned about goods and services tax (GST) notices, banks have approached the finance ministry to ensure that the GST doesn’t apply to the levy of penal interest imposed on the customer in case of a default, or delay in repayment and non-compliance of loan conditions, sources told FE. Read more

The Bombay High Court has issued notices to the Centre and the Maharashtra government over a petition that seeks to declare as unconstitutional, a provision in the GST laws which empowers the authorities to block input tax credit (ITC) on works contract services in the real estate. Read more

E-way bill generation under the goods and services tax (GST) system rose 11.5% to 23.52 lakh/day for the week ended January 23, compared with 21.1 lakh/day in the previous week, indicating a pick-up in goods dispatches. E-way bill generations stood at 4.96 crore in the first 23 days of January with a daily average of 21.57 lakh. Read more

The government has detected evasion of Goods and Services Tax (GST), which also includes Central Excise and Service tax prior to 2017, to the tune of Rs.93,375 crore. This was revealed in a RTI reply by the Directorate General of GST Intelligence’s (DGGI) various zonal units in major cities across India, including Delhi, Mumbai, Pune, Ahmedabad, Chandigarh and others. Read more.

IndiaTech, an industry association representing consumer internet startups, has urged the government to tax games of skill differently from games of chance. In a letter to Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman ahead of the Union Budget 2022-23, IndiaTech has proposed that goods and services tax be levied only on the amount received by the platform for providing its services and not on the prize pool kept for distribution among the players. Read more

This ruling is contrary to the verdict of Kerala AAR. Incentive for early cash payment by the dealer will not attract GST ruled the Madhya Pradesh’s Authority for Advance Ruling (AAR) as technically, such issue comes under the category of secondary or post-sales discount This is contrary to earlier rulings by Kerala AAR. Read more

The Agrofood chamber of commerce and industry (agrofood chamber) has urged the union government to exempt all branded essential food products under the Goods and Service Tax (GST) at par with the same products such as unbranded. Read more

Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will present the Union Budget 2022 on February 1, at a time when India’s economy is suffering and has witnessed one of the worst periods of a slowdown in decades Several Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) from various sectors are eying at the budget with a ray of hope that the forthcoming budget might strengthen them to deal with the upcoming challenges which they are facing amid an economic slowdown. Read more

The government is engaged in a pitched legal battle in the Supreme Court against importers over its decision to levy Integrated Goods and Services Tax (IGST) on ocean freight on a reverse charge basis. With tax authorities reportedly raising fresh queries even while the dispute is pending before a Bench led by Justice D.Y. Chandrachud, importers are miffed. A hearing set for January 11 was postponed after two Judges on the Bench took ill. Read more

Cummins India had approached the AAAR with questions including whether allocation of the cost of employees’ salary by the head /corporate office to a branch would attract GST. The Maharashtra AAAR ruled that they will be subject to the GST. The ruling also said the head office is not entitled to avail of tax credit on tax paid on common services. Noted GST expert, Bimal Jain, said earlier, in pre-GST regime, any supply of service between head office and branch office or vice versa was not taxable thus, it has been a contentious issue since inception of GST, whether any supply of service between head office and branch office or vice versa is chargeable to GST or not. But, in the light of stated rulings affirmed by the AAAR stating inclusion of salary cost also in valuation for cross charge for supply of services between head office and branch office or vice versa, will open up pandora box. Read more

The central bank said that it would carry on rebalancing liquidity conditions in a non-disruptive manner while ensuring sufficient liquidity to meet the needs of the productive sectors of the economy. “With larger than anticipated collections under the goods and services tax (GST), system liquidity has tightened in this week,” it said Read more

The finance ministry has notified the ‘e-advance rulings Scheme’, enabling taxpayers to file their application for advance ruling through e-mail, a move that will majorly benefit non-resident assesses in such proceedings. The ‘e-advance rulings Scheme, 2022’, notified by the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT), further provides that hearing before the Board for Advance Rulings will be conducted through video conferencing/ video telephony, where taxpayers would be granted an appropriate opportunity of being heard. Read more

The Medical Technology Association of India (MTaI) has urged the government to reduce GST and customs duties on medical devices, cold chain units and spare parts used in the healthcare appliances in the upcoming Union Budget. The organisation noted that the reduction of GST on medical devices and medical cold chain from 12% to 5% would lead the expansion of the healthcare sector through reduced costs improving patient accessibility, MTaI said in a statement. Read more

All India Gem & Jewellery Domestic Council (GJC), the apex body of gems and jewellery industry, has sought to reduce the GST rate on jewellery to 1.25 per cent from 3 per cent now in the upcoming budget. GJC has also urged FM to raise the PAN card limit from Rs 2 lakh to Rs 5 lakh citing that many households in rural India do not hold PAN cards and face difficulty in arranging minimum required jewellery in times of need especially post pandemic. Read more

The Confederation of All India Traders ( CAIT) has brought the attention of the Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman towards an anomaly under GST which runs contrary to the vision of “Digital India “ and urge her to set the things right in consultation with GST Council. CAIT National President B C Bhartia and Secretary General Praveen Khandelwal said that under GST Act a seller who wish to sell products in e-Commerce is invariably required to obtain GST No, said the press release. Read more

The Bombay High Court has quashed an order by the GST authorities that had rejected the refund claim of an assessee because it was filed after two years, a time limit set by the rules. This was done since the authorities have not taken into cognizance the earlier Supreme Court verdict that excluded the period from March 15, 2020 and October 02, 2021 from the time limit due to Covid. However, the high court did not go into the validity of the circular and the question of striking it down. Read more

Federation of Automobile Dealers Association (FADA) has highlighted few issues to Union Finance Minister, Nirmala Sitharaman, which are hurting the growth of the Indian Automobile Industry and Auto Dealerships at large. The Association has bifurcated the recommendation into two different aspects Demand Revival Appeal and Dealer Issue. We urge the government if the concerns are accommodated in the upcoming budget this could reenergize the auto retail trade, which in turn will bring back the sector and the entire automobile industry back on track and the overall economic growth too, said FADA. Read more

Selling plots with electric poles, drainage lines and approach roads will be simply selling of land and thus not attract Goods & Services Tax (GST), Goa Authority for Advance Ruling has said. This is contrary to a ruling by Gujarat AAR. “Land is excluded in entirety and in all circumstances whereas building is includable within the scope of supply only upon meeting certain specific criteria,” AAR said in a ruling delivered last year but now made public. Read more

Telecom operators want the government to refund input tax credit (ITC) of around Rs 35,000 crore, reduce levies and waive GST on licence fees and spectrum usage in the upcoming Budget. According to pre-Budget recommendations of telecom industry body COAI, whose members include Vodafone Idea, Bharti Airtel and Reliance Jio, the telecom sector wants the government to suspend universal service obligation fund (USOF), which financially supports rollout of telecom services in the rural area, to reduce burden on the service providers. Read more

The Gujarat Authority for Advance Ruling (AAR) has held that healthcare services, where multi-super specialty hospitals take a lump-sum amount in form of membership to provide services to their family, would not attract GST. The ruling came in response to an application by Divyajivan Healthcare LPP. It had approached the AAR seeking clarity on levy of GST on a membership plan in its proposed multi-super specialty hospital. Read more

Gujarat High Court has held that goods in transit cannot be confiscated under Central Goods & Services Tax (CGST) Act on grounds of wrong route or under-valuation. Court allowed release of vehicles. Read more

A 15 member team of Lucknow Directorate General of GST Intelligence (DGGI) searched residences of three tobacco dealers in Tanda area of Ambedkar Nagar district on Tuesday. Documents were being scrutinised and no bills found to be generated for sale and purchase of raw materials by the accused trio and only finished goods were found, said DGGI sources. Read more

The Automotive Component Manufacturers Association (ACMA), on Tuesday, stressed the need to ensure a uniform GST rate of 18. Read more

Deciding the goods and services tax rate on fryums papad could be a messy affair with the Appellate Authority for Advance Rulings (AAAR) of Gujarat now ruling that the ready-to-eat product would draw 18 per cent rate. Read more

The Madras high court has directed the Centre to process the application by a visual impaired man seeking GST concession for purchasing the car. Read more.

A sweet shop manufacturing and selling sweets and namkeen over the counter only will be required to pay Goods & Services Tax (GST) at the rate of 1 per cent provided it is under composition scheme, Karnataka’ Authority for Advance Ruling (KAAR) has said. Read more

Directorate General of GST Intelligence (DGGI) issued 158 show-cause notices for tax evasion, amounting to Rs 9,359 crore in the six years to FY21, but does not maintain a record of the outcome of those cases, a reply to an RTI query has revealed. City-based RTI activist Abhay Kolarkar had sought consolidated information pertaining to the Directorate General of GST from DGGI, which revealed that between FY15 and FY21, a total of 158 show-cause notices have been issued, involving an amount of Rs 9,358 crore. Read more

In any tax administration, the provisions for inspection, search, seizure and arrest are provided to protect the interest of revenue department as well as genuine taxpayers and as a restraint for tax evasion. Read more

Ludhiana: The city’s footwear traders and manufacturers oppose the increase in the GST on this item from 5% to 12% since January 1, as they claim that it will cause them to lose sales and gain financial burden. Read more

Accounting rule maker Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) has asked the government to bring back the audit and certification provisions relating to Goods and Services Tax (GST) annual returns, saying that doing away with audit will disrupt compliance. Read more

Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) has started a new initiative of holding meetings with officials of state tax administrations across the country to further boost Goods and Services Tax (GST) revenue collections, showed an official communication.  Read more

The GST council’s decision to defer the proposed increase in tax slab for textiles, from 5 per cent to 12 per cent, has come as a new year gift for the textile industry at a time when it was on the path to recovery, Commerce & Industry Minister Piyush Goyal has said in an interaction with the textile industry on Tuesday. Read more

After the Goods and Services Tax Council deferred the increase in the GST rates for the textile and garment business, the local industrialists now want the GST on scrap to be reduced from 18% to 5%. Read more

The Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) has told field officers to be just and fair in enforcing the new goods and services tax (GST) compliance norms that came into force from 1 January. The new provisions cleared by the GST Council were part of the Finance Act, 2021, notified in December. As per the rules, if a seller fails to report or meet the tax obligations, the buyers cannot claim tax credits. Besides, officials also have more power to attach assets in certain cases of tax evasion. Read more

The gross GST revenue collected in the month of December 2021 is Rs 1,29,780 crore of which CGST is Rs 22,578 crore, SGST is Rs 28,658 crore, IGST is Rs 69,155 crore (including Rs 37,527 crore collected on import of goods) and cess is Rs 9,389 crore (including Rs 614 crore collected on import of goods). Read more