• Major Highlights of 35th GST Council Meeting Held on June 21, 2019

1. The 35th GST Council Meeting was held on Friday June 21, 2019 at New Delhi, This was the first council meeting chaired by the new Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman.

• GST Annual return filing Due date For the F.Y. 2017-18, extended till August 31, 2019

1. The due date for filing Annual return of GSTR-9, GSTR-9A, and GSTR-9C for the FY 2017-18 has been extended till 31 August, 2019.

• Aadhaar-enabled GST Registration introduced:

1. In order to ease the current process of GST registration and reduce the paperwork involved, GST Council has given a go-ahead to a new system for verification of taxpayers registering themselves under GST. Aadhaar number shall be linked to the GSTIN while generation.

• 10% penalty to apply for any delay in depositing profiteered amount

1. GST Council has approved imposing a penalty of up to 10% penalty for delay in depositing the profiteered amount by more than 30 days. This is a fair measure that would encourage timely compliance by the taxpayer.

• E-invoicing to start from January 2020

1. The new system for raising all the tax invoices on the GST portal has received in-principle approval for implementation from 1 January 2020. This applies to only B2B invoicing. By this system, no separate e-way bill will be required in case of e-invoice. Returns to be framed from these e-invoices. A phased implementation is being worked out.
2. Earlier, the government had fixed Rs 50 crore as the limit for the applicability of e-invoicing.

• E-ticketing made mandatory for multiplexes

1. Among other major decisions, the GST Council approved the electronic ticketing system, for multiplexes, having multi-screens. This will help curb cases of tax evasion and the use of black tickets that have been prevalent.

• Rate cut decision on electric vehicles, chargers & leasing thereof deferred; Committee to submit its report

1. The decision to cut GST rates for electric vehicles and electric chargers have been postponed to the next Council meeting. The matter has been referred to the Fitment Committee for checking the feasibility of the rate cut. At present, the GST rates for electric vehicles and electric chargers are 12% and 28% respectively.

• GSTAT to be GST Appellate Tribunal.

1. The GST council also definitively stated the Goods and Service Tax Appellate Tribunal will be the appellate authority and will adjudicate on appeals arising from central and state tax authorities’ in-house dispute resolution system. The states will decide the number of GSTAT required by them as a result of which there can be two tribunals in a single state.

• For non-filing of GST returns, E-way bills to be blocked

1. The law stated that where the GST returns in GSTR-3B/ GSTR-4 is not filed for two consecutive tax periods, e-way bill generation for such taxpayers would be disabled. This will be brought into effect from 21 August 2019, instead of the earlier notified date of June 21, 2019.

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