Recommendations of the 42nd GST council meeting

The Ministry of Finance released a Press release on the 5th October, informing about the recommendations made in the 42nd GST council meeting via video conferencing. The meeting was led by the Finance Minister Shrimati Nirmala Sithraman and the finance ministers of all the states and UTs associated with it. The 42nd GST Council meeting was also attended by Shri Anurag Thakur, Union Minister of State for Finance & Corporate Affairs, and the senior officers of the ministry of finance appointed in various states and UTs.

Subsequent the 42nd GST Council meeting, the following recommendations were made by the GST council-

1. The Levy of compensation cess will be extended beyond the 5-years transition period i.e beyond June 2022, as it is the expected period to meet the revenue gap. Further details will be drafted soon.

2. A compensation amount of 20,000 Crore will be released by the center today to make up for the loss in 2020-2021 and about 25000 cr towards IGST of 2017-18 by next week.

3. Enhancement in features of return filing: GST council has worked out on various features to enhance Ease of Doing Business and improve the compliance experience. The newly approved framework aims to simplify return filing and further reduce the taxpayer’s compliance burden in this regard significantly, like timely furnishing of details in GSTR-1 by the taxpayer and supplier would allow the taxpayer to-

View the Input Tax Credit (ITC) available in his electronic ledger from all the sources like payments on a reverse charge basis, export, imports, before the due date of the tax.
Enable a system to auto-populate return details in GSTR-3B based on the details submitted by the taxpayers and suppliers. A timely update of GSTR-1 is enough for the auto-update of GSTR-3B. The council has decided-

(a) Due date of quarterly filings of GSTR-1 is to be revised to 13th of the month succeeding the quarter w.e.f 01.01.2021 for the quarterly taxpayers.

(b) Roadmap for auto-generation of GSTR-3B form GSTR-1.

Auto-population of liability from own GSTR-1 w.e.f. 01.01.2021; and
Auto-population of the input tax credit from suppliers’ GSTR-1s through the newly developed facility in FORM GSTR-2B for monthly filers w.e.f. 01.01.2021 and for quarterly filers w.e.f. 01.04.2021;

(d) The current GSTR1/3B return filing system will be valid until 31.03.2021.

Amendments in the GST laws will be made according to the proposed filing method in 42nd GST council meeting.

4. For small taxpayers with aggregate annual turnover < Rs. 5 cr., the council’s recommendation in past meetings of allowing filing of returns on a quarterly basis with monthly payments to be implemented from 01.01.2021. Such taxpayers would have the option of paying 35% of the net cash tax liability of the last quarter using an auto-generated challan for the first two months.

5. Revised Requirement of declaring HSN for goods and SAC for services in invoices and FORM GSTR-1 w.e.f. 01.04.2021 as under

Government to have the power to notify 8 digit HSN on the notified class of supplies by all taxpayers
HSN/SAC at 6 digits for supplies of both goods and services for taxpayers with aggregate annual turnover above Rs. 5 crores
HSN/SAC at 4 digits for B2B supplies of both goods and services for taxpayers with aggregate annual turnover up to Rs. 5 crores

6. Amendment to the CGST Rule: Multiple amendments in the CGST rules and forms including the furnishing of Nil FORM CMP-08 through SMS have been suggested by the council.

7. Refunds will be disbursed in the bank account linked with the PAN or Adhar card of the taxpayer.

8. To encourage satellites launched by young innovative minds especially start-ups, the satellite launch services by ISRO, Antrix Corporation Limited, and NSIL will be exempted.

Note: For the ease of understanding, the suggestions and changes made by the GST council are given in simplified language, the same would be given effect through gazette notifications and circulars which alone shall have the force of law.