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6. Matters referred to Group of Ministers:

i. A seven Member Group of Ministers shall be constituted to examine the proposal of giving a Composition Scheme to Boost the Residential Segment of the Real Estate Sector.

ii. A Group of Ministers shall be constituted to examine the GST Rate Structure on Lotteries.

7. Revenue Mobilization for Natural Calamities: GST Council approved Levy of Cess on Intra-State Supply of Goods and Services within the State of Kerala at a rate not exceeding 1% for a period not exceeding 2 years.

• • GST rules: No e-way bill if returns not filed for two months

    In a bid to force non-compliant businesses to file returns regularly, the finance ministry has barred e-way bill generation while transporting consignment if the supplier or recipient of the cargo has not furnished returns for two consecutive tax periods under Goods and Services Tax (GST). The e-way bill is required to be generated from a common portal by a business for movement of consignment worth more than `50,000. For this, the supplier/recipient furnishes part A of the form with details of GST identification number, value of goods and invoice number among others. Further, part B of the e-way bill form is furnished by the transporter with details of vehicle used.

• GST: About 16% of assessees do not file monthly returns, shows Govt data

On an average nearly 16 per cent of Goods and Services Tax (GST) return assessees are non-filers of monthly returns, while in the composition scheme, one out of every five assessees is a non-filer.According to data made available to the Lok Sabha by the government on Friday, August 2017 was the best among the 17 months of GST when non-filers’ percentage was less than 7.5 per cent. The percentage of non-filers was 28.75 in November 2018, the highest in the 17 months of GST.According to the law, every person registered under the GST will have to file returns in some form or the other. A registered person will have to file returns either on a monthly (normal supplier) or quarterly basis (supplier opting for composition scheme).

• • IT : Where assessee developer made payments exceeding Rs. 20,000 for purchase of construction materials on bank holidays, since assessee being developer was bound to complete work in a time bound manner and construction activities were carried out continuously even during holidays, therefore, assessee was required to procure materials on public holidays to avoid break in process of construction, said payments could not be disallowed under section 40A(3)

• IT : Where assessee developer made payments exceeding Rs. 20,000 for purchase of construction materials on bank holidays, since assessee being developer was bound to complete work in a time bound manner and construction activities were carried out continuously even during holidays, therefore, assessee was required to procure materials on public holidays to avoid break in process of construction, said payments could not be disallowed under section 40A(3)

• IT : Where assessee had produced several documentary evidences to show that person to whom payments were made in cash in excess of Rs. 20,000 had acted as agent of assessee for purchase of construction material on behalf of assessee, such payments would fall under exception clause of rule 6DD(k) and, therefore, section 40A(3) would not apply i.e disallowance not applicabe

• GST: Input Tax Credit was not available to applicant for lease rent paid during pre-operative period for leasehold land on which resort was being constructed on his own account to be used for furtherance of business, when same was being capitalised and treated as capital expenditure: AAR, West Bengal

• CBDT Withdraws Circular on Share Valuation After Cong Claims ‘Win’…Read more

• Small biz likely to be off GST radar

Businesses with an annual turnover of up to Rs. 50 lakh may be exempt from goods and services tax (GST) registration, up from the current threshold of Rs. 20 lakh. The GST Council will takeadecision in this regard on Thursday. While members of the Group of Ministers, which met on Sunday, differed on the threshold, sources said it could be increased to about Rs. 50 lakh. The GoM is headed by Minister of State for Finance Shiv Pratap Shukla. Bihar Deputy Chief Minister and member of the GoM, Sushil Modi, said the “majority view” was to increase it. Against the recommendation of the finance ministry to increase it to Rs. 75 lakh, Bihar recommended it to be Rs. 50 lakh, while Delhi Rs. 40 lakh. The GoM also discussedapossibility of levyingaflat GST of Rs. 5,000 per year for businesses withaturnover between Rs. 50 lakh and Rs. 60 lakh, and above Rs. 10,000ayear for those withaturnover between Rs. 60 lakh and Rs. 75 lakh. However, only business to commerce (B2C) businesses will be able to avail this benefit. Business to business (B2B) entities doing interstate trade will not benefit from the extension. Another GoM, headed by Modi, decided Kerala should be allowed to levyacalamity cess for two years. Further, it also supported the view that the Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management (FRBM) Act should be amended to relax borrowing limits for states that are facingapostcalamity crisis. The rate of the recommended statespecific calamity cess would be capped at 1 per cent over the value of goods and services, and the state would have the flexibility of keeping it ´at´ or ´below´ 1 per cent overaperiod of two years. “The GoM has recommendedacess that Kerala can levy, but this will setaprecedent for any state that needs financial assistance afteracalamity,” said Thomas Isaac, finance minister of Kerala. “The GoM found that it will not be practical to have an allIndia cess since it would be difficult to distribute among states, and moreover it will be the repetition of the existing mechanism,” he added. The floodaffected state will have the flexibility to levy it on select goods and services or across the board. The final decision on all these recommendations will be taken by the GST Council that will meet on Thursday. The GoM also recommendedacomposition scheme for service providers with an annual turnover up to Rs. 50 lakh.

For dealers and suppliers, the GoM has decided the turnover limit for registration under the scheme should be increased to Rs. 1.5 crore. Composition dealers under this expansion would need to file annual returns as against quarterly ones. However, they will have to pay the GST quarterly, withanew simple challan, the GoM said in its recommendations to the GST Council. Further, they will also get the GST accounting software free from the government.

• Fake GST invoice racket worth Rs. 175 crore busted….Read More

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• CBDT lays down procedure for filing of nil/lower TDS or TCS certificates