GOODS AND SERVICES TAX (GST)

20-10-2018

GST relief can make cruise ship tickets 50% cheaper.

Mumbai: The Indian National Cruise Lines Association (INCLA) wants the government to give tax waivers to halve the price of tickets for passenger cruises. The body wants 18% GST on cruise tickets to be brought down to 5%, on the lines of economy class airfare. It also wants on-board supply of goods and services be taxed at 5%. The demand has come just before the first domestic cruise ship is flagged off from Mumbai to Goa. The ship has secured 60% bookings for the next two months.

Twenty-six cruise liners, under the banner of INCLA, want GST exemption on the procurement of ships. They have also sought zero taxation on fuel supplied from Indian bunkers. Several cruise liners are planning to launch ships in Indian waters. The government’s move to open the coasts for cruising has already significantly reduced costs for Indian passengers, who read more »

11-10-2018

Exporters complain about lack of credit - Problem Since PNB Scam - See GST Refund Woes.

New Delhi: Exporters have petitioned the government about rise in costs due to higher oil prices, lack of adequate credit since the Nirav Modi fraud came to light and repeated delays in GST refunds, while maintaining that they have gained little from the rupee slide.

“For small exporters, credit is a problem ever since the fraud at PNB. It is taking much longer to get credit, as proposals are sent to the zonal and regional offices. For large exporters too, the cost has increased by 5-6%,” said Federation of Indian Export Organisations (FIEO) president Ganesh Kumar Gupta.

To top it up, the government is holding up GST refunds of Rs 8,000-9,000 crore, while states have not given input tax credit worth Rs 15,000 crore, which all added to the cost of Indian exports that already lack competitiveness due to higher logistics read more »

10-10-2018

Mum DRI chief shifted out two years before term ends.

Mumbai: In a surprising move, the government on Tuesday transferred Shrawan Kumar from the post of Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) chief of Mumbai Zonal unit a year of his taking over. The tenure is normally for three years. Kumar, took over only in July 2017, has been replaced by Rajesh Pandey who was with the Directorate General of Central Excise Intelligence, Pune.

The adjudicating authority for DRI, additional director general K V S Singh has also been transferred. Singh has completed two years in the post. He has been replaced by Subhash Agarwal, who was posted with Nhava Sheva customs.

Kumar has been shifted to Raigad as commissioner in charge of GST and Central Excise. “The transfer came a few weeks after the Congress questioned the government’s stand in the probe of import of coal by various companies. There was read more »

04-10-2018

18% GST - ‘Joint development of realty projects unviable due to GST’.

New Delhi: Joint development of a real estate project, including housing, has become unviable due to inclusion of such a practice under the GST regime, say developers. Joint development agreements (JDAs) now attract GST at the rate of 18%.

According to the new regime, the landowner renders a ‘service’ to the developer via the transfer of development (construction) rights and therefore GST is applicable at the JDA execution stage itself, said a CEO of a real estate firm from Mumbai, whose efforts to enter into agreement with a farmer in Gurgaon fell through. “This increases the cost of a project, making it unviable in the present market scenario,” said the CEO, who declined to be named.

There are two common types of JDAs. One is area sharing JDA, under which the developer pays the landowner a deposit and hands over a read more »

02-10-2018

GST collections marginally up at ?94,442 crore in Sept.

New Delhi: The gross GST revenue collected in September totalled Rs 94,442 crore, marginally higher than the previous month’s receipts, prompting experts to forecast an acceleration in the months ahead.

The total receipts are still below the Rs 1-lakh crore mark, which some policy makers had predicted earlier in the year, but reflect some improvement. Collection in August was Rs 93,960 crore.

The government said of the total receipts in September CGST is Rs 15,318 crore, SGST is Rs 21,061 crore, IGST is Rs 50,070 crore (including Rs 25,308 crore collected on imports) and cess is Rs 7,993 crore (including Rs 769 crore collected on imports).

The total number of GSTR-3B returns filed in August up to September 30 was 67 lakh, according to an official statement. The total revenue earned by central government and the read more »

29-09-2018

States remain short of GST growth targets - Despite Improvement, Overall Deficit At 13%.

New Delhi: The goods and services tax (GST) collection of states was 13% lower than the projected level, although there was improvement in the overall receipts, with six states staying ahead of the April-August target. “Optically, some facts surface that create an impression but it may be different from reality,” finance minister Arun Jaitley said after a review of the revenue position, adding that the deficit had come down from last year’s level of 16%. “We are hopeful that it will be a percent or two lower (this year),” FM added after a meeting of the GST Council.

Barring Delhi, which is 19% below the target, almost all other states are better placed than last year, officials said. For instance, the “deficit” in Bihar had come down from 38% during the last financial year to 20% so far this year.

The read more »

29-09-2018

Panel set up to decide on GST cess as debate rages.

New Delhi: The GST Council on Friday decided to set up a seven-member committee headed by Bihar deputy chief minister Sushil Modi to suggest a plan for imposition of additional tax for financing rehabilitation after natural calamities. The panel was announced as there was no consensus on Kerala’s demand for imposition of a 1% cess to help it meet expenses related to flood relief and reconstruction.

“There were many views that came from the states and it was felt that we should not decide on an issue like this immediately as it will come up in future too,” finance minister Arun Jaitley told reporters after the meeting.

While the Constitution allows the states and the Centre to impose a special rate of tax on state GST (SGST) in case of a natural calamity, the modalities have split the states. Besides, how read more »

28-09-2018

‘DIDN’T PASS ON BENEFITS’ - GST anti-prof iteering body fines Lifestyle Int’l.

New Delhi: The National Anti-Profiteering Authority (NAA) has penalised retail chain Lifestyle International for not passing on the benefit of GST rate reduction to a customer.

A complaint was filed by a customer alleging that the retail chain had not passed on the benefit of reduction in the rate of tax by lowering the price of a cosmetic item, which she had purchased when the GST rate was reduced from 28% to 18% on this product on November 15, 2017.

The Director General Anti-Profiteering found during his investigation that though the retail chain had no direct influence over the revision of MRP of external brands, it was still liable to revise the retail selling price (RSP) as they had taken the benefit of input tax credit (ITC) on the purchase of the product. Therefore, the retail chain was required to reduce read more »

07-09-2018

CA, two businessmen arrested for GST fraud.

Mumbai: The central GST authorities in Thane on Wednesday arrested two businessmen and a chartered accountant for allegedly floating fake companies and fraudulently claiming input tax credit on transactions of over Rs 60 crore.

Input tax credit allows taxpayers to claim credit for taxes paid on purchase. Traders often buy fake bills to claim input tax credit on supply that never occurred.

Businessmen Babulal Choudhary floated the fake firms with Dharmendra Pandey and CA Rajesh Sharma. The payments received in the name of the supplying company by way of cheque or online transfer were withdrawn and returned to the company in cash.

Choudhary paid people Rs 15,000 for allowing their names to be used to set up such companies and obtain GST registration. Pandey is one of those who allowed his name to be used, the remand application read more »

03-09-2018

How prone is GST to evasion?

Recently, the Finance Minister of a State, who was also responsible for signing the GST and is now a member of the GST Council, made a remark that some shell companies are coming up which are designed to evade GST. According to him, this could have been avoided if more experiment was conducted be­fore introducing the GST. I am writing here to remove such a misconception that by more trial run of the GST such evasion could be avoided. The GST has been tried for decades in other countries, particularly in Europe. Even then such frauds are taking place there. The examples that I am giving below will show that trial runs do not stop such evasion. What succeeds is continuous vigilance over the taxpayers who choose to be evaders.

(i) Taking extra input credit with the help of false invoice

read more »