News & Events

In a drive to clean up the bureaucracy, Central Board of Indirect Taxes & Customs (CBIC) has compulsorily retired 22 senior officers of the rank of Superintendent/AO due to corruption and other charges, news agency ANI reported today. A CBIC official, quoted by ANI, "We have recently taken the bold step of compulsorily retiring a significant number of tax officials, and we will not tolerate this type of behavior."

Earlier in June, the government had compulsorily retired 15 senior officers of the central indirect tax administration who were facing charges of corruption and illegal gratification. The 15 officials of the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) retired are of the ranks of the principal commissioner, commissioner, additional commissioner, and deputy commissioner. In the same month, the Narendra Modi administration had compulsorily retired 10 senior officers of the direct tax administration. Some of these officials also face charges of extortion. They also have cases pending against them filed by various central agencies like the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI).

The Central Government vide Notification No. 04/2019-Central Excise (N.T.) dated August 21, 2019 has appointed September 01, 2019 as the date from which the Sabka Vishwas (Legacy Dispute Resolution) Scheme, 2019 shall come into force.

The Central Government vide Notification no. 05/2019-Central Excise (N.T.) dated August 21, 2019 has notified the Sabka Vishwas (Legacy Dispute Resolution) Scheme ("SVLDRS") Rules, 2019. Full SVLDRS Rule, 2019 

Fifteen percent taxpayers have been able to file an annual return under Goods and Services Tax (GST) amid fast approaching due date owing to complexities raising worries among dealers fraternity, who are now demanding exemption from filing annual returns for first-year 2017/18. In wake of lacklustre response and hurdles faced by taxpayers in filing annual return forms 9, 9A and 9C, Ahilya Chamber of Commerce and Industry has urged the government to exempt taxpayers from filing annual returns for the first year. Ahilya Chamber of Commerce and Industry general secretary Sushil Sureka said, “Except some big corporates, details demanded an annual return form is next to impossible for small traders to provide due to which they are not able to file GST returns. As everything is online and we have been filing monthly returns, software should auto compile annual return data.”

There are four lakh taxpayers in Madhya Pradesh registered with GST department, of which not more than 15 percent have been able to file annual returns so far, officials from state GST department said. Lack of provision for rectification in annual return in case of any error and complex nature of forms are delaying return filing, said, industry experts. Some industries associations have also demanded an extension of the last date and to allow rectification in returns. The last date for filing GST annual returns is August 31, that has been extended once from July 31. An official from State GST department wishing anonymity said, “Response is not great with just 15 percent taxpayers able to file annual returns till date. Looking at the slow pace we are anticipating that the last date for filing the returns will get extended again.”

CBIC vide Notification No. 36/2019-Central Tax dated August 20, 2019, has extended the date by 3 months from August 21, 2019 to November 21, 2019 from which no person whether consignor or consignee or transporter, shall be allowed to furnish information in Part A of the EWB-01 as supplier or recipient if the taxpayer has not filed the return for two consecutive periods as per Rule 138E of the CGST Rules 2017.

The Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs has extended the due date of Filling the GSTR 3B return for the month of July 2019 to August 22, 2019. The relevant notification will be issued shortly in this regard.

Parle Products Private Limited said that product demand for its products has diminished in the past two quarters. In an exclusive interview to Bloomberg Quint, Mayank Shah, category heads at Parle Products said, “Consumers have become more value-conscious during the times of slowdown in the last six months. Consumers are not buying enough. Offtake from the shops is getting affected. The number of shops stocking these products is the same, but the number of products being sold from these shops is going down due to weakening consumer demand,” His remarks came after Varun Berry, managing director, Britannia Ltd, in a post-earnings conference said the consumers are thinking twice before buying even a ₹5 product. He indicated towards a “serious issue in the economy”.

“We’ve only grown 6 percent and the market is growing slower than that,” Varun Berry, managing director at the maker of Good Day and Tiger biscuits, said. Britannia Industries market shares have declined more than 3 percent since it announced its first-quarter results on August 9, 2019.  Mayan Shah of Parle Products held higher slabs in Goods and Services tax and lack of adequate government stimulus responsible for the slowdown in demand. “Imposing higher taxes on biscuits bought typically by lower-income consumers will definitely impact sales. The government needs to spruce up demand. There has also been a long pending demand to reduce GST on biscuits priced at ₹100 per kg or below.” “These biscuits were taxed at only 12-14 percent under the previous excise and value-added tax regime. Under GST, they are priced at 18 percent. This forces companies to increase prices, impacting sales,” said Shah

CBIC issued notification in which board seeks to exempt the hiring of Electric buses by local authorities from GST vide N/N 13/2019-Central Tax (Rate) ,dt. 31-07-2019

CBIC issued notification in which board seeks to reduce the GST rate on Electric Vehicles, and charger or charging stations for Electric vehicles, vide N/N 12/2019-Central Tax (Rate) ,dt. 31-07-2019

In its first review of the performance of the goods and services tax (GST), the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) on Tuesday pointed to several gaps in the new regime and said even after two years, system-validated input tax credit (ITC) through "invoice matching" was not in place and a non-intrusive e-tax system remained elusive. "The complexity of the return mechanism and the technical glitches resulted in rollback of invoice-matching, rendering the system prone to ITC frauds. Without invoice-matching and auto generation of refunds, assessments, etc on the whole, the envisaged GST tax compliance system is non-functional," the CAG said. The audit pointed out the vulnerability of the system to fraudulent ITC claims. It found the system allowed unrealistic and erroneous claim of ITC of IGST by one taxpayer, representing 79% of total ITC claim by all taxpayers for a month, thus exposing the vulnerability of the system to fraudulent ITC claims.

"The system of payment and settlement of tax that was envisaged for GST was based on 100% invoice-matching and availment of input tax credit, as well as settlement of IGST on the basis of invoice matching. Neither is possible as of now, as an invoice matching system has not kicked in," the CAG said. This is the first audit report of CAG on GST based on review of the system for the financial year 2018 19. The auditor said the extent of changes, having to be now undertaken, as well as the suspension of key aspects of the system, pointed to inadequate coordination among the stakeholders such as department of revenue, Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) and GSTN as well as failure to try out the system adequately before rollout.