Every registered taxpayer whose turnover of an F.Y. is more than the specified limit of INR 2 crores u/s (5) 35 of the CGST Act shall get his accounts audited by a chartered accountant or a cost accountant and shall furnish its copy and a reconciliation statement in FORM GSTR-9C.
Here we will discuss the complete GSTR 9C DSC issues into 2 parts divided into Part A & Part B.
GSTR 9C Part A – Issues under DSC
Digital Signature Certificates (DSC): Digital Signature Certificate is an electronic or digital format of authorization and plays the role of evidence of an individual’s identity for the purpose of online transactions and filings.
While filing Form GSTR-9C on GST Portal, you may encounter some issues related to DSC Part-A, some of them are highlighted here along with the quick fix.
Taxpayers may use PAN-based Class 2 or Class 3 DSC on GST Portal
Make sure that PAN entered and PAN mentioned in DSC is the same, in the case of PAN verification failed error.
Make sure that DSC is installed / token is plugged in your system.
In case of issues on registration or signing DSC on the GST Portal, ensure that emSigner is started.
When emSigner server is started to → Stop the server > Restart the emSigner server as ‘Run as Administrator’.
When emSigner server is not started to → Start the emSigner server as ‘Run as Administrator’.
In case of error after clicking the PROCEED button or invisible WebSocket, restart the emSigner.
Open the GSTR-9C Offline Utility Excel Worksheet > Include the table-wise details in the Worksheet > Create Preview PDF file > Access the Draft Form GSTR-9C
Create JSON File which auditor will attest by affixing his/her DSC.
Send the attested JSON File to the taxpayer for uploading it on GST Portal.
Upload The prepared GSTR-9C Statement
Taxpayer Uploads the attested JSON File on GST Portal using his/her DSC Save Form on GST Portal.
Signature the Form and finish the filing of Form GSTR-9C on GST Portal.
Note: While signing generated JSON File, by using his/her DSC, Auditor should make sure that
HTML file name ‘WSweb’ and ‘GSTR_9C_Offline_Utility’ is in the same folder to create the JSON and emSigner is installed in your system.
According to section 149 of the Income Tax Act, Certain terms and conditions may apply while issuing the notice of tax assessment above six years. Also, the income tax department is liable to reopen a case only when an assessee has failed to provide returns or has not given proper information and documents regarding the tax assessment.
Keeping in mind the concerns of a taxpayer, ITA has launched a long queue of policies which the tax department has to follow before reopening a case, just to make a note that a taxpayer is not unnecessarily disturbed in the process.
An assessing officer can examine the case with the satisfaction of the taxpayer. The most important thing is that a taxpayer has all the rights to question the department’s offer to reopen the assessment
Furthermore, according to the sections of the ITA, reopening of the cases above six years is a very difficult conduct. “This provision has led to unnecessary litigations,” said the officials.
There are even cases of tax officers reopening the case just to expand the range of any ongoing assessment on the basis of non-disclosure of the information by the assessee. Experts suggest that doing away with the extended assessment cases will make sure that the department achieves tax certainty for taxpayers and at the same time it will help the department to increase the chances of tax recovery.
As per tax experts, “there could be possibilities where an assessee himself is not traceable after a long time, with much advanced analytical tools and a much more proactive department, this reduction in the time period of tax recovery is definitely achievable.”
The 35th GST council meeting has been live since today 21st June 2019 and the newly appointed Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman is set to discuss and initiate the council meeting for the first time in her position. There are some important suggestions and discussions backed by tax experts which are to be taken in the meeting.
05:50 pm: “Effective date to not allow e-way bill generation for not filing returns for >2 months, extended till Aug 21”
05:39 pm: “GST Council approves the proposal of the introduction of e-invoicing”
05:31 pm: “GST Council approves setting of state & area based GST Appellate Tribunal (GSTAT); some states to have more than one GSTAT”
05:20 pm: “GST rate cut on electric charger approved from 18% to 12% to enhance electric vehicle (EV) infrastructure.”
04:57 pm: “GST Council extends the due date for filing GSTR 9”
04:55pm: “GST Council approves an extension of National Anti-profiteering Authority by 2 years. Also, the penalty for not paying Profiteering charges & If the profiteered amount is not paid up to 30 days of order then there will be a 20% penalty. Business can use Aadhaar card for registration”
04:45 pm: “GST Council approves a two-year extension for National Anti-profiteering authority”
03:38 pm: “In her Opening Remarks, the Finance Minister, Smt. @nsitharaman further said that GST Council has much more work to do including simplification of GST Rules, rationalisation of GST rates &bringing more items in the ambit of GST among others.”
1.20 pm: “the Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman sought the cooperation of all the States & Union Territories in achieving the aspirations of the people at large & extended full cooperation from her side in achieving the desired goals”
1.10 pm: “The Union Finance Minister said that the share of the States in tax devolution has increased from 32% under 13th Finance Commission to 42% in 14th Finance Commission during the first tenure of the present Government”
1.05 pm: “In her Opening Remarks, the FM said that unprecedented level of devolution of funds has taken place from Centre to the States which has increased in recent times from Rs.8,29,344 Crore to Rs.12,38,274 Crore”
1.00 pm: “The FM further said that the Centre has the responsibility of setting the direction of the economic growth while it’s the responsibility of the States to implement in the field”
Below is the List of Expectations of 35th GST Council Meeting
Focus on Curbing Tax evasion
An important topic which is the most likely to be discussed in the upcoming GST council meeting is of the increasing tax evasions causing low GST collections. After providing sufficient relaxation to businesses during the first two years of the launch of the GST, the government is now ready to strengthen the compliance rules & requirements in order to curb tax evasion. This may include mandatory generation of e-voices, e-wall bill validation at toll plazas, etc. The new rules are expected to be applied to big companies first and eventually on all businesses.
Proposal for 50 Cr Turnover
The finance ministry may fix the 50 crore turnover threshold for the business firms to generate the e-invoice but on the centralised government online portal. The invoice will be generated for business-to-business (B2B) sales.
The decision can be taken on the basis of 68,041 businesses with a 50 crore turnover is of 66.6% total GST paid but are only 1.02% GST payer. Also to note that they are 30 per cent of B2B invoice generator.
“The Council is likely to meet before the General Budget so that its views could be included in the Budget,” a senior Finance Ministry official said.
Officials do understand the immediate need to iron out the issues so they have started making a detailed note on recommendations from various industries bodies for the new government so that the matter could be taken up by the GST Council on the hair-trigger basis.
Major issues, highlighted by the industry experts which need resolution on priority basis encompass inadequate precision in the concept of anti-profiteering, cross charge of employee cost such as salaries, overheads etc, eligibility to avail ITC relies on vendor’s compliance which affects working capital of the assessee, charging interest on false Input Tax Credit (ITC) claim, dual tax on ocean freight charged on the importers, ITC on services accompanying immovable property.
Understanding the urgent need of resolution of key issues like a cross charge of employee costs, double taxation on ocean freight, ambiguity on the computation of profits for anti-profiteering etc. Harpreet Singh, Indirect Tax Partner at KPMG said “Issuance of a Master Circular on all key open issues, similar to the one issued under the erstwhile service tax regime, perhaps could be a good idea for further streamlining the new regime,”
As far as the anti-profiteering issue is concerned, industry bodies are not endowed with precise information about the clause which lead to the bewilderment when it comes to fixing the selling prices for goods. The law needs to be improved and encompassed with the factors that offer clarity on the costs spent on account of shifting from GST to non-GST era.It also doesn’t specify the ways to pass on the perks by loss-making units. Considering all these facts , industrialists are emphasizing on the elaborating the provisions of the anti-profiteering clause so that a precise method of computing the benefit and tool for passing the said benefit can be adopted.
Cross charge of employee costs like salaries and overheads is another important issue which needs prompt settlement. The issue was accentuated when an Authority for Advance Rulings (AAR) said that activities served by corporate office based employees for the branch office situated in a different State (distinct person) shall be considered as a supply of service and thus GST would be exercised upon it. It also states that the value of such supply will incorporate the cost of employees. Industry bodies insist solution about this and want that employee cost should not be cross charged from branches or other units running under a different GSTIN.
Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) has recommended that to reduce the tax rates on electronic vehicles from 12 percent to 5 percent under GST to promote such vehicles in India, apart from providing one-time Income Tax (I-T) deduction of 30 percent on prices of e- vehicles for non-financed buyers. While submitting the white paper to the government, the SIAM also demanded to exempt the road tax on EVs. SIAM also said that to promote electrical mobility in India it will require a multi-pronged, segment and customer-specific policy.
The policy must cover several points such as enabling charging infrastructure build-out, encouraging domestic manufacturing, improving affordability and acceptance of EVs by bridging viability gap and creating public awareness besides providing other enablers, it said.
According to the White Paper, “Demand incentives or cash subsidies can at best be a short-term measure to kick-start the process. However, tax rebates and other fiscal and non-fiscal measures can be sustained over a longer term and will have a greater impact and outreach.”
On specific policy measures, it is anticipated that GST rates on all-electric vehicles are likely to be reduced from 12 percent to 5 percent and road tax may be fully exempted, said SIAM.
For EV buyers, the white paper proposed a “one-time Income Tax deduction of 30% of vehicle price from total taxable income to individual purchasers, who have not availed any bank finance for the purchase”.
To evaluate the reduced price on such kind of incentives vehicles of maximum INR 25 lakhs may be considered. According to the white paper, those individuals who had taken the bank loan to purchase personal EVs is described as, “Income Tax deduction of up to ₹1 lakh on the interest component for loans taken may be given every year during the tenure of the loan, like government’s scheme on home loans.”
From the leading technology companies to International financial centres, government organisations and accountancy firms, no matter the size of the company, need chartered accountants. Becoming a CA is your visa to success and therefore one must develop certain positive habits while being a aspirant of the CA course. No matter, if entrepreneurship is your passion, chartered accountancy offers an ideal cornerstone for starting your own business.
A career option as Chartered Accountant is one of the best career opportunity and recession-proof profession in India as well as in the U.K. but at the same time, the whole journey from entry level CA Foundation to CA Final is full of challenges.
To successfully crack the CA examinations, determination combined with hard work, a thorough preparation combined with a set of certain habits plays an important role.
We Are Listing Here Some of Those Habits Which A CA Aspirant Should Inculcate in His/Her Daily Schedule :
#1. Proper Intervals
This challenging career with the extensive course covering various topics which needs consistent efforts and studies along with revision. But pressing pedals toward completing the course without intervals will make the study tiresome, monotonous and baffling.
CA aspirants should take short breaks in between their study sessions so that they can be as much refreshed as required for the new topic.
Proper intervals between the session will give you time to grasp the knowledge of whatever you have read and will space you out for more knowledge further.
#2. Fix Your Goals And Achieve Them
CA aspirants should fix their study goals and strive to achieve them without fail and delay. The study goals should be bifurcated into two – short-term and long-term study goals. The accomplishment of short term goals on time will serve as a motivation to achieve the long term ones, while the accomplishment of long term goals will make full-fledged ready for the exams, beyond the shadow of nervousness and doubt.
In this way, you can track your performance on your own on a regular basis and remain self-motivated.
Time management is another habit which is witnessed in CA toppers. This habit plays a key role in your success in any field. CA Aspirants should learn to manage and use their time properly in the preparation.
Well said – Tomorrow never comes! CA Aspirants should say no to procrastination and follow their planned scheduled diligently. If you keep postponing your study, you will end up taking the burden for later dates and in this way, you will lack revision as well as self-confidence.
#4. Constant Revision
Going through the course just once or twice is not just enough, we all know. Constant revision of the course at regular interval is must to crack the exam successfully. CA aspirants should prepare notes and jot down all the important points precisely for the quick and easy revision. Studying and learning the concepts once should be followed by revision on a regular basis so that the understanding takes a permanent picture in the mind of the student. Previous question papers and mock tests should be an inevitable part of your revision because in this way only you can sort and work on your weaknesses and frame strategies accordingly to elevate your performance.
If you infuse these habits in your day to day life, you are sure to get a stable career with a strong demand for your CA skills.
In response to the demand of the trade industry and ongoing issues on the portal, the Finance Ministry has earlier decided to extend the last date for filing GST annual returns to June 30, 2019. The previous date for annual GST return filing was December 31, 2018.
But in the latest 35th GST council meeting, the union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman has taken decision to extend the due dates of filing the Form GSTR 9, GSTR 9A and the GSTR 9C.
The government has extended the due date of filing tax deducted at source (TDS) returns under GST laws for the Jan-Mar period till May 31, 2019. As per the Income Tax Department notification number 36/2019 dated April 12, 2019, the format to furnish the TDS statement for Form 24Q Quarter 4 has been revised. The new format is applicable with effect from May 12, 2019 onwards.
The Return Preparation Utility (RPU) supporting the new format as well as the File Validation utility (FVU) will be hosted and available for download on TIN website from May 12, 2019 onwards.
All the deductors are here by requested to use the appropriate file format as well as software to prepare and validate the statement before submitting at TIN FC.
There are many change in the file format for Form 24Q Quarter 4
Changes In 24Q
As per the Income Tax Department notification 36/2019 dated April 12, 2019 the file format for Form 24Q Quarter 4 has been revised. The new format is applicable from May 12, 2019 Onwards.
Important Information regarding revised Form No. 24Q Annexure-II.
As per “CBDTs Notification 36/2019”, dated 12th April, 2019 the format of TDS Statement in Form No. 24Q, Annexure-II has been revised. The Notification shall come into force w.e.f. 12th May’2019.
The Form 16 and 24Q have been amended to make them more elaborative and informative. The same has been done to bring the Forms in parity with latest changes made in ITR Forms such as disclosure of deductions and exemptions. This will ensure that Form 16 shall be in conformity with the IT return forms making it easy for the taxpayers to file their Income tax returns.
Changes/ New requirements in Form No. 24Q Annexure-ll
Revised Form 24Q seeks more details on salary paid or credited during the year. Also furnishing of Lender’s PAN is mandatory in the cases where housing loan is taken from a person other than a Bank/ Financial Institution/ Employer. New format requires the tax deductors to furnish following additional information-
1. Detailed break-up for exempt Income u/s 10–
a. Travel concession or assistance u/s 10(5)
b. Death-cum-retirement gratuity u/s 10(10)
c. Commuted value of Pension u/s 10(10A)
d. Cash equivalent of leave salary encashment u/s 10(10AA)
e. House rent allowance under u/s 10(13A)
f. PAN of landlord, if exemption is claimed u/s 10(13A)
The high court of Telangana recently ordered that no individual or taxpayer will be getting input tax credit until unless he had filed the GST returns.Also, the court has said that in case he had missed the return filing he is liable to pay the penalty on the tax amount. This would impact the majority of dealers who have been using the ITC on inputs for the reduction in cash payments.As per the judgement of Justices V Ramasubramanian and P Keshava Rao, it said, “…until a return is filed as self-assessed, no entitlement to credit and no actual entry in the electronic credit ledger takes place. As a consequence, no payment can be made from out of such a credit entry.”
The company on which the case was being decided argued that the interest has to be calculated on the net tax liability and not on the total tax amount however the court supported the otherwise and held the tax department correct.As per a tax lawyer, “The ruling has very wide implication as almost all taxpayers, who delayed filing returns and have paid interest only on cash payment of tax and not on the GST amount set off by them through ITC. The issue will open a floodgate of litigation and demands of interest by GST officials are imminent. Even CAs while auditing Annual GST Returns, which have to be filed by June 30, may be required to point out short payment of interest due to delayed set-off.”
GST Department Planning New Tricks on Tax Evaders
GST Department Planning New Tricks on Tax Evaders
Tax sleuths have planned a fresh crackdown on traders practicing tax evasion of Goods and Services Tax (GST) by pursuing new registration for their businesses without dismissing a prior one.Right and duties coexist simultaneously & where it is right, there is a duty to be fulfilled by the citizens. The Goods and Services Tax (GST) law gives the right to an individual to have separate registration on the same Permanent Account Number (PAN) in the same state. But people are not using this facility in fair fashion instead they are using the same to evade taxes which were due under earlier registration.
The Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) has given strict orders to the tax officers to carefully check and analyze the information like details of proprietor, director/members of managing committee of associations/board of trustees etc, furnished by an applicant in the fresh registration form in the context of any cancelled registration having same details. Recently, a huge number of registrations has been aborted by tax officers due to non-compliance.
Here are Nine changes in ITR forms 1 & 2 that you should know about while filing your return for FY19.
Key changes in ITR-1 and ITR-2 forms
If you are holding shares in an unlisted company then, you are required to disclose the details of your holdings in ITR-2.The income tax return (ITR) forms for FY 2018-19 notified by the government are different from those used to file the previous year’s returns. Some of the changes in the forms have been done in keeping with the changes in income tax laws made in Budget 2018 for FY 2018-19 and onwards. Apart from that, there are other changes as well in the ITR forms which you should be careful about while filing your return for FY 2018-19.
Here are nine changes in ITR forms 1 & 2 that you should know about:
1. Online filing of ITR mandatory
In a departure from previous year, all individuals (except
for super senior citizens) will be required to file their ITRs electronically.
The ITR-1 for FY 2018-19 cannot be filed in paper format by the taxpayers
having income below Rs 5 lakh with no refund.Chartered Accountant, Naveen Wadhwa, DGM, says, “In the previous year, CBDT allowed two types of individuals to file their ITR in paper format. These individuals were super senior citizens whose age is 80 years or above and individuals having income below Rs 5 lakh with no refund. However, for FY 2018-19, only super senior citizens can now file ITR-1 or ITR-4 in paper form and others will have to file their ITR electronically.”
2. Complete details of buyer to whom you have sold property
Property Details
If you have sold a property in FY 2018-19, then while filing ITR-2, you will be required to provide complete details of the buyer to whom you have sold the property. Wadhwa says, “The buyer details have to be provided irrespective whether the capital gains accrued are of short-term or long-term in nature. The details of buyer will have to be given if TDS is deducted by your buyer while making payment.”It is mandatory to deduct TDS if the sale value exceeds Rs 50 lakh. However, “If the sale value exceeds Rs 10 lakh but below Rs 50 lakh then deducting TDS is not mandatory but quoting of PAN of the buyer while filing ITR is mandatory for this year,” adds Wadhwa.
3. Property wise details of Rent arrears
“While filing ITR-1 or ITR-2 as applicable, if there are any rent arrears that are received by you in FY 2018-19 then you have to report them property wise as received,” says Wadhwa. Remember, if an individual has one house property which is let out during FY 2018-19, then the rent received is required to be reported in ITR-1.
For individuals with more than one house property, they are required to file their ITR using ITR-2. “ITR-1 & ITR-2 has introduced an additional row ‘Arrears/Unrealized Rent received during the year less 30%’. This row was not available in both the forms in the previous year,” adds Wadhwa.
4. Specifying the type of house property
While providing details of your one house property in ITR-1, you are required to specify whether the house is – ‘Self Occupied’, ‘Let-out’ or ‘Deemed Let-out.’ In the previous year’s ITR-1, there was no such option of ‘Deemed Let-out’ in ITR-1.
5. Investment details in unlisted companies
If you are holding shares in an unlisted company then, you are required to disclose the details of your holdings in ITR-2. The details required are extensive – name of the company, PAN of the company, number and cost of acquisition at the beginning of the year, number of shares, face value, issue price (or purchase price) and date of purchase of shares acquired during the year, number and sale consideration of shares transferred during the year, number and cost of acquisition of shares held at the end of the previous year.Wadhwa says, “Such information is being sought so as to get the footprints of transactions of purchase and sale of unlisted shares. It will also help the department to check whether income and net worth of a shareholder is in corroboration with the amount invested by him in an unlisted company. If it does not reconcile, the department can initiate the enquiry to verify if some unaccounted money is invested in an unlisted company.”
6. Reporting of salary details gets easier in ITR-1
This year providing details of your salary income will be easier as the details required are in sync with the information available in Form-16. In the last year, though taxpayers were required to provide the break-up of salary details, the information required was not in sync with information available in Form-16.
7. Full disclosure of interest income
Along with providing full break-up of salary income, taxpayers will be required to specify the full bifurcation details of the interest income or any other income received by them. Income from other sources head in ITR-1 has been updated to provide details of the source from where interest or any other income is received.
8. Residential status :
The new ITR-2 form asks individuals not only to specify the residential status as resident, resident but not ordinarily resident or non-resident, but also to provide additional information with respect to his residential status, such as, number of days of stay in India, jurisdiction of his residence and tax identification number in case he is a non-resident.”These details are being asked to check if a taxpayer has rightly determined his residential status in India which is entirely based on his number of days of stay in India. The Tax Identification Number will validate if a non-resident taxpayer is rightly claiming the DTAA benefit,” adds Wadhwa.
9. Mention of DIN number
If you are Director of a company, then you will be required to specify your DIN (Director Identification Number) in ITR-2 or 3 whichever is applicable. Along with this you will also be required to provide information – name of company, PAN, whether shares are listed or unlisted.
Wadhwa says, “The purpose of seeking DIN no. of
directors might be to identify the inactive directors whose qualifications and
taxable income does not justify him to remain on board. If a person has been a
director of a company but his income over the period had been negligent, it can
raise doubt on the purpose for which he was appointed as director in a
company.”
Forms for the GST audit report of the Financial Year 2017-18 have been issued. This form is for companies that do business more than 2 crore rupees annually.For the financial year 2017-18, companies with annual turnover of more than Rs 2 crore can start filling GST audit reports. For this, GST Network (GSTN) has made the form available on its portal. The last date for filing the audit report is June 30.The financial year 2017-18 was the first year of implementation of Goods and Services Tax (GST). The Ministry had notified the annual return form GSTR-9, GSTR-9A and GSTR-9C on December 31, 2018. The GST Council had extended the last date of filing of these forms from December 30 to 30 June.
Annual Audit Form
GST Network has also made GSTR-9C offline available. It can fill the taxpayer and upload it to the portal. EY India’s tax partner Abhishek Jain said that the industry had been waiting for a long time to facilitate offline processing and filling of GSTR-9C online. He said, “Explanation of auditor’s digital signature, besides book-accounts, sending benefits / loss accounts etc, the companies should help in complying with its compliance.”
About the form
GSTR-9 is the annual return form for all the taxpayers registered under GST. GSTR-9A is for taxpayers who adopt a one-time tax plan. Whereas GST-9C is a maturity statement. Verification is done by chartered accountants or cost accountants. By the way taxpayers have to deposit it with an annual return whose business is more than Rs 2 crore in the financial year.
GST Revenue At Highest Level
Explain that revenue collection under GST has gone up from
15 percent to 1.06 lakh crore in March last year compared to the same period
last year. According to the finance ministry, GST revenue collection was Rs
1,06,577 crore in March, which is the highest monthly collection level ever
since GST was implemented. GST revenue collection in March last year was Rs
92,167 crore, compared to 15.6 per cent in the last month’s revenue collection.
