We are pleased to present the latest edition of Tax Street – our newsletter that covers all the key developments and updates in the realm of taxation in India and across the globe for March 2019.

The GST Council in its 28th meeting had approved the key features and the broad format of the new GST returns. Now, the government has released the draft return formats based on the features approved by the GST Council. Apart from this, a string of crucial announcements and rulings in the realms of direct tax, transfer pricing, and indirect tax have taken place. In this issue of Tax Street, we have tried to collect and synthesize all these significant developments to draw a holistic picture of the current tax landscape in India for your understanding.

- The 'Focus Point' section talks about the key features of the draft formats of the new GST returns recently released on the GST portal. It also discusses the core objectives of the new return filing mechanism.

- Under the 'From the Judiciary' section, we provide in brief, the key rulings on important cases and our take on them.

- Our 'Tax Talk' provides key updates on the important tax-related news from India and across the globe.

- Under 'Compliance Calendar', we list down the important due dates with regard to direct tax, transfer pricing and indirect tax in the coming weeks.

We hope you find our newsletter useful and we look forward to your feedback. You can write to us at taxstreet@skpgroup.com.

We would be happy to hear your thoughts on what more can we include in our newsletter and incorporate your feedback in our future editions.

GST Returns 2.0 – New return filing mechanism

The GST Council in its 27th meeting, held on 4 May 2018, had approved the basic principles of GST return design. Later in the 28th meeting, held on 21 July 2018, the GST council approved the key features and the broad format of the GST returns.

The proposed returns have now been made available on the GSTN portal for feedback and recommendations. The core objectives of the new return filing system are as follows:

- Linking the recipient's Input Tax Credit (ITC) with the supplies declared by the supplier

- Simpler compliances for small taxpayers

- Consolidating GSTR-1 and GSTR-3B into a single return

- Making GST returns user-friendly

Earlier, the new GST return filing system was expected to be made available on a voluntary basis from April 2019, and mandatory from July 2019.

However, the government has not announced any timeline while releasing the draft formats.

Download >> Tax Street - March 2019

The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.