With the introduction of GST today, the regulatory body of indirect taxes, the Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC) has issued certain important notifications.

The notifications could be broadly categorised under the following heads:

  1. Central Tax Notifications
  2. Central Tax (Rate) Notifications
  3. Integrated Tax Notifications
  4. Integrated Tax (Rate) Notifications

A. Central Tax and Integrated notifications

1. Notification No. 7/2017 dated 27 June 2017 - Amendments to the Central Goods and Services Tax (CGST) Rules, 2017

The following key amendments have been made to the CGST Rules, 2017:

Earlier provision Amendment Effect of amendment
- Registration granted to a person shall be liable to be cancelled if there is non-compliance with the provisions of anti-profiteering measures. It would be pertinent for every assesse to strictly comply with the anti-profiteering measures.
- If a certificate of registration has not been made available to a migrating applicant within 15 days from the date of furnishing of required information and particulars, and no notice has been received, the registration would be deemed to have been granted. The migrating applicant would not have to wait for confirmation of registration after the lapse of 15 days.
When an order of temporary/suo moto registration has been passed by an officer in relation to any person in Form REG-12, such person has a period of thirty days to file application for proper registration. The words 'thirty days' have been substituted with the words 'ninety days' in Form REG-12. The person to whom a temporary registration is granted should file an application within a period of 90 days from the date of grant of such registration.

 

Sr. No. Notification No. Subject
1. 8/2017 dated
28 June 2017 – CGST Act, 2017
The notification seeks to notify the turnover limit for the composition levy for CGST.
2. 9/2017 dated
28 June 2017 – CGST Act, 2017
and
3/2017 dated 28 June 2017 - IGST Act, 2017
The notification provides for the enforcement of certain sections of the CGST Act, 2017 and the IGST Act, 2017 respectively with effect from 1 July 2017
3. 10/2017 dated
28 June 2017 – CGST Act, 2017

The Notification No.3/2017 has been amended vide Notification No.10/2017-Central Tax to notify the following rules:
  • Valuation Rules
  • ITC Rules
  • Tax Invoice, Credit and Debit Notes
  • Accounts and Records Rules
  • Return Rules
  • Payment of Tax Rules
  • Refund Rules
  • Assessment and Audit Rules
  • Advance Ruling Rules
  • Appeals and Revision Rules
  • Transition Rules
  • Ant-profiteering Rules
  • E-way Rules (Currently, such rules have not been implemented and have been postponed up to a time when an e-way bill system is developed and approved by the council)
4. 12/2017 dated
28 June 2017 – CGST Act, 2017
and
5/2017 dated
28 June 2017 – IGST Act, 2017
The requirement of mentioning the Harmonised System of Nomenclature (HSN) codes in the tax invoice has been notified:
Sr. No. Annual turnover in the preceding financial year Number of digits of HSN code
1. Up to INR 15 million Nil
2. More than INR 15 million and up to INR 50 million 2
3. More than INR 50 million 4
5. 13/2017 dated
28 June 2017 – CGST Act, 2017
and
6/2017 dated 28 June 2017 – IGST Act, 2017
Interest rates for the purpose of certain provisions of the CGST Act, 2017 have been notified. The interest rates range from 6% to 24% in various scenarios.

B. Central Tax Rates notifications

Sr. No. Notification No. Subject
1. 1/2017 dated
28 June 2017
The schedule of CGST rates applicable on goods and services has been notified vide such notification.

For the purpose of interpretation of these notifications, the rules of interpretation of the First Schedule to the Customs Tariff Act, 1975 (51 of 1975), including the section and chapter notes and the general explanatory notes of the First Schedule, shall apply.
2. 2/2017 dated
28 June 2017
Certain goods which are going to be exempt from the levy of CGST have been notified vide such notification.
3. 3/2017 dated
28 June 2017
Certain supplies which are to be taxed at a concessional rate of CGST have been notified vide such notification.

The concession is provided to the goods which are covered in the petroleum and oil exploration industry.
4. 4/2017 dated
28 June 2017
The goods and services on which tax is required to be paid under the reverse charge mechanism have been notified vide such notification.
5. 5/2017 dated
28 June 2017
The notification provides that the taxpayers dealing in commodities with inverted tax structures (where the rate of tax on inputs is higher than the rate of tax on the output supplies, other than nil rated or fully exempt supplies), shall be able to claim a refund of unutilised input tax credit.
6. 8/2017 dated
28 June 2017
The notification provides that intra-state supplies of goods or services, or both, received by a registered person from an unregistered supplier have been exempted from the reverse charge mechanism up to the extent of INR 5,000 per day.
7. 9/2017 dated
28 June 2017
The notification provides that no tax would be required to be paid under the reverse charge mechanism in case of intra-state supply to a deductor by an unregistered supplier.
8. 10/2017 dated
28 June 2017
Intra-state supplies of second-hand goods received by a registered person, dealing in buying and selling of second-hand goods and who pays central tax on the value of outward supply of such second-hand goods, from any supplier, who is not registered, shall be exempt vide such notification.
9. 11/2017 dated
28 June 2017
The CGST rate of 37 services has been notified vide such notification.
10. 12/2017 dated
28 June 2017
Certain services which have been exempted have been provided vide such notification.
11. 13/2017 dated
28 June 2017
Nine services have been prescribed in respect of which the tax would be required to be paid under the reverse charge mechanism.
12. 14/2017 dated
28 June 2017
Certain activities which would neither be treated as supply of goods nor supply of services are covered under this notification.
13. 15/2017 dated
28 June 2017
No refund of ITC in the case of services of 'construction of a complex, building, civil structure or a part thereof, including a complex or building intended for sale to a buyer, wholly or partly, except where the entire consideration has been received after the issuance of a completion certificate.
14. 16/2017 dated 28 June 2017 The notification has provided for the refund of taxes paid on notified supplies of goods or services, or both, received by certain specialised agencies
15. 17/2017 dated
28 June 2017
The notification has provided that in case of intra-state supply of certain services, the tax shall be paid by the e-commerce operator

C. Integrated Tax notifications

Notifications corresponding to those issued under the CGST Act, in relation to rates on supply of goods and services, have been issued under the provisions of the IGST Act. They can be accessed here.

D. Event conducted by the State Finance Minister (FM) of Maharashtra - Key takeaways

An event was organised by the Maharashtra FM (Sudhir Mungantiwar) for GST wherein the Commissioner of Sales Tax, Rajiv Jalota, addressed queries of trade and industry.

  • A prototype of Form 3B (in excel format) will be made available on the Maharashtra VAT/GST website in two to three days – Assessees may access the same and test filing of such interim returns.
  • The trade circular to be issued on the format of debit notes/credit notes/invoices, etc. The draft content has already been circulated on Whatsapp to some trade associations.
  • As a reach-out effort, trainings on filing GSTRs are to be conducted by the Maharashtra Sales Tax Department (the Department).
  • A flyer on pros and cons of composition dealers are to be circulated by departments for small assesses.
  • The Department must also set up a GST Suvidha Kendra at their BKC office for registration related issues. Assesses can approach this office for any issues on GST migration/registration.
  • The notification on SGST rates, which will be same as CGST rates, shall be issued shortly. The GST Council will revisit this in case of any industry issues on rates under GST. Assessees may approach the Department with representation in case of any concerns (however, representation must contain global and other state background on such rates (if any) so as to enable department to take it forward to the Council).
  • The email ID for GST-related queries set up by the Department is maharashtragst@gov.com. The Department is also in the process of setting up separate email IDs for registrations, refunds, returns, etc. respectively.
SKP's comments
  • These notifications were issued with the intent to bring the provisions of the GST Laws into force from today, 1 July 2017.
  • While it is expected that there will be certain initial implementation issues, the determined resolve of the government needs to be appreciated. GST has finally come into existence and is one of the most substantial achievements in terms of tax reforms.

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.