The 35th GST council on Friday extended the tenure of the national anti-profiteering authority (NAA) by two years till November 30, 2021.

The date for filing annual returns under the Goods and Services Tax (GST) regime has also been extended by two months to August 31. The one-form new GST returns filing system will be applicable from January 1, 2020. The meeting was chaired by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman.

This move comes amidst concerns of businesses evading GST returns. A fall in GST collections had highlighted speculations about businesses avoiding the tax net. The authority deals with complaints by consumers against companies for not passing on GST rate cut benefits.

The NAA came into existence on November 30, 2017, after its Chairman BN Sharma assumed charge. So far, the NAA has passed 67 orders in various cases.

Apart from increasing the tenure of NAA, the council also approved imposing a penalty of up to 10 per cent on entities not passing on benefits of GST rate cuts to consumers.

Addressing a press conference, Revenue Secretary Ajay Bhushan Pandey spoke about the decision of allowing the use of Aadhaar by businesses to register with GST-network. Now the Aadhaar number of a businessman would be entered into the system to minimise paperwork and tax evasion.

The council, which is headed by the Union finance minister and comprises representatives of all states and UTs, also approved an electronic invoicing system and e-ticketing in multiplexes.

The revenue secretary said the proposal to reduce GST rate on electric vehicles to 5 per cent from the current 12 per cent and that on the electric charger to 12 per cent from 18 per cent is with the committee for fine-tuning.

Speaking on the lottery issue, the secretary said that legal opinion of the attorney general was sought on the issue.

The GST council during its previous meetings had deliberated on imposing a uniform tax rate on state and private-run lotteries to curb revenue leaks due to the present dual system. Registered multiplexes shall be required to issue a tax invoice electronically. For this purpose, the electronic ticket issued by them shall be deemed to be a tax invoice.

Published On : 21-06-2019

Source : India Today