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FORM RET 1 – Quarterly GST Return
In the 31st meeting of GST Council, it was recommended to introduce and implement a new GST return system. One of the key aspects of the new GST return system is the introduction of different types of return forms considering the business profile. Quarterly return form RET-1 is one such return type designed for small taxpayers.
In this blog, let us understand the applicability, return filing period and format of quarterly return form RET-1
What is quarterly return form RET-1?
Quarterly Return form RET-1 is a return type for small taxpayers whose aggregate turnover in the financial year does not exceed 5 Crores and their outward supplies consist of B2B B2C and all other types supplies such as exports, SEZ etc.
To put it in simple words, businesses opting quarterly return form RET-1 will be allowed to make all types of outward supplies such as supplies to end consumers, unregistered business, registered business, exports, SEZ etc.
Except for the periodicity of filing return, the form type, format and details required to be furnished are similar to monthly returns.
Periodicity of filing quarterly return form RET-1
The periodicity of filing quarterly return form RET-1 is similar to the Sahaj and Sugam. You need file the returns quarterly with a monthly payment of tax on a self-assessed basis. The due date to file a quarterly return in Form RET-1 is 25th of the subsequent month following the quarter-end.
The due date for filing Sugam GST returns is given below
| Quarterly Return Form RET-1 | |
| Quarters | Due Data |
| April -June | 25th July |
| July – September | 25th October |
| October- December | 25th January |
| January-March | 25th April |
Due date for payment of tax
Though the return filing periodicity is quarterly, businesses opting quarterly RET-1 are required to make the monthly payment.
The tax payment is on the self-assessed basis and the payment declaration challan known as Form GST PMT -08 should be used to remit the payment. The due date to remit the monthly payment is 20th of the subsequent month.
Types of supplies allowed under quarterly GST Return Form RET-1
Business opting quarterly return Form RET-1 will be allowed to make all types of supplies as mentioned in the below table.
| Type of Outward Supplies | Allowed (Yes) / Disallowed (No) |
| B2B transactions | Yes |
| B2C transactions | Yes |
| Exports | Yes |
| SEZ units/developers | Yes |
| Deemed Exports | Yes |
| Outward Supply to e-Commerce Operators | Yes |
| Nil Rated, Exempted or Non – GST | Yes |
| Inward supplies attracting RCM | Yes |
| Import of goods/services | Yes |
| Import of Goods from SEZ | Yes |
Difference between Sahaj, Sugam and quarterly return form RET-1
All these returns are quarterly and designed for small taxpayers. The first difference, the obvious one is that each of these returns differs basis nature of supplies it supports. Sahaj supports only B2C supplies, Sugam supports B2C as well as B2B supplies and quarterly return form RET-1 support all types of supplies.
Second, the most important one, the facility of availing ITC on the missing invoice (invoices not uploaded by the supplier) and reporting of such bills is allowed for businesses opting monthly return and quarterly return in form RET-1. In other words, businesses who have opted Sahaj return and Sugam return will not be allowed avail ITC on the missing invoice.
Quarterly return form RET-1 return filing process
The quarterly return form RET-1 consist of one main return, to be filed on a quarterly basis supported by two main annexures. Form GST RET-1 is the return form to be used to file Sugam returns supported by the annexures.
The details of return forms and annexures to be used for filling Sugam return is given below.
| Form | Description | Action |
| Form GST ANX- I | Form GST ANX-1 is an annexure of outward supplies and inward supplies attracting reverse charge. | You need to upload details of outward supplies along with purchases attracting reverse charge in FORM GST ANX – 1 |
| Form GST ANX – II | It’s an annexure containing details of auto-drafted inward supplies.
|
Form GST ANX-II is an auto-populated annexure containing the details document uploaded by your supplier on a real-time basis.
Here you can either accept, modify or reject the invoice uploaded by your counterpart (seller) for confirming the ITC. |
| Form RET-1 | Form RET-1 is a quarterly return applicable for business opting Sugam returns (Up to 5 Crores) | Business need to file the monthly return by 25th of the subsequent month following the quarter-end |
Filing GSTR-1 using JSON created from Tally.ERP 9
Appellate Authority for Advance Ruling under GST
In our previous blog, we went through the provisions of advance ruling under GST. We also understood that the first level of appeal for advance ruling is to be made to the Authority for Advance Ruling (AAR). However, a taxable person who is not satisfied by the advance ruling of the AAR can approach the second level i.e. the Appellate Authority for Advance Ruling i.e. the AAAR.
It is a good time to note, that appealing against the advance ruling is a new provision in GST. The previous tax regime did not have any scope for appeal against Advance Ruling at all, and the only way to contest the ruling was by going through the Division Bench of the High Court. However, this process has been made easy by the introduction of an appeal mechanism to the Appellate Authority for Advance Ruling under GST – which we will understand in this blog.
Appellate Authority for Advance Ruling Process
The following are the various provisions laid down pertaining to the procedure for advance ruling by the Appellate Authority for Advance Ruling, under GST:
Initiation of Advance Ruling Procedure by AAAR
- The initiation of the appeal to Appellate Authority for Advance Ruling can be made by the applicant or the officer who is aggrieved by any advance ruling
- Appeal against the advance ruling of the AAR, must be made within 30 days from the date of the advance ruling issued by the AAR. However, this limit is extendable by 30 days.
Advance Ruling Forms by AAAR
- The application for appealing against the advance ruling of the AAR, has to be made in Form GST ARA-02, along with the payment of fees of INR 10,000
- If the appeal is made by a GST tax officer, then Form GST ARA-03 needs to be filed. However, no fees will be applicable in this case.
Advance Ruling Purview by AAAR
The AAAR can, by order, either confirm or modify the advance ruling issued by the AAR, which is appealed against. However, if the members of the AAAR, differ in opinion on any point, then an advance ruling cannot be issued.
Post the decision of the AAAR, a copy of the advance ruling signed by the members will be sent to the applicant, the prescribed or the jurisdictional CGST / SGST officer and to the initial authority that passed the Advance Ruling i.e. the AAR.
Advance Ruling Time Limit by AAAR
An advance ruling decision by the AAAR will be given within 90 days from the date of the application.
Rectification of the Advance Ruling by AAAR
The AAAR can amend its own order to rectify any apparent mistake, if the same is noticed within 6 months from the date of the original order. The rectification of the order can be done by:
- AAAR on its own
- Prescribed or the Jurisdictional CGST / SGCT officer
- Applicant
However, it is to be noted that any rectification which may result in increase in tax liability or decrease in input tax credit, will be allowed only after giving a notice and an opportunity to be heard to the applicant.
Scope of the Advance Ruling by AAAR
The advance ruling decision by the Appellate Authority for Advance Ruling will be binding only on the following entities:
- Applicant
- Jurisdictional Tax Authorities in respect of the Applicant
However, if the law or the facts of the original advance ruling change, then the advance ruling issued by the AAAR will not apply.
Nullification of the Advance Ruling by AAAR
If it is discovered, that the appellant has obtained the advance ruling by fraud or suppression of material facts, then the Authority for Advance Ruling (AAR) or the Appellate Authority for Advance Ruling (AAAR) will declare the ruling to be void ab initio (from the beginning). All the provisions of GST, will then be applicable to the applicant as normal without any advance ruling – however, an opportunity of being heard will be given to the applicant, in such as case, post which advance ruling nullification may take place.
In conclusion, it can be said that the provisions of advance ruling under GST are bound to make life simpler for a taxable person who wants to gain clarity on the tax arrangements to be made for a particular transaction. However, the only area where currently a clarity is not available is – that there is no defined level of appeal beyond the 2nd level i.e. the Appellate Authority for Advance ruling. However, it may be expected that the process to appeal further should be similar to that in the previous tax system, and a taxable person who is not satisfied with the decision of the AAAR, may appeal against it, via a special dispensation to the Division Bench of the High Court.
27th GST Council Meeting Updates – Returns Simplified
On the 4th of May, 2018, the 27th GST Council meeting got underway, giving shape to the new returns filing model, which was awaited for the past several months. The new model was decided, based on the recommendations of the Group of Ministers, which had been constituted for the purpose of making the process a simplified one on the 17th of April, 2018. In addition the GST Council also did announce a few rate changes, and some structural changes in the shareholding pattern of the GSTN.Let’s go through all the major 27th GST Council meeting highlights:
27th GST Council meeting – Simplified returns
The 27th GST Council meeting introduced a simplified return filing process, major features of which are as follows:
One monthly return
All taxpayers, with a few exceptions, will have the facility to file one monthly returns, and the return filing dates will be determined in a staggered order, based on the turnover of the registered person. This has been primarily done to manage the load on the GST portal. Composition dealers and dealers with nil transactions will continue to file quarterly returns, as per the 27th GST Council meeting highlights.
Unidirectional flow of bills
There shall be a unidirectional flow of bills, i.e. bills may be uploaded by the seller anytime during the month, which will serve as valid documents to avail input tax credit for the buyer. The buyer too, will be able to see the uploaded invoices on a continuous basis, during a particular month. There will be no need to upload any purchase invoices as per the model suggested initially. Also, for all B2B transactions, HSN codes of 4 digits or more will need to be specified to achieve uniformity in the reporting system, as per the 27th GST Council highlights.
Simpler returns design
B2B dealers will need to fill invoice wise details of all outward supplies made by them, based on which the system will automatically calculate their tax liability. Similarly, their input tax credit will be calculated automatically by the system based on the invoices uploaded by their sellers. All this will be supported by a user-friendly interface coupled with an offline tool to upload invoices. Another major aspect of simplifying the returns process introduced by the 27th GST Council meeting was, the reduction in the content or the information required to be filled in the return forms. The details of the design of the return form, business processes and legal changes will be worked out by the appointed law committee based on these principles, as per the 27th GST Council updates.
No automatic reversal of ITC
There shall not be any automatic reversal of input tax credit from the buyer, in case the seller does not pay the tax, as was the case earlier. In case the seller defaults on the payment of tax, the recovery shall be made from the seller itself. However, as per the 27thGST Council recommendations, the option of reversal of ITC from the buyer shall also be an option available to the GST authorities, to address exceptional scenarios, such as, missing dealers, closure of business by the supplier, supplier not having adequate assets etc.
Online process for recovery and reversal
The recovery of tax or reversal of ITC shall be done through an online and automated process to reduce the human interface. The process will continue to follow the due course of issuing a notice and order, as per the updates from 27th GST Council meeting.
Supplier side control
In case a supplier has defaulted in payment of tax above a threshold amount, such a supplier will not be allowed to upload invoices and thus will not be allowed to avail any ITC. This has been introduced to avoid and to control misuse of the ITC facility. Similar safeguarding provisions have now been built in for newly registered dealers as well as per the 27th GST Council meeting updates. The GST Council has proposed setting up analytical tools to identify such transactions at the earliest, so that loss in revenue may be prevented.
Three stage transition
The following 3 stage transition to the new returns filing system was decided upon at the 27th GST Council meet:
- Stage 1 – Present system of filing GSTR 3B and GSTR 1 returns. GSTR 2 and GSTR 3 will remain suspended. This will continue for a maximum of 6 months, by which the new return filing software will be ready.
- Stage 2 – New return system will go live, with the facility for invoice – wise data upload and also facility for claiming ITC on a self-declaration basis, similar to the role of GSTR 3B currently. During this stage, the dealer will be constantly fed with information about the existing gap between ITC available, and provisional ITC being claimed.
- Stage 3 – Provisional credit will get withdrawn totally, and ITC will be limited only to the invoices uploaded by the sellers from whom the dealer has purchased goods.
GST Rates discussed at the 27th GST Council meeting
While there were no GST rate changes announced as such at the 27th GST Council meeting, there was a good deal of discussion on the following two aspects:
- Reduction of GST rates for digital transactions – Keeping in mind the need to move towards a less cash economy, the GST Council discussed a proposal to have a concession of 2% in the GST rate i.e. 1% each for CGST and SGST, for all B2C supplies in which payments are done via cheque or via digital mode. This was proposed in all cases where the overall GST rate is more than 3%, with a ceiling of INR 100 per transaction. The GST Council has recommended to set up a Group of Ministers from the State Governments to look into the proposal and make recommendations, before the next GST Council meeting, as suggested by the 27th GST Council meeting news.
- Sugar Cess over and above 5% GST and reduction in GST rates of ethanol – Keeping in mind, the record production of sugar in the current sugar season, and the consequent reduction in sugar prices, the GST Council discussed imposing a sugar cess over and above the stipulated 5% GST rate and also considered reducing the GST rate on ethanol. The proposal has come from the food ministry, which has been mulling cutting down the GST rates on ethanol to help sugar mills clear dues worth INR 19,000 crore to sugarcane farmers. However, a conclusion could not be reached, and the GST Council finally recommended to set up a Group of Ministers from the State Governments to look into the proposal and make recommendations, within a period of 2 weeks, as per the 27th GST Council news.
GSTN changes finalised at the 27th GST Council meeting
The GSTN, as one may be aware, was created as a private limited, non-profit company, with an objective to provide shared IT infrastructure and services to Centre and State governments, tax payers and other stakeholders for the implementation of GST. Currently, the Central government and State governments are holding 24.5% equity shares respectively and the remaining 51% are held by 5 non-governmental institutions namely – HDFC, HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, NSE Strategic Investment Co and LIC Housing Finance Ltd. Majority of the GST processes including registration, return filing, tax payment, refunds processing are largely IT driven, and thus it was a given that the GSTN was handling large scale invoice level data of lakhs of business entities.
Considering the nature of the functions handled by GSTN, the GST Council felt that the GSTN should be converted into a fully owned government company.
Keeping this in mind, it was decided at the 27th GST Council meeting, that the 51% held by the non-governmental institutions, worth INR 5.1 Crore, was decided to be distributed equally among the Centre and the State governments, thus taking the respective share of both bodies to 50% each. It was also decided that the GSTN board will be allowed to retain the existing staff at the existing terms and conditions for a period of up to 5 years, and shall also have the flexibility to hire people through contract on the terms and conditions similar to those used by GSTN till now, while hiring regular employees. Nevertheless, the existing financial commitments given by the Centre and the States to GSTN to share the capital costs and O&M costs of the IT systems will continue as before.
In short, the 27th GST Council meeting was a major game changer, as far as the simplified return filing process is concerned. Given the various initiatives discussed, proposed and finalised at the meeting, life for the business is surely bound to become simpler as far as GST compliance is concerned.
GST Appeals to High Court & Supreme Court
In our previous blog, we went through the provisions in place for the second level of appeals under GST i.e. appeals to the Appellate Tribunal. In case a person is not satisfied by the decision or the order passed by the Appellate Tribunal, he can proceed to the last two levels of appeals under GST i.e. GST appeals to High Court & Supreme Court – which we will discuss in this blog.
GST Appeals to high court & supreme court
The following questions will give you more insight on the topic of GST appeals to High Court & Supreme Court:
Who can issue GST appeal to high court?
Any taxable person who is not satisfied with the order or decision passed by the Appellate Tribunal, can issue a GST appeal to High Court, within a period of 180 days i.e. 6 months from the date of the order. However, the High Court may entertain an appeal after the expiry of 6 months, if it is satisfied that there was sufficient cause for not filing the appeal within such period. The GST appeal form to High C0urt needs to be filled accordingly.
What appeals will be allowed in the high court?
The following provisions have been laid down to define the appeals, which may be allowed in the High Court:
- Any person aggrieved by any order passed by the State Bench or Area Benches of the Appellate Tribunal may file an appeal to the High Court. The High Court may admit such an appeal, only if it is satisfied that the case involves a substantial question of law
- Where the High Court is satisfied that a substantial question of law is involved, it shall formulate that question and the appeal shall be heard only on the basis of that question. However, the respondents will be allowed to argue that the case does not involve any such question, at the hearing of the appeal
- The High Court can decide on any issue which –
- Has not been determined by the State Bench or Area Benches
- Has been wrongly determined by the State Bench or Area Benches, due to the question of law
However, appeals against orders passed by the National Bench or Regional Benches of the Tribunal will be aligned to the Supreme Court and not High Court. Also, appeals cannot be made to the High Court where two or more states OR when the State and the Centre have different views. Such cases too, will go straight to the Supreme Court. Thus the procedure of GST appeals to High Court have been well designed to account for the same.
Decisions of the high court – Points to note
As per the GST appeal procedure to High Court, the following are the provisions laid down with regards to the decisions taken:
- The appeal will be heard by a bench of at least 2 High Court Judges, and shall be decided on the basis of majority
- Where there is no majority, then one or more High Court Judges will be brought in to hear out the case. The original Judges shall state the point of law upon which they differ, and the case shall then be heard upon that point alone. Finally, the decision will be taken on a majority basis, by both the original and new set of Judges.
Who can issue GST appeal to supreme court?
Any taxable person who is not satisfied with the order or decision passed by the High Court, National Bench or Regional Benches of the Appellate Tribunal can issue a GST appeal to Supreme Court. However, as discussed above, cases where two States or State and Centre have different views, will be automatically appealed to the Supreme Court. The GST appeal form to Supreme Court needs to be filled accordingly, as per the procedure of GST appeals to Supreme Court laid down by the GST bodies.
Pre-Appeal conditions – Sums due to be paid
As per the GST appeal procedure to Supreme Court, a taxpayer who is planning to appeal to the Supreme Court must keep an important condition in mind, i.e. all sums due to the Government under order passed by the Appellate Tribunal or by the High Court need to be paid, prior to appealing to the Supreme Court. Thus GST appeals to High Court & Supreme Court are closely regulated as far as fees payable are concerned.
Thus, we have now covered all that you needed to know with regards to the 4 levels of appeals under GST, starting from First Appellate Authority, to Appellate Tribunal to GST appeals to High Court & Supreme Court. In our next blog, we will take you through the aspect of Advance Ruling – provisions for which have been laid down in the GST Act to make life simpler for the taxpayer involved in demand, recovery and appeals.
Mechanism for Advance Ruling in GST
By definition, an advance ruling primarily means a decision provided by the adjudicating authority or the Appellate Authority to an applicant on specified matters or on specified questions, related to the supply of goods and / or services proposed to be undertaken or being undertaken by the applicant. In simple terms, an advance ruling is basically a written interpretation of tax laws, which is issued by tax authorities to corporations as well as individuals who request for clarifications related to tax. An advance ruling is mostly requested, when the taxpayer is confused about certain provisions. In this blog, we will learn in more detail about advance ruling in GST.
Why is Advance Ruling in GST necessary?
Advance Ruling in GST is deemed necessary primarily because of the following reasons:
- To provide advance certainty for tax liability, in relation to a future activity to be undertaken by the applicant
- To attract Foreign Direct Investment i.e. FDI, by clarifying taxation and showing a clearer picture of the future tax liability of the FDI. The clarity and clean taxation procedures will attract non-residents who would otherwise not want to get involved in messy tax disputes
- To reduce litigation and to reduce the cost of legal disputes
- To give decisions in a timely, transparent and inexpensive manner
When can one request for Advance Ruling?
As discussed above, any taxable person can request for an advance ruling in GST when he is confused about certain provisions. As per the provisions, advance ruling under GST is applicable on the following:
- Classification of any goods and / or services
- Applicability of a notification which affects the rate of tax
- Determination of time and value of supply of goods and / or services
- Whether ITC paid (or deemed to be paid) will be allowed
- Determination of the liability to pay tax on any goods and / or services
- Whether the applicant has to be registered under GST
- Whether any particular activity done by the applicant regarding goods and / or services will result in a supply
What are the various levels of Advance Ruling?
There will be two levels of Advance Ruling in GST:
- Authority for Advance Ruling (AAR)
- Appellate Authority for Advance Ruling (AAAR)
An advance ruling under GST will first be sent to the Authority for Advance Ruling (AAR). Any taxable person who is not satisfied with the advance ruling can appeal to the Appellate Authority for Advance Ruling (AAAR)
Advance Ruling mechanism in GST – AAR
The advance ruling mechanism in GST is initiated with the intervention of the AAR i.e. the advance ruling authority. Let’s understand in detail.
What is the composition of the AAR?
The Authority for Advance Ruling (AAR) shall comprise 1 member from CGST and 1 member from SGST / UTGST, who will be appointed by the Central and State Governments respectively.
How to apply Advance Ruling in GST?
Generally, an application for advance ruling to the advance ruling authority under GST i.e. AAR, will be done, before the start of the proposed activity. On receipt of the application, a copy will be forwarded to the prescribed officer, who will then furnish the necessary relevant records
What are the forms required for Advance Ruling by AAR?
The application for advance ruling to the advance ruling authority, has to be made in Form GST ARA-01 along with payment of fees of INR 5000.
What is the purview of the Advance Ruling rules under GST?
The advance ruling authority under GST can, by order, either admit or reject the application. However, applications may be rejected only after giving the applicant an opportunity of being heard. Also, the reasons for rejection shall need to be provided in writing.
As per the provisions, the AAR will also not allow applications in the following cases:
- When the same matter has already been decided in an earlier case for the applicant
- When the same matter is already pending in any proceedings for the applicant
What is the time limit of the Advance Ruling by AAR?
An advance ruling decision will be given within 90 days by the AAR from the date of the application, as per the advance ruling system for GST.
What is the scope of the Advance Ruling by AAR?
As per the advance ruling system for GST, the decision of the AAR will be binding only on the following entities:
- Applicant
- Jurisdictional Tax Authorities in respect of the Applicant
If at any point in time, the members of the AAR differ in opinion on any point, they will refer the point to the Appellate Authority of Advance Ruling (AAAR). In any case, any person who is not satisfied with the ruling of the AAR, can appeal to the AAAR, more of which we will understand in our next blog.
Appeals to GST First Appellate Authority
In our previous blog, we went through the provisions of appeals and revisions under GST, and we also understood about the 4 levels of appeals available to any taxable person, in case he is not satisfied by the decision or order passed by the Adjudicating Authority.
In this blog we will discuss about the first level i.e. appeals to GST First Appellate Authority.
Who can appeal to GST First Appellate Authority?
- Any taxable person who is not satisfied with the order passed by an adjudicating authority or officer can appeal to the GST First Appellate Authority within 3 months from the date of the order. This period is extendable up to 1 month.
- Even the Commissioner can appeal to the First Appellate Authority. To begin with, the officer will examine the order for its legality or propriety based on the appellant’s motion or on the Commissioner’s request. The Commissioner can then direct his subordinate officer to apply to the GST First Appellate Authority within 6 months from the date of the order.
- Even the authorized officer can make an application to the First Appellate Authority. In such as case, the application will be treated as an appeal made against the order.
How to file GST appeals to First Appellate Authority?
- All GST appeals to First Appellate Authority are to be made in Form GST APL-01
- Irrespective of the appellant, the GST First Appellant Authority will issue a final acknowledgement, along with an appeal number in Form GST APL-02
Special Allowances in GST appeals to First Appellate Authority
- Allowing Adjournment – The GST First Appellate Authority may adjourn the hearing of the appeal if there is sufficient cause, provided the reasons are recorded in writing. Adjournment will be allowed for a maximum of 3 times.
- Allowing Additional Grounds – The First Appellate Authority can allow an appellant to go into any ground of appeal, which was not earlier specified. This will be allowed only if the First Appellate Authority feels that the omission was not wilful.
Decisions of the First Appellate Authority under GST– Points to Note
Purview of the Decision
The GST First Appellate Authority can confirm, modify or annul the original order or decision made by the adjudicating authority, but will not refer the case back to the adjudicating authority.
Communicating the Decision
The GST First Appellate Authority shall communicate the order passed to both the appellant and the adjudicating authority. A copy of the order will also be sent to the jurisdictional commissioners of CGST and SGST.
Time Limit of the Decision
The GST First Appellate Authority must pass the decision within 1 year from the date of filing the appeal. However, if the order is stayed by an order of a Court or Tribunal, the period of such stay shall be excluded from the 1 year period.
Potential Detrimental Impacts of the Decision
The GST First Appellant Authority is empowered to pass an order enhancing the fees or penalty or fine, or confiscating higher value goods, or decreasing the refund or input tax credit. However, this can be done only if the appellant has been issued a Show Cause Notice (SCN) i.e. a reasonable opportunity has been given to the appellant to show cause against the proposed detrimental order, within the specified time limits.
Revisional Authority under GST
Under GST, there is a provision kept open for revision of the orders passed by the authorities at each stage. For this purpose a special body called as the Revisional Authority is empowered. As per the rules, the Revisional Authority can, either on his own, or on the request of the Commissioner of SGST / CGST, examine the records of any proceedings.
When can revision in GST take place?
The examination for the purpose of revision can take place, if he considers that any decision taken by the subordinate officer is:
- Prejudicial to the interest of revenue
- Illegal
- Improper
- Being taken without taking into account certain material facts (whether available or not at the time of issuance of the order)
- Not in line with an observation made by the Comptroller and Auditor General (C & AG) of India
Basis the examination, the Revisional Authority can stay the order for a time period as he deems fit. However, the person concerned will always be given an opportunity of being heard. Also, he may choose to conduct further examination as he deems fit, and can on the basis of such an examination, enhance, modify or annul the concerned decision or order.
When is revision under GST not allowed?
The Revisional Authority will not revise the order, under the following circumstances:
- If the order was already under appeal
- If 6 months have not passed from the date of the order i.e. there is still time left for an appeal
- If more than 3 years have passed after the date of the order
- If the order has already been taken for revision
In case the aggrieved tax payer is not happy with the decision of the First Appellate Authority under GST, he can progress to the next level of appeal which is the National Appellate Tribunal, which we will discuss in our next blog.
How Tally.ERP 9 Helps Tax Consultants to Generate E-way Bills
Note: This blogpost is intended for tax consultants. Business owners will also find this interesting to read.
As a tax consultant, you deal with different types of clients. For some, you provide end-to-end accounting services, while for others you must be providing services up to the extent of filing GST returns. More recently, you must have come across requests to generate and manage e-Way Bills as well from those clients to whom you provide end-to-end services.
As part of GST compliance, Tally.ERP 9 can be used to manage e-Way Bills efficiently. In this blogpost, we would like to highlight how Tally.ERP 9 can be best used to your advantage for managing e-Way Bills for all your clients easily.
Avoid repetitive work while generating e-Way Bills
Clients for whom you provide end-to-end services request you to generate e-Way Bills on a continuous basis. How will you execute these requests?
One way to do this is to visit the e-Way Bill portal, provide invoice level details and transportation level details, and generate e-Way Bills.
However, in this method, you will end up spending twice the effort. Firstly, you have to provide all the details on the portal. Secondly, you have to enter these details again in your accounting software for the purpose of bookkeeping and compliance.
Another way to generate e-Way Bills is to directly record the sales entry in Tally.ERP 9. While recording the entry, you can also provide additional details that are required to generate e-Way Bills. The transaction entry can be exported as a JSON file and uploaded on the e-Way Bill portal. The portal will generate your client’s e-Way Bill. Not only for sales, you can generate e-Way Bills even for purchases and sales returns using Tally.ERP 9.
By using Tally.ERP 9, you are avoiding the repetitive activity of entering same information twice.
You get to save time and ensure that the records reflect the same values as in the transaction information used for generating e-Way Bills. This reduces the chances of manual errors as well.
Identify transactions for generating consolidated e-Way Bills
If your client wants to dispatch multiple consignments in a single vehicle to the same State, then you can generate a single consolidated e-Way Bill. If the State, place of supply, vehicle number and mode of transport are the same, then you can generate e-Way Bills for each of the invoices individually, then combine these e-Way Bills to finally generate a single consolidated e-Way Bill with Tally.ERP 9.
Tally.ERP 9 makes it even easier for you. It groups invoices based on the criteria mentioned above so that you don’t have to manually select the invoices. A consolidated bill eases the life of the transporter.
Generate e-Way Bills faster for multiple invoices
Suppose you get request to generate 10 e-Way Bills from a client. It sure is a big hassle to export data of each and every invoice in JSON format and upload them individually to the portal for generating e-Way Bills.
Tally.ERP 9 makes this easier. You can export the data of all the invoices together in a single JSON file and upload the file to the e-Way Bill portal for generating e-Way Bills. This saves your time significantly and once again helps avoid manual errors.
GST Appeals and Revisions
In our previous blogs, we have taken you through the various provisions which cover the various provisions pertaining to demand, recovery and liability, when it comes to paying the unpaid tax, interest or penalty. However, any taxable person who is incorrectly facing any kind of a penalty, has an opportunity to appeal to a higher court in order to reversal the order given by a lower court, as per the GST law. If the appeal is successful, the relevant revisions are done.
In this series of blogs, we will study in detail about the various provisions related to GST appeals and revisions.
Appeals under GST – when are they invoked?
The GST law pertaining to GST appeals and revisions, primarily imposes two types of obligations – tax-related and procedure related. The taxpayers’ compliance with these obligations is verified by the proper tax officer, via audits, examinations etc. In certain cases, there are situations of actual or perceived non-compliance, which obviously leads to difference in opinion. If the difference persists, it results in a dispute, which then needs to be resolved.
To begin with, the dispute is initially resolved by a departmental officer resulting in the issue of an initial order. The order or decision is first passed by the Adjudicating Authority under GST, an entity which is considered competent to pass any order or decision under the GST Act, but does not include the Board, First Appellate Authority and the Appellate Tribunal.
However, if a taxable person is not satisfied by the decision or order passed by the Adjudicating Authority, then he can appeal to a higher court. The appeal, as discussed above will be an application to a higher court to reverse the decision of a lower court.
The following are the 4 levels of the appeal procedure in GST, as per the provisions for appeal and revision in GST:
| Appeal Level | Orders Passed By | Can Appeal To |
| 1st | Adjudicating Authority | First Appellate Authority |
| 2nd | First Appellate Authority | Appellate Tribunal |
| 3rd | Appellate Tribunal | High Court |
| 4th | High Court | Supreme Court |
Now, since India follows a dual GST structure, a natural question which arises is – should an appeal need to be made to both CGST as well as SGST / UTGST authorities. As per the provisions of GST appeals and revisions, both CGST as well as SGST / UTGST officers are empowered to pass orders, and an order passed under CGST will also be deemed to be applied to SGST / UTGST. However if an officer under CGST has passed any order, any GST appeal and revisions against that order, will lie only with the officers of CGST. The same will apply in the case or orders passed under SGST / UTGST.
Fees for filing GST appeals process
All appeals must be made by filling the prescribed GST appeal formats and by paying the required fees. The fee will be the full amount of tax, interest, fine, fee and penalty arising from the challenged order and a sum equal to 10% of the remaining amount of tax in dispute arising from the order, for which an appeal has been filed.
In cases, where an officer or the Commissioner is appealing, fees will not be applicable.
GST appeals and revisions – authorized representative
In case a person is not able to appear personally before the requisite GST appeal authority, he may assign an authorized authority to appear on his behalf. An authorized representative may be any one of the following:
- A relative
- A regular employee
- A lawyer practising in any court in India
- Any Chartered Accountant / Cost Accountant / Company Secretary, with a valid certificate of practice
- A Retired Officer of the Tax Department of any State Government or of the Excise Department whose rank was at least that of a Group B gazetted officer*
- Any tax return preparer
*Note: Retired officers cannot appear in place of the concerned person within 1 year from the date of their retirement, as per the provisions of GST appeals and revisions.
Scenarios when GST appeal cannot be filed
As per the provisions for appeals and revisions under GST, appeals cannot be made for the following decisions taken by a GST officer –
- An order to transfer the proceedings from one officer to another officer
- An order to seize or retain books of accounts and / or other documents
- An order sanctioning prosecution under the GST Act
- An order allowing payment of taxes and other amounts in instalments
Also, it may be noted that the Board or the State Government may, on the recommendation of the Council, fix minimum monetary limits for which a GST officer can approve and regulate the filing of appeals. This will avoid unnecessary litigation expenses, where the expense does not justify the amount of tax which is under dispute. In such cases also, an appeal will not be feasible.