GST Council May Ease Norms For Small Handicraft Traders

Small traders managing inter-state supplies of handicrafts may be exempted from registration under the Goods and Services Tax.

The government is keen on exempting dealers who sell handicrafts outside their home states and have an annual turnover less than Rs 20 lakh, a government official told BloombergQuint. A proposal will be tabled at the next meeting of the GST Council on Saturday, said the official requesting anonymity.

There is no threshold to register under GST for a trader engaged in inter-state transactions. “This puts a lot of burden on small traders who are otherwise below the threshold of Rs 20 lakh,” Sumit Lunker, partner-indirect tax at PwC, told BloombergQuint. “It also discourages them to do business in other states and is not consistent with ‘one nation, one tax'.”

Jammu and Kashmir and a few other states have urged the GST Council to consider exempting handicrafts, carpets and handmade products from registration. These industries are dying and exempting them from GST registration would be a big relief, another government official said.

Relief Expected On Input Credit Forms

The government is considering allowing revisions in TRAN 1 forms for transitional credits that taxpayers can avail while paying their liabilities, one of the officials quoted above said. If implemented, this will allow taxpayers to avail credits that were missed or rectify errors made while filing. “This will be a relief for many taxpayers who were struggling to file their credits due to technical issues on the GSTN portal,” said Lunker from PwC.

The last date to avail tax credits is September 30.

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