Inter-State E-Way Bills System Will Be Introduced From April 1, Says Jaitley
In its 26th meeting, the Goods and Services Tax Council is expected to discuss a slew of changes to the GST regime.
GST Returns: No Consensus
The GST Council discussed two models for returns filing - one presented by Nandan Nilekani and another from the tax administrators, but no decision could be taken. The political executive is more comfortable with the Nilekani model as it is simpler, but the tax administration thinks it will lead to more tax evasion, Jammu and Kashmir Finance Minister Haseeb Drabu told BloombergQuint.
Reverse Charge Mechanism
The reverse charge mechanism has been extended by three months, said Jaitley.
Relief For Exporters
Tax exemption for exporters has been extended by 6 months, said Jaitley.
The decision to extend the exemptions will send a "strong positive signal” to the exporting community, the finance ministry said in a press release.
Exporters presently availing various export promotion schemes can now continue to avail such exemptions on their imports up to October 1, by which time an e-wallet scheme is expected to be in place to continue the benefits in future.Finance Ministry Statement
The GST Council also reviewed the progress in grant of refunds to exports of both IGST and Input Tax Credit, the finance ministry added.
Council directed GSTN to expeditiously forward the balance refund claimsto the Customs/Central GST/State GST authorities, as the case may be, for theirimmediate sanction and disbursal.Finance Ministry Statement
No Decision Yet
The finance minister said couple of issues couldn’t be taken up for want of time. They include:
- Inclusion of extra neutral alcohol
- Inclusion of aviation turbine fuel
The responsibility of grievance redressal has been given to the GST Implementation Committee, Jaitley added.
Intra-State E-Way Bills: Staggered Rollout
- From April 1, inter-state movement of goods will need generation of E-Way bills.
- States have been divided into four groups for the purpose of E-Way bills implementation. The mechanism will be rolled out in a staggered manner, with one new zone been added every week.
- Will try and complete the rollout of intra-state E-Way bills by April-end.
