GST Council in its 31st meeting

The GST Council in its 31st meeting held today at New Delhi made the following MAJOR recommendations:

1.The due date for furnishing the annual returns in FORM GSTR-9, FORM GSTR-9A and reconciliation statement in FORM GSTR-9C for the Financial Year 2017 – 2018 shall be further extended till 30.06.2019.

2.The due date for submitting FORM GST ITC-04 (JOB WORK RETURN) for the period July 2017 to December 2018 shall be extended till 31.03.2019.

3.ITC in relation to invoices issued by the supplier during FY 2017-18 may be availed by the recipient till the due date for furnishing of FORM GSTR-3B for the month of March, 2019, subject to specified conditions.

4.There would be a single cash ledger for each tax head. The modalities for implementation would be finalised in consultation with GSTN and the Accounting authorities.

5.The new return filing system shall be introduced on a trial basis from 01.04.2019 and on mandatory basis from 01.07.2019.

6.All the supporting documents/invoices in relation to a claim for refund in FORM GST RFD-01A shall be uploaded electronically on the common portal at the time of filing of the refund application itself, thereby obviating the need for a taxpayer to physically visit a tax office for submission of a refund application. GSTN will enable this functionality on the common portal shortly.

7.A scheme of single authority for disbursement of the refund amount sanctioned by either the Centre or the State tax authorities would be implemented on pilot basis. The modalities for the same shall be finalized shortly.

8.Late fee shall be completely waived for all taxpayers in case FORM GSTR-1, FORM GSTR-3B & FORM GSTR-4 for the months / quarters July, 2017 to September, 2018, are furnished after 22.12.2018 but on or before 31.03.2019.