Important Updates and Due Date Compliances under GST for April 2022

Compliance timelines

• List 1 States - Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Goa, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Telangana or Andhra Pradesh or the Union territories of Daman and Diu and Dadra and Nagar Haveli, Puducherry, Andaman and Nicobar Islands and Lakshadweep
• List 2 States - Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, Uttarakhand, Haryana, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Sikkim, Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram, Tripura, Meghalaya, Assam, West Bengal, Jharkhand or Odisha or the Union territories of Jammu and Kashmir, Ladakh, Chandigarh and Delhi.

Updates in the month of March 2022

1. GSTN enables enhanced Registration application user interface (UI)

GSTN has enabled enhanced Registration application user interface (UI) w.r.t. the address fields in the Registration Application GST REG-01 which are as follows:-

• Incorporation of a map tile along with a drag and drop facility of address pinhead on to the exact location of the applicant's address.
• Once selected, the details will automatically fill in the various address input fields given in the application.
• Address fields have been linked so as to auto-fill other macro-level address entry fields based on the entry in one of such fields, particularly PIN Codes. For example; on entering the PIN code, the corresponding State and Districts will get auto-filled.
• The user can also directly fill-up the address input fields which are now aided with suggestive address input dropdowns from which the user can select the appropriate/relevant address field(s). This action will reduce errors in the address texts and will also ease the filling up of the appropriate address input fields by the user.
• The address fields have been segregated appropriately to reduce confusion while entering the relevant inputs under various address heads.
• Based on the address entries given by the user, the Latitude/ Longitude of the address will get auto-populated which is non-editable.

2. Notification and Circular for appointment of 'Proper officer' having all-India jurisdiction for adjudication of notices issued by DGGI

Government has issued a Notification empowering certain Additional Commissioners or the Joint Commissioners of Central Tax, as the case may be, subordinate to the Principal Commissioners of Central Tax or the Commissioners of Central Tax to pass an order or decision in respect of notices issued by the officers of Directorate General of Goods and Services Tax Intelligence (DGGI) under sections 67, 73, 74, 76, 122, 125, 127, 129 and 130 of Central Goods and Services Tax Act 2017. The designated officers shall have powers exercisable throughout the territory of India.

It may be noted that DGGI can exercise the powers only to issue show cause notices. A show cause notice issued by DGGI needs to be adjudicated by the competent Central Tax officer of the Executive Commissionerate in whose jurisdiction the noticee is registered when such cases pertain to the jurisdiction of one Executive Commissionerate of Central Tax only. However, in respect of show cause notices issued by officers of DGGI, there were cases where the principal place of business of noticees falls under the jurisdiction of multiple Central Tax Commissionerates or where multiple show cause notices are issued on the same issue to different noticees, including the persons having the same PAN but different GSTINs, having principal place of business falling under jurisdiction of multiple Central Tax Commissionerates. For the purpose of adjudication of such show cause notices, Additional/ Joint Commissioners of Central Tax of specified Commissionerates have been empowered with All India jurisdiction.

Such show cause notices may be adjudicated, irrespective of the amount involved in the show cause notice(s), by one of the Additional/Joint Commissioners of Central Tax of where the location of principal place of business of the noticee, having the highest amount of demand of tax in the said show cause notice(s).

Notification no. 02/2022-Central Tax dt. 11th March, 2022 has been issued amending Notification No. 02/2017-Central Tax, dated 19th June, 2017.

Circular No. 169/01/2022-GST dt. 12th March, 2022 has been issued as an amendment to Circular No. 31/05/2018-GST, dated 9th February, 2018.

3. CBIC notifies exchange rates effective from March 18th, 2022

The Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs has notified the rate of exchange of conversion of the foreign currencies into Indian currency or vice versa, with effect from 18th March 2022, for import and export of goods. This notification is issued in supersession of the Notification No. 13/2022-Customs (N.T.), dated 3rd March, 2022.

(Notification No. 18/2022-Customs (N.T.) Dated March 17th, 2022)

4. CBIC issues scrutiny norms related to GST for FY 2017-18 and 2018-19

The Central Board of Indirect Taxes & Customs (CBIC) on Tuesday issued scrutiny guidelines for GST, for the first two years of the new indirect tax regime, as part of a plan to plug leakages and shore up collections. The CBIC has shared an indicative list of parameters, which suggested that there was special emphasis on entities claiming input tax credit (ITC) from certain segments, along with those where tax collected at source, such as for e-commerce. Section 61 of CGST Act, 2017 provides for scrutiny of returns and related particulars furnished by the registered person. Till the time, a Scrutiny Module for online scrutiny of returns is made available on the CBIC-GST application, as an interim measure, CBIC has issued Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for Scrutiny of returns for FY 2017-18 and 2018-19 to ensure uniformity in selection/ identification of returns for scrutiny, methodology of scrutiny of such returns and other related procedures.

In these SOPs, the mechanism for selection of returns for scrutiny, proper officer for scrutiny of returns, scrutiny schedule, and process of scrutiny by the Proper Officer along with timeline has been prescribed.

(Instruction No. 02/2022-GST Dated March 22nd, 2022)

5. Deployment of functionality to restore cancelled registrations in pursuance of Appellate orders

A functionality in the name of restoration of cancelled registration has been developed and deployed with effect from 23-03-22 to facilitate the jurisdictional Range officers to restore the registrations in pursuance of judicial/ Appellate orders. This functionality would cover both the cancellations i.e. (i) ordered sou moto by Range Officers against which appeal orders were obtained without applying for revocation through form REG 21, and (ii) cancelled on the request from the taxpayers.

(Registration advisory no. 07/2022 dt. 23-03-2022 issued by Director General of Systems and Data Management)

6. Extension of exemption from IGST & Compensation Cess to EOUs on imports and on goods imported against AA/ EPCG authorizations till 30.06.2022

The Government has extended exemption from IGST & Compensation Cess to EOUs on imports till 30.06.2022 vide Notification No. 18/2022-Customs, Dated: 31.03.2022 - Amendment to Notification No. 52/2003-Customs dated 31.03.2003. Further the Government has also extended the exemption from IGST & Compensation Cess on goods imported against AA/ EPCG authorizations vide Notification No. 19/2022-Customs [G.S.R. 248 (E).], Dated: 31.03.2022 till 30.06.2022.

We sincerely hope that the same will help you in your business & profession.