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More than 68,000 companies have been registered in eight months following the implementation of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) regime, Union Minister P P Chaudhary said on Friday. GST --the biggest tax reform-- was rolled out from July 1, 2017. "The total number of companies registered during the period from July 2017 to February 2018 (post GST) is 68,299," the minister of state for corporate affairs said in a written reply to the Lok Sabha. In comparison, the number of such entities was 63,106 between July 2016 and February 2017. Thus increasing trend in the number of companies' registrations has been maintained post GST, the minister added.

The Goods and Service Tax (GST) Council on 10th march extended exemptions for exporters struggling to secure refunds for six months till end-September. Last year, the Council had allowed the exemptions till March 31. Exporters have to pay the tax upfront and also integrated GST (IGST) on inputs imported for exports. The Council has decided to restore pre-GST tax exemptions on these. Additionally, for merchant exporters, a special payment scheme at the rate of 1 per cent of procured goods was introduced. Also, domestic procurement under advance authorisation, the export-promotion capital goods scheme, and export-oriented units were recognised as deemed exports, with flexibility for either the suppliers or the exporters allowed to claim GST and IGST refunds. Central Board of Excise and Customs Chairperson Vanaja N Sarna said exporters had made errors while filing refund claims. The payments solution the authorities are mulling is an e-wallet. M S Mani, senior director with Deloitte ...

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Saturday announced that the e-way bill will be implemented from April 1 for inter-state movement of goods. While speaking to media after the crucial GST Council meet, Jaitley also said that the tax exemption for exporters has been extended by six months. Among other key decisions, intra-state e-way bill will be rolled out from April 15 in a staggered manner and the entir e country will be covered by June 1. The present system of GST return-filing has also been extended by three months. "Intra-state e-Way Bill will be rolled out in phased manner with four groups of states. Each group will come under it every week after April 1 and efforts will be made to implement it across the country by April end," Jaitley said after the 26th GST Council meet. In its February 24 meeting, a group of ministers headed by Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Modi recommended April 1 as the date for compulsory implementation of the system for inter-state goods mov...

The GST Council in its meeting on Saturday is likely to extend the deadline for filing of simplified sales return GSTR-3B by three months till June. The Council, chaired by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and comprising his state counterparts, is also expected to finalise a simplified return filing procedure for businesses registered under Goods and Services Tax (GST) regime.  "The new return filing system, if agreed upon by the Council, would take about 3 months to be implemented. Till then GSTR-3B could continue," an official told PTI. 

Small orders that are part of a large consignment out for multiple deliveries within a state may not require an electronic-way (e-way) bill in the goods and services tax (GST) regime. This will come as relief for e-commerce and consumer goods suppliers. The e-way bill requirement will be limited to items priced over Rs 50,000 for  intrastate supply. This is among changes expected in the GST e-way bill to ease the compliance burden and will likely be taken up by the GST Council during its meeting on Saturday. The exemption, however, will not apply to interstate movement of consignments. “Changes will be made in the rules to do away with the requirement for multiple e-way bills for small orders within a state. The aim is to remove difficulties faced by companies,” an official said.

GST anti-profiteering application complaint form being made simpler Filing complaints against companies for not passing on the benefits of tax reduction under the goods and services tax (GST) regime is to become simpler. The government is expected to simplify the anti-profiteering application complaint form. This comes after muted response to the mechanism and 150 complaints so far. Only six states got complaints directly. None has come from Delhi, Gujarat, West Bengal, Bihar , Telangana, and Madhya Pradesh. B N Sharma, chairman of the anti-profiteering authority, had asked the standing committee, part of the mechanism, to suggest a simplified version of the form. “The form will soon be simplified. Even a grade-five student will be able to file a complaint. The mandatory fields have been cut down to a great extent,” said an official. The new form will only require a complainant to mention the product and GST identification number of the seller. “The rest of the j...

The GST law provides that transactions concerning development, design, programming, customisation, adaptation, upgradation, enhancement, implementation of information technology software shall be treated as the supply of services. Accordingly, the supply of software shall be treated as the supply of services.