Page 13 - Banking Finance April 2018

GST UPDATE

GST

NEWS
NEWS
NEWS
NEWS
NEWS

Government not to ex- GST e-way bills from April 1
tend deadline for selling Goods and Services Tax Council mandated the use of electronic way (e-way) bills
from April to track inter-state movement of goods but
pre-GST packaged goods deferred a decision on a simplified return filing pro-
The government will not extend the cess due to lack of consensus. As a result, the current
deadline for sale return filing system was extended by three months
of pre-GST pack- with a group of ministers tasked with working out a
aged products simplified mechanism that also checks evasion.
with stickers of
revised rates af- A group under Infosys chairman Nandan Nilekani proposed a new system, backed
ter March 31, by several ministers, but central and state tax bureaucracy held the view that
Consumer Affairs the system was not robust enough to plug evasion, a concern they have flagged.
Minister Ram Vilas Paswan said. "The Council felt there should be single return every month, it should be simple,
not prone to evasion and (there was a need to discuss) how to simplify it fur-
After Goods and Services Tax (GST)
ther," finance minister Arun Jaitley said.
became effective from July 1, com-
panies were asked to use stickers on
unsold packaged commodities to dis- Developers in a fix over charging GST for affordable
play new maximum retail price homes
(MRP) till September, which was
later extended twice till March. The government has announced concessional GST rates for the sale of afford-
able homes, but realtors are in a dilemma on charging
Asked if the deadline will be ex- lower rates, since there is no clear definition of such
tended further, Paswan said, "From projects. In its last meeting in January, the GST Council
next month, there will be one MRP
on the packaged products. No addi- reduced the effective GST rates for affordable homes
tional price stickers on unsold stocks that are eligible for credit-linked savings scheme (CLSS),
will be allowed." The deadline will not projects that received infrastructure status and houses
be extended further unless the GST built under LIG, MIG-1 and MIG-2 categories under the government's Housing
Council decides, he told. for All scheme, from 12 per cent to 8 per cent.
When rates of about 200 items were "The circular does not define affordable housing. Today we can charge 8% but
cut in November, the consumer af- later the department should not say it is not affordable housing," said Anita
fairs ministry had permitted to paste Arjundas, managing director at Mahindra Lifespace Developers, the real estate
additional stickers under the Legal arm of Mahindra group. The government has said GST will be reduced for af-
Metrology (Packaged Commodities) fordable housing projects that have been given infrastructure status, but "no-
Rules, 2011. body gives such status," she said.

BANKING FINANCE | APRIL | 2018 | 13