GST :Compliance burden on MSME reduced

New Delhi Oct 7: The GST council in its 22 meeting has announced some relief for all sectors.The Council has simplified the compliance burden for the MSME sector

# The council has extended the threshold limit for composition scheme from Rs 75 lakh to Rs 1 crore. This decision would benefit small industries and taxpayers

# currently under composition scheme taxpayers will file a return on a quarterly basis (1 % tax for traders, 2 % for manufacturing, 5 % for restaurants)

# Businesses with an annual turnover of up to Rs 1.5 crore can now file a quarterly return and pay the tax instead of the current provision of monthly filings.This decision would benefit 90-95 % of tax payers which pay 5-6 % of tax.

# e-way bill would be implemented from April 1, 2018
# TCS and TDS rules would be implemented from April 1, 2018
# reverse charge mechanism for collecting GST has been deferred to March 31, 2018.

The government also scrapped GST notification on gems and Jewelry stating that PAN card will no longer be mandatory for the purchase of jewelry for over Rs 50,000.

The Council has also decided a framework for the future reduction of tax rates of goods and services and fitment committee will decide according to framework and representations received.

A group of Ministerial committee would be formed to submit a report on following items

# Whether a trader can supply interstate goods under composition scheme (currently it is not allowed)
# Whether Input tax credit can be claimed for manufacturers under composition scheme

# Tax rates on eating in restaurants of AC when ITC is claimed

# Any person providing exempted service are eligible for the compensation scheme.

Finally, the Finance Minister has said that filing of quarterly returns would be applicable from October and not July.

The next meeting of GST council would be held on November 9 and 10 in Guwahati and may discuss the issue of bringing petrol and petroleum products under GST.