Government Speed Track - GST - CBEC Releases More Draft Rules and Formats - Gigantic Task Indeed
CBEC really deserves a smart salute for the massive work it has turned out in taking GST forward. After releasing
1. Draft Registration Rules
2. Draft Formats for Registration
3. Draft Payment Rules
4. Draft Format for payment
5. Draft Invoice Rules
6. Draft Formats for invoice
on 26th, CBEC yesterday released the
1. Draft Return Rules
2. Draft Return Formats
3. GSTR 9B
4. ITC Mismatch Report
5. Draft Refund Rules
6. Draft Refund Formats
ITC is Input Tax Credit and the seamless availing of credit will determine the success of GST.
There are 27 forms prescribed in relation to returns. The Returns Rules also cover the Tax Return Preparer.
The following persons can be Tax Return Preparers:
1. A retired Group-B gazetted officer of State Commercial Tax Department or CBEC. So even a retired appraiser of Customs or a retired Private Secretary in the Central Excise Department is eligible.
2. One who has passed a graduate or postgraduate degree or its equivalent examination having a degree in Commerce, Law, Banking including Higher Auditing, or Business Administration or Business Management from any Indian University established by any law for the time being in force. (What does this mean? Is he supposed to have a dual degree qualification?)
3. One who has passed the final examination of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India; final examination of the Institute of Cost Accountants of India; final examination of the Institute of Company Secretaries of India, along with a degree examination.
A Tax Return Preparer can undertake any or all of the following activities on behalf of a taxable person, if so authorised by the taxable person:
(a) furnish details of outward and inward supplies;
(b) furnish monthly, quarterly, annual or final return;
(c) make payments for credit into the electronic cash ledger;
(d) file a claim for refund; and
(e) file an application for amendment or cancellation of registration.
Refunds: There are ten forms pertaining to refund and one of them RFD-07 is a show cause notice. The heading for this form reads as Show cause notice for reject of refund application. Maybe what they mean is SCN for rejection or rejecting the refund. If you don't reply to the notice within 15 days, the refund claim stands rejected.
The sheer magnitude of the work in bringing out all these complicated laws for GST, is mind boggling and there are bound to be a few mistakes and aberrations which can be later corrected. In two days the GST Council will approve all these rules and formats most probably without any serious discussion. Only if the babus change their attitude and be more responsive and responsible, all the problems can be solved. But if the CBEC officers continue with their SCN-confirmation-recovery-arrest-appeal mechanism, GST is bound to land in a worse mess than Service Tax was taken into.