As per recent tweet from CNBC-TV18 GST Council deliberating on the recommendations of GoM on GST Appellate Tribunals,- sources
UP, Maharashtra, West Bengal, Kerala & Rajashthan are express concerns
Proposal is still under discussion
Income Tax Department carries out survey operations in Delhi & Mumbai
Press Release dated 17th February, 2023
A survey action under section 133A of the Income- tax Act, 1961(the Act) was carried out at the business premises of group entities of a prominent international Media Company at Delhi and Mumbai. The group is engaged in the business of development of content in English, Hindi and various other Indian languages ; advertisement sales and market support services, etc.
The survey revealed that despite substantial consumption of content in various Indian languages (apart from English), the income/profits shown by various group entities is not commensurate with the scale of operations in India. During the course of the survey, the Department gathered several evidences pertaining to the operation of the organization which indicate that tax has not been paid on certain remittances which have not been disclosed as income in India by the foreign entities of the group.
The survey operations also revealed that services of seconded employees have been utilised for which reimbursement has been made by the Indian entity to the foreign entity concerned. Such remittance was also liable to be subject to withholding tax which has not been done. Further, the survey has also thrown up several discrepancies and inconsistencies with regard to Transfer Pricing documentation. Such discrepancies relate to level of relevant Function, Asset and Risk (FAR) analysis, incorrect use of comparables which are applicable to determine the correct Arms Length Price (ALP) and inadequate revenue apportionment, among others.
The survey operation has resulted in unearthing of crucial evidences by way of statement of employees, digital evidences and documents which will be further examined in due course. It is pertinent to state that statements of only those employees were recorded whose role was crucial including those connected to, primarily, finance, content development and other production related functions. Even though the Department exercised due care to record statements of only key personnel, it was observed that dilatory tactics were employed including in the context of producing documents/agreements sought. Despite such stance of the group, the survey operation was conducted in a manner so as to facilitate continued regular media/channel activity.
During the GST Council meeting on February 18, the issue of creating appellate tribunals and mechanisms to curb tax evasion in pan masala and gutkha is likely to be discussed.
At the GST Council meeting, chaired by Nirmala Sitharaman and including her state counterparts, the report of the panel of ministers on online gaming and casinos may not be discussed.
Those topics, which were not discussed by the GST Council at its last meeting on December 17, 2022, will top the agenda at the 49th GST Council meeting on February 18. A report by the Group of Ministers (GoM), led by Odisha finance minister Niranjan Pujari, on checking tax evasion by the pan masala and gutkha industries will be discussed.
Dushyant Chautala, Haryana's deputy chief minister, chaired the GoM on Goods and Services Tax Appellate Tribunals last July. According to the GoM, the tribunals should have two judicial members and one technical member each from the Centre and the states, as well as a retired Supreme Court judge as president.
It is unlikely that the report of the panel headed by Meghalaya chief minister Conrad Sangma on online gaming will be discussed. Before the report can be discussed by the Council, it must be circulated to states and submitted to the Union finance minister.
A GST of 28 percent had been agreed upon by the GoM in its last meeting in November. It was, however, decided by the GoM to refer all suggestions to the GST Council for a final decision since there was no consensus as to whether the tax should be levied on only the fees charged by the portal or the entire consideration, including the bet amount, received from participants.
Online gaming currently attracts 18 percent GST. Fees charged by online gaming portals are subject to tax, which is based on gross gaming revenue.
Basavaraj Bommai, the chief minister of Karnataka, announced on Saturday that the state collected Rs 6,085 crore in Goods and Service Tax during January.
The Chief Minister also credited reforms, vigilance, and better compliance by taxpayers for making this happen.
"A record collection of 6,085 crore has been made under GST this month. Karnataka continues to be state with the highest growth rate of 30% in the GST tax collection," Bommai tweeted.
"This year's remarkable mop up is due to measures undertaken for reforms, focused vigilance, recovery in economy and better compliance by taxpayers. This augmentation to revenue will allow the government to present a better budget this year," he added.
1.The Government vide Notification No. 14/2022 – Central Tax dated 05th July, 2022 has notified few changes in Table 4 of Form GSTR-3B for enabling taxpayers to report correct information regarding ITC availed, ITC reversal and ineligible ITC in Table 4 of GSTR-3B. According to the changes, the net ITC is to be reported in Table 4(A) and ITC reversal, if any, is to be reported in Table 4(B) of GSTR-3B.
2.Currently in GSTR-3B, credit note (CN) is being auto-populated in Table 4B(2), as ITC reversal. Now in view of the said changes, the impact of credit notes are also to be accounted on net off basis in Table 4(A) of GSTR-3B only. Accordingly following changes have been made in the GST Portal from January-2023 period onwards and shall be applicable from tax period - January 2023’ onwards.
a. The impact of credit note & their amendments will now be auto-populated in Table 4(A) instead of Table 4(B) of GSTR-3B . In case the value of credit notes becomes higher than sum of invoices and debit notes put together, then the net ITC would become negative and the taxpayers will be allowed to report negative values in Table-4A. Also, taxpayers can now enter negative values in Table 4D(2) of GSTR-3B.
b. Consequent updates/ modification in the advisory, messages, instructions, and help-text in form GSTR-2B, without any structural changes in form GSTR-2B summary or tables have also been done in GSTR-2B.
c. The calculation logic of Comparison Report has now been changed accordingly
3.The taxpayers are advised to go through instructions/help text carefully in GSTR-2B & System Generated GSTR-3B pdf before filing GSTR-3B.
