• A Landmark Day 8th Nov 2016

    Published on Tuesday,25 October, 2016
    A Landmark Day 8th Nov 2016
    Existing 80 Lakhs AssesseesTo Transfer on GSTN w.e.f 8th November 2016 Approximately, 80 lakhs of the existing assessee of Excise, Customs , Service Tax and VAT will start shifting to GSTN Portal on 8th November 2016. This is going to be one of the biggest move for GST implementation ever taken in India. Beta Run of GSTN The beta run of GSTN portal is expected to be in February,2017. Important Aspects of Transition on GSTN 1. GSTN back-end for 19 states will be ready by December 2016 .These are made by GSTN itself for such 19 states. 2. New registration will commence from 1st April 2017 the projected notified date. GSTN – Online Checking On GSTN, the input tax credit will be verified online. The taxpayers will see online verification and accordingly, they will get the credit immediately. Cost of GSTN The total cost is around Rs 1,380 crores. Infosys will act as Managed Service Provider (MSP) for GSTN. Statement of C.E.O of GSTN Mr. Prakash Kumar, Chief Executive Officer of GSTN has stated the following during told Business Line on the sidelines of a PHDCCI event here on Friday: "On this date (November 8), we are releasing enrolments. This means getting these existing eight million assessees on to our system. This move will help them do business without any hassle from April 1 next year, which is the likely GST implementation date,”, GSTN,. "although assessee details will come onto the GSTN platform, the existing assessees will not be able to "play around” with their returns from November 8 itself. The objective is to clean the data, sort out inconsistencies and get ready for smooth transition to the implementation date of 1st April, 2017 "This is going to be a challenging task and will give us a clear picture of where things stand,” Kumar said. GSTN, a not-for-profit entity incorporated in March 2013, has been set up primarily to provide IT infrastructure and services to the Central and State governments, taxpayers and other stakeholders for implementation of GST. It has also been allowed to partner with other agencies for creating an efficient and user-friendly GST eco-system. ” GSTN will in the coming days obtain imports related data (Bill of Entry) from the Central Board of Excise Customs (CBEC). This will be useful for levy of iGST (GST levy on imports)."In fact an officer who was handling ICEGATE in customs has joined us as Senior Vice-President. Two officers — one handling ACES and the other handling 1/2 ICEGATE — have joined us. They understand the interface better and so we have done this.” Conclusion This can be seen as that for the first time , India is very near to GST. Further, the synergy between states backend and GSTN will be the biggest challenge . Since, only 19 states have got their backend made from GSTN itself whereas, rest of them are making at their own. The biggest challenge will be also for the compatibility of server when the registered assessees will increase from existing 80 lakhs to a projection of more than 1 crore assessees. For an
    advance level understanding of GST , keep referring www.gstprofs.in . 

  • ITAT couldn’t remand matter back to AO if it had all relevant doc. on record to conclude finding

    Published on Tuesday, 4 September, 2018
    The issue before the High Court was:
     
    "Whether Tribunal was justified in remanding the matter back to Assessing Officer (AO) for fresh consideration when the AO had not discharged the burden of proving that the assessee had a PE in India?"
     
    The High Court held in favour of assessee as under:
     
    1) The First Appellate Authority [CIT(A)] while deciding the appeals had passed a fairly detailed order. The CIT(A) concluded that all the agreements placed on record had indicated that assessee was not taxable in India in absence of any permanent establishment in India within the meaning of Article 5 of the DTAA.
    2) The basic issue before ITAT was whether the Assessee had permanent establishment in India or not. There was nothing on record to prove that the provisions of Article 5(1) of the DTAA were applicable in case of assessee. But to the Court’s surprise, the ITAT still deemed the case fit and proper to remand it back to AO.
     
    3) Resorting to these types of matters results in wastage of precious judicial time of the Tribunal as also Higher Courts and delaying the collection and recovery of Revenue, if any. It also results in uncertainty and chaos. Judicial decisions have to be consistent and all the more there should be no confusion.
     
    4) There ought to be some predictability. When given facts and circumstances gave rise to certain legal principles then, as a last fact finding authority, the Tribunal could have summoned all records and thereafter should have arrived at a categorical conclusion whether the First Appellate Authority was right or the Assessing Officer?. This had admittedly not been done by ITAT.
     
    5) Tribunal had completely failed to act as a last fact finding authority. It also failed to discharge its duty and functions expected of it by the law. ITAT couldn’t remand matter back to AO for fresh consideration, especially when AO had not discharged burden of proving that assessee had a PE in India