TIOL-DDT 2938
27 09 2016
Tuesday

GST is on Speed Track. Yesterday the CBEC released

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

The Revenue Secretary Dr. Hasmukh Adhia tweeted:

The draft rules for registration, payments, invoice, etc for GST are uploaded on CBEC website. Business community may view them and give quick comments, if any, by 28th night on gst-cbec@gov.in. We intend to have these rules approved by GST council in its meeting on 30th September. So that business systems can be modified by all.

The Draft Registration Rules have 17 Rules and 26 Forms; the Draft Payment Rules have 4 Rules with many sub-rules and 7 Forms and the Draft Invoice Rules have 5 Rules with many sub-rules and 1 Form. And you have all of two days to read, understand and send in your comments. This is how laws should be made; you tell the people what you are going to do, but don't give them time to react. Even if you send in your comments, do you think the babus are going to waste their time reading your comments and redrafting all these rules and forms? As such by habit they don't admit mistakes or accept suggestions. GST is here at high speed and we will have to learn to live with it.

Once upon a time there was a rule that you had to exhibit your registration certificate in a conspicuous place in the registered premises. They have brought it back in the GST Registration Rules. Rule 7 of the draft rules stipulates:

(1) Every registered taxable person shall display his certificate of registration in a prominent location at his principal place of business and at every additional place or places of business.

(2) Every registered taxable person shall display his GSTIN in the name board exhibited at the entry of his principal place of business and at every additional place or places of business.

Pray, why? Where are we going? Why do you want to bring back the primitive relics of an illogical tax regime?

The Registration application is very lengthy and complex - Draft Rule 14 stipulates all existing registrations are treated as provisional and they have to file forms to get GST registration. This was not what the trade was made to believe; they were made to understand that the migration would be automatic.

Doesn't modern taxation assume a mandatory courtesy to the taxpayer? The Babu's arrogance! It is difficult to write a law and hide your arrogance. There is a Form GST REG-03 which is a Notice for Seeking Additional Information / Clarification / Documents relating to Application for Registration / Amendment / Cancellation.

The notice majestically states,

The Department has examined your application and is not satisfied with it for the following reasons:

*** **** *****

You are directed to submit your reply by …… (DD/MM/YYYY)

You are hereby directed to appear before the undersigned authority on ……… (DD/MM/YYYY) at…….(HH:MM)

Can't you request your assessee to submit his reply and to come and see you. And why submit? Why can't he just send it? Are we still under the East India Company? Is the assessee supposed to crawl to the divine presence of the exalted officer and humbly submit his reply to the satisfaction of the mighty officer? Modiji, this is too much of government and hardly any governance.

Service Tax - Yoga Retrospectively Exempted

AS per Sl.No.4 of Notification No. 25/2012-ST, dated 20.06.2012, Services by an entity registered under section 12AA of the Income Tax Act, 1961 by way of charitable activities, are exempted. Para 2k of the Notification defines charitable activities inter alia as activities relating to advancement of religion, spirituality or Yoga.

Yoga was included in the definition only by Notification No. 20/2015-ST, dated 21.10.2015 which raised a question as to whether yoga was taxable for the period from 01.07.2012 to 20.10.2015. Now the Government has issued a Section 11C notification directing that the service tax payable under section 66B of the Finance Act, 1994, on the service by way of advancement of Yoga provided by entities registered under section 12AA of Income-tax Act, 1961 in the said period, shall not be required to be paid.

Why couldn't they do it in October 2015 when they exempted yoga? But how do you keep babus busy? (at our cost, of course)

Notification No. 42/2016-Service tax., Dated: September 26, 2016

Central Excise (Removal of Goods at Concessional Rate of Duty for Manufacture of Excisable and Other Goods) Rules, 2016-Security Bond Again Permitted

AS per Rule 4(5) of the Central Excise (Removal of Goods at Concessional Rate of Duty for Manufacture of Excisable and Other Goods) Rules, 2016, notified by Notification No. 20/2016-CENT, dated 01.03.2016, read as:

(5) The applicant manufacturer shall execute a general bond with surety or security:

This was amended by Notification No. 22/2016-CENT, dated 15.03.2016 by which the words, "or security" were omitted; so the sub-rule would read as:

(5) The applicant manufacturer shall execute a general bond with surety:

Now, they have amended this Rule again yesterday to bring back the words, "or security". Now this sub-rule reads as:

(5) The applicant manufacturer shall execute a general bond with surety or security:

Two notifications and waste of tons of paper, we are back to where we started. This is how the Government works!

Notification No. 46/2016-CE(NT)., Dated: September 26, 2016

Central Excise - directions to file appeal to be given by Commissioner only to same adjudicating authority: CESTAT LB

A Division Bench of the Tribunal by an interim order reported as - 2016-TIOL-1721-CESTAT-DEL referred to Larger Bench for resolving the questions of law:

"Whether in terms of the provisions of Section 35 E(2) of the Central Excise Act, 1944, directions to file the appeal are required to be given by the Commissioner only to the very same authority, who adjudicated the case or the same can be given to any other authority."

Section 35E(2) then read as:

(2) The Commissioner of Central Excise may, of his own motion, call for and examine the record of any proceeding in which an adjudicating authority subordinate to him has passed any decision or order under this Act for the purpose of satisfying himself as to the legality or propriety of any such decision or order and may, by order, direct such authority to apply to the Commissioner (Appeals) for the determination of such points arising out of the decision or order as may be specified by the Commissioner of Central Excise in his order.

The Larger Bench of the Tribunal in a recent order held that directions to file appeal are required to be given by the Commissioner only to the very same adjudicating authority is the mandate of the Section 35E(2) of the Act. - 2016-TIOL-2534-CESTAT-DEL-LB

But this may not be valid for cases after 2006. By the Taxation Laws (Amendment) Act 2006, the Section 35E(2) was amended to substitute such authority with "such authority or any central Excise Officer subordinate to him".

So, now any Central Excise Officer can be authorized to file the application to the Commissioner (Appeals).

Until Tomorrow with more  DDT

Have a nice day.

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