CAIT comes down on e-commerce giants, GST Return filing rises by 8.2%,a possible merger of 12% and 5% GST tax slabs: GST News In A Minute

An increase in return filings this month and a possible merger of two GST tax slabs; Here are some quick updates around #GSTThisWeek

CAIT comes down on e-commerce giants; accuse them of GST evasion

The Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT), a traders’ body, in a letter to the Finance Minister of India, Nirmala Sitharaman alleged that e-commerce giants like Amazon and Flipkart are evading GST. They have appealed to the finance ministry to initiate a high-level inquiry to probe the alleged tax evasion. CAIT has alleged that e-commerce businesses like Amazon and Flipkart are selling products at a price much lower than the fair market value on their online platforms and that their act is in utter disregard of the provisions of FDI policy of the government causing significant loss of GST revenue and Income Tax to the Government.

Chairman of Finance Commission calls for radical changes in GST structure.

Amid growing concerns regarding the fall in GST collections, the chairman of the Finance Commission, N K Singh has called for a significant number of changes in GST structure including reduction of compliance procedures and reducing the frequency of changes in GST rates in a bid to improve collection. The changes sought are expected to minimise the cost of compliance, make the system less onerous, ultimately leading to an improved trajectory of revenue collection. The finance panel chief has stressed the urgent need to go back to the drawing board and make some radical changes to help revive GST collections.

Return filing rises by 8.2% in November

The Central Board of Indirect Taxes & Customs (CBIC) has announced an increase in the number of GSTR-3B return filings by 8.2% in November. The number of filings shot up by 50% on the deadline for filing returns, with close to 18.3 lakh returns filed through the online network. During November, returns filed so far have increased by 8.2% to 64.8 lakh, as against 59.9 lakh in the previous month.

12% and 5% GST tax slabs could be merged

Unconfirmed media reports are suggesting that the GST panel might consider merging two of the tax slabs bringing GST in India to a three tax slab structure. The merging of rate slabs would result in better tax administration and ease out interpretation and classification issues which was the overall spirit of GST.

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