GST Compendium – August 2020

To address the concerns faced by the taxpayers in these challenging times, the government has initiated various tax-friendly measures and steps to ease compliances. The due dates for various returns have been extended over the past few months. Further, waiver / reduction in interest and late fee has been provided to ease the compliance burden.

Recently, the CBIC had undertaken a ‘special refund drive’ to provide some support to the taxpayers wherein about 46,000 GST refund claims worth INR 18,588 crore (from April 2020 to June 2020) have been released.

The apex court has issued standard operating procedures for conducting hearing through videoconference to maintain social distancing norms as recommended by healthcare authorities. This could probably become a norm in future or an alternative to personal appearance.

Other measures taken by the CBIC recently, include rolling out a facility to file NIL return in Form GSTR1 through SMS, launch of e-platform for services related to foreign trade and a nationwide faceless assessment programme. The government has also invited suggestions from trade and industry for review of existing customs law procedures and exemptions to align them with the current economic reality.

This edition focuses on the key issues in the ‘healthcare sector’ vis-à-vis the GST regime and explores some of the plausible solutions that authorities may consider.

We hope you will find it informative and interesting.