Article by Lokanath Mishra, M.A, LL.B, IRS(Rtd)

As the nation is gearing up for the biggest economic reform - Goods and Services Tax- scheduled to launch at the midnight of Jun 30, but , I, anticipate that the rollout of GST may throw litigation challenges for the tribunals and judiciary. I am to predict that a steep rise in litigations pertaining to the uniform indirect tax regime in days to come.

GST, with its seven tax slabs, a complex system to avail input tax credits (ITC) and uncertainty over anti-profiteering provisions, is likely to lead to several litigations. Piles of unsolved cases are already a matter of concern for judiciary and tax tribunals in India, and the GST is likely to add a good deal of new cases to already burdened system.

Government has assured that it will be a smooth rollout for the new tax, but there are apprehensions. Confusion over provisions, lack and unfamiliarity with the IT infrastructure among other factors GST will have to surpass before it can be successful in its motive of simplifying tax structure in India.

As a Legal professional, I, believe that there will be tax litigations and tax payers looking for further clarifications in near further. As hard-pressed as they are right now, there is a lot to be done..

"There will be issues regarding interpretation of law after GST rollout. There will be new notifications from the government. Compliance is another issue that will arise after GST rollout. There will be more disputes with authorities over GST in days to come. People will also be looking for advance tax ruling," .

This also calls for hiring more professionals to handle the increasing pressure facilitators are facing on account of GST, .

As for things to return back to normal can take a few months, "Once rolled out, there will be a couple of months before GST is streamlined. There are a few hindrances to it as of now. First of all, it has to be seen how the software works. Errors have to be minimised while filing tax returns as there is no provision for revising once filled,"

GST rollout: Tax litigation cases likely to soar after new tax regime
There still is a lot of clarification that tax payers as well as implementing authorities are seeking regarding GST owing to the times it has been changed structurally.

"Consumers are still apprehensive whether GST will actually be beneficial or not. They are apprehensive whether the benefits will be passed on to them by the corporate houses or not. There still is absolute clarity about GST in the department itself either, with something new coming up every day. Department also needs a lot of handholding from the professionals,"

War room' set up to deal with GST crises

Equipped with multiple phone lines and computer systems and manned by tech-savvy youngsters, a "mini war room" has been set up in the finance ministry to deal with crises related to the implementation of GST.

Central Board of Excise and Customs chief Vanaja N Sarna said that the unit will act as a quick resource centre for central and state government officials to address their queries on the historic tax reform scheduled to be implemented from July 1. 

"The finance ministry has set up a GST feedback and action room specifically for government officials to approach it with any urgent queries related to problems of GST in any area," she said.

Sarna said the action room, which will function from 8 am to 10 pm, will provide prompt response to queries raised by states and central government officials.

Govt defers tax deduction & collection at source under GST to ensure smooth roll-out

Small businesses with turnover less than Rs 20 lakh, will also not be required to register themselves under the GST for selling goods or services through e-commerce portal.

With just 4-days left for Goods and Services Tax (GST) roll-out, the government has deferred implementation of Tax Deducted at Source (TDS) and Tax Collection Source (TCS) provisions as well as exempted from registration small businesses selling on e-commerce platform.

E-commerce companies will not be required to collect 1 percent TCS while making payment to suppliers under the GST which will be rolled-out from July 1.

As per the Central GST (CGST) Act, the notified entities are required to collect TDS at 1 percent on payments to suppliers to goods or services in excess of Rs 2.5 lakh. This provision has been kept in abeyance.

Based on the feedback received from trade and industry, the government has decided to postpone provision relating to TDS (Section 51) and TCS (Section 52) of the CGST/State GST Act 2017, with the objective of ensuring smooth roll-out of GST, the finance ministry said in a statement.

Small businesses with turnover less than Rs 20 lakh, will also not be required to register themselves under the GST for selling goods or services through e-commerce portal. In other words, persons supplying goods or services through electronic commerce operator liable to collect tax at source would not be required to obtain registration immediately.

"This step has been taken to provide more time for persons liable to deduct tax at source/e-commerce companies and their suppliers to prepare for the historic tax reform," the statement added.

The GST Network portal has started accepting registration of TDS, TCS deductors and e-commerce operators only yesterday. Given the huge rush, it is unlikely that all registrations would be done before the July 1 roll-out date.

The biggest indirect tax reform since Independence, GST will subsume host of levies, including excise, service tax, VAT and other local levies. It will create a uniform market for seamless transfer of goods and services. GST is expected to widen the tax base, check tax evasion and add about 1-2 percent to Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

CELEBRATION OF FIRST GST DAY.

D.O. Letters from Chairman and Members

• DO letter from Member (Admin)regarding implementation of GST on 1st July ,2017 and preparation
GST Seva kendras manual 09.06.2017    English   |   Hindi   |  
• DO letter cum Advisory issued by Member (Cus) on GST related changes
• D.O. letter from Member (Admn.) regarding AGT - 2017 Compliance
• DO letter dt. 12-06-2017 from Chairman, CBEC
• DO letter regarding Direct recruitment through SSC for the year 2017
• DO letter from Member (Admn.) dated 31/05/2017
• DO letter from Member (Admn.) regarding Disposal of Departmental Inquiries pending beyond 6 months 
• DO letter from Chairman & Member regarding setting up of video-conferencing facility in CBEC 
• DO letter dated 13/05/2017 
  Annexure A : Jurisdiction Table     Annexure B : Enclosure - 1    Annexure B : Enclosure - 2     Annexure B : Enclosure - 3   Annexure B : Enclosure - 4     Annexure C     Annexure D    
• Regarding Launching of Prosecution Management Module 
  Annexure 1(Step-bystep guide for uploading of legacy data)     Annexure 2
• DO letter dated 01.05.2017 of Chairman, CBEC for identifying two projects per commissioneratezone for Swachhta action plan 
• DO letter dated 28.04.2017 from Chairman, CBEC on in-house system of updating knowledge on GST 
• DO letter dated 3.05.2017 reg. - Dashboard for GST Awareness campaign - Manthan 
• D.O. letter from Member (Admn.) dated 19.4.2017 regarding implementation/monitoring of "Bhavishya" Software 
• D.O. letter from Member (Cus) dated 11.4.2017 reg. special drive for disposal of applications for fixation of Brand rate of drawback 
• D.O. letter dated 31st March 2017 from Chairman
• D.O. letter dated 3rd February 2017 from Chairman and Members
• Migration to GST of existing Central Excise/Service tax Assesses - GST MIGRATION SEVA KENDRAS 
  Annexure A     Annexure B
• D.O. letter dated 6th January 2017 Regarding migration of existing Central Excise/Service Tax Assessees to GST
  Guidance Note For Dept. Officers
• D.O. letter dated 10th October 2016 from Special Secretary and Member
• D.O. letter dated 19th October 2016 from Chairman to field formations
• Chairman DO letter dated 17th September 2016 for Role of CBEC as work for GST

The primary purpose of the Goods and Services Tax Network GSTN is to offer IT infrastructure and services to central and state governments, taxpayers and other stakeholders, to further facilitate the implementation of the GST.

India is at the dawn of implementation of fair taxation, GST is all set to rollout on July 1st. The primary purpose of the Goods and Services Tax Network GSTN is to offer IT infrastructure and services to central and state governments, taxpayers and other stakeholders, to further facilitate the implementation of the GST.

The Goods and Services Tax or GST as we most of us know by now, is destination based tax that is to be levied on all goods and services and is being introduced with the intent to replace most of the existing indirect taxes including VAT, Service Tax, Excise Duty, Entry Tax and more.

Spice Digital Ltd, the technology wing of Spice Connect Group has diverse interests in Mobility and Fintech solutions for more than a decade now. As a natural progression, Spice Digital is one of the selected GST Suvidha providers taking a proactive part in the GST implementation.

Dealing with the GST filing system directly through the G2B portal may prove to be a little difficult for many taxpaying organizations, who would need third-party applications to access the same. These applications will connect with the GST filing system via secure GST System Application Programming Interfaces (APIs).

The application developers are selected after approval from GSTN and are given the names: GST Suvidha Provider, or GSP, and Application Service Providers, or ASP. As one of the chosen GSPs, Spice has had rigourous preparation to be capacitive GST Suvidha provider.

From endless testing to integration and operations, Spice GST Suvidha provider armoured to contribute to the implementation of fair taxation in India.

?As one of the chosen GST Suvidha Provider to be a part of the GST ecosystem, Spice Digital Ltd. is all set to provide seamless integration for ASPs with the GSTN, to enable the businesses to be compliant with the Government taxes. Our focus is predominantly on security and hassle free connectivity in the process of transition from the current taxation process to a centralized taxation ecosystem. Any transition process is incomplete, without proper help and support center in place; we are simultaneously setting up the centers to ensure a smooth flow for all of our clientele. These centers will also enable the clientele to train their employees and get all the real time updates and corresponding hands on training on any changes related to GST,? said Global CEO Spice Digital, Saket Agarwal.

Spice GSP provides ways to file sales and purchase return electronically over cloud using automation. The solution includes a GSP application which focuses on enriched asynchronous APIs, metering facility, detailed logging and many more features.

Along with the GSP offerings, an ASP application provides basic information about the entire GST filing process, a simple step by step guide/flow for using the tax filing application, along with the features like multi-field reconciliation and AI based RAG ratings for ensuring an easy reconciliation for the tax filers etc.

Spice GST Suvidha provider also enables any ERP or legacy system to make the data GST compliant, the connectors / middleware helps in automation of fetching the data. The entire product has been built in such a way that can ensure huge data load and compatible to any updates that may or might be sent by GSTN in future.

Additionally, Spice offers to partner with organizations to provide training and understanding about the implementation of GST to their employees, Vendors and Network partners. They would also offer assistance in the development of Application to enable GST for the organization as well as their clients. They would provide Impact analysis and solutions and give them the connectivity to GSTN through a secured platform.

'Can GST function without a glitch? The answer is NO.'

'The nation is struggling to get ready. In general, people do not know what they need to be ready for.'

'GST is a double-edged sword. On one side it is a breather, on the other side, it has increased the uncertainty of business outcome.'

 

It takes eight to nine months for developing a robust software from the time the rules are decided, warns Bharat Goenka, managing director of Tally Solutions, one of the entities entrusted as a 'Suvidha Provider' with developing ready software for customers to get them ready for the coming Goods and Services Tax (GST). A week ahead of the tax rollout, the enterprise resource planning software company launched its accounting and compliance software on Thursday. A talk with Dilasha Seth:

What are your thoughts on GST readiness, a week ahead of the rollout?

Life is not easy right now. It is not only a product problem but an outreach problem.

It is about the diversity of customer base, the quantum of customer base and expectation of your customer base. Preparing for that scale and infrastructure, in addition to partner infrastructure, is a cumbersome exercise.

How ready is Tally as a GST Suvidha Provider for the challenge?

I don't think we have been able to stop and measure how ready we are. We will only be able to say that we are progressively getting more and more ready.

We are definitely very scared that the nation is struggling to get ready. By nation, I mean individual businesses. In general, people do not know what they need to be ready for.

How much of a respite is the two-month grace period given for filing of returns?

It is a double-edged sword. On one side it is a breather, a procedural breather. On the other side, it has increased the uncertainty of business outcome.

I would not know the basis of my profitability and cash flow projections that I have done. Whether it will turn out to be true or not or whether the input tax credit that I assumed will actually be available or not will have to be seen.

Are all APIs (application program interfaces) in place and embedded in the software?

There is a reason that our Release 6 is not connected to the GST Network (GSTN, the information technology backbone for the new tax).

On July 1, they should be able to make their invoices; for that, they do not require to be connected to GSTN. We are taking them through the most robust and least risk path.

Besides, we cannot make life more complex for customers by coming out with frequent releases with minor upgrades based on APIs provided by GSTN. We are instead focusing on fewer releases with major upgrades.

What is your take on GSTN's progress?

GSTN is in a very difficult position. They are going rock-crazy trying to cope with the volatility and doing a good job under the current circumstances.

No one could have done a better job. But, it is not going to be easy for them and neither is it going to be easy for the country.

Is the problem essentially with the cramped timeline? Is July 1 too optimistic?

It is indeed very cramped. While it is easy to add a new feature to software with respect to its functioning, developing robust software takes time.

Whenever you make a change, you need to harden the software and that takes time. If you do not give it time, you end up with fragile software and get potentially surprising results.

It is a high risk environment. So, it is not sensible to try and do such mega rollouts without robust backing. GSTN are keeping eyes on the fact that they have to deliver robustness. Yet, they are under this pressure of delivering functionality.

How effective is the two months grace time? How much time does it take to make robust software?

Hardening the software takes eight to nine times from the time rules are frozen. So, is two months enough time to give a robust release, so it can function without a glitch? The answer is No.

How many customers are you adding per day in light of GST?

We are seeing an increase in customer base on account of GST. The bulk of increase is on account of those who are using pirated versions butmoving to us.

We are adding about 2,000 customers a day, as against 500 a day earlier. That said, the focus continues to be on existing customers.

Are your customers ready?

We are trying to get them ready. But, they do not know what to get ready for. There is an absence of knowledge.

Could you elaborate on that, since the rules are already out?

In the pre-GST era, 60-80 per cent of our customers were in a single tax regime.

They had to care about profit and loss account, purchase, direct cost, expenses and net profit.

Now, every single item bought from an unregistered player will also need to be reported and paid for.

For instance, if you buy a Rs 12 pen from a next door shop -- if unregistered, the firm will have to pay tax to the government directly, instead of just recording it as an expense. It is quite complex that way. And, this is only one example.

Action taken by CBEC for revision of pension of pre-2016 pensioners.(click below)

14-06-2017

Regarding implementation of Government's decision on the recommendations of the 7th CPC- revision of pension

CONFEDERATION OF CENTRAL GOVERNMENT EMPLOYEES AND WORKERS.

CONFEDERATION OF CENTRAL GOVERNMENT EMPLOYEES AND WORKERS.

22.06.2017 ------- HUMAN CHAIN

THE PLEDGE.

After formation of the Human Chain, the following pledge should be read out loudly in local language by some leaders, if possible through sound amplifier, and those employees and pensioners in the Human chain should jointly repeat each line loudly. 

Please translate the pledge to your local language 

= M.Krishnan , 

Secretary General  

Confederation

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

-- We , the Central Government Employees and Pensioners 

-- under the banner of our glorious organisation

-- Confederation of Central Govt Employees & Workers 

-- express our strong protest and discontentment 

-- against the totally indifferent and negative 

-- attitude of the NDA Govt at the Centre

-- towards the genuine and legitimate demands of 

-- thirty two lakhs Central Govt employees 

-- and thirty three lakhs Central Govt pensioners.

--------------------------------------------------

-- We strongly condemn the betrayal of 

-- Hon'ble Home Minister and Finance Minister 

-- who during the negotiation with the staff side 

-- categorically assured increase in Minimum pay

-- and also increase in fitment formula

-- of the Central Govt employees and Pensioners.

-- It is shameful that the Cabinet Ministers 

-- failed to honour their assurance even after twelve months.

-- we demand immediate increase in minimum pay and fitment formula.

--------------------------------------------------------

-- Revised allowances including HRA and Transport allowance 

-- are still not granted to  Central Govt employees 

-- we demand immediate revision of allowances from January 2016.

--------------------------------------------

-- one and the only favourable recommendation of the 7th CPC

-- Option -1 parity for the past pensioners 

-- mercilessly rejected by the NDA Government.

-- we demand implementation of Option -1 parity for pensioners.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

-- We strongly oppose privatisation of social security and pension

-- we demand scrapping of contributory pension system 

-- we want defined benefit pension for all

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

-- we demand immediate revision of wages of

-- three lakhs Gramin  Dak Sevak employees 

-- and grant of civil servant status to them

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

-- Inspite of historic judgement of the Supreme Court 

-- equal pay for equal work is denied to

-- thousands of casual and contract workers

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

-- Autonomous body employees and pensioners 

-- who are integral part of the Central Government 

-- are humiliated by denying their pay revision and pension revision 

-- we demand immediate implementation of their pay and pension revision.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

-- More than six lakhs posts are lying vacant in Central services

-- downsizing and outsourcing has become the order of the day

-- we demand stop outsourcing and privatisation 

-- we demand settlement of 21 points charter of demands 

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

-- We the central Govt employees and pensioners 

-- jointly with other sections of the working class

-- resolve with firm determination

-- we shall continue our uncompromising struggle

-- against the anti-labour and anti-people policies 

-- pursued by the NDA Govt at the Centre

-- we declare that we shall not surrender before

-- aggressive policy offensives of the NDA Govt. 

-- we shall also not surrender our right to 

-- collective bargaining and strike 

-- under any circumstances.

-- we pledge that we shall not rest 

-- till the retrograde neo-liberal policy offensives 

-- of the Central Government are defeated 

-- we shall fight and fight and fight 

-- till our legitimate demands are achieved.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 Unity for struggle and struggle for unity 

 Inquilab Zindabad

 Confederation Zindabad

 Working class unity Zindabad.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Central government employees will have to wait a while longer for availing benefits of the changed allowance rates as the Union Cabinet did not discuss the matter even in the second meeting this month. The proposals in this regard, which the Cabinet has to take a decision on, were not tabled for deliberation as Finance Minister Arun Jaitley is on a trip to South Korea.

Jaitley left yesterday for a four-day visit to attend second annual Board of Governors meeting of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB). He will also pitch India as a favourable investment destination when he meets top brass of Korean companies like Samsung and Hyosung Group among others as 50 lakh central government employees await a decision on the allowance rates under the Seventh Central Pay Commission.

The Cabinet was expected to decide on House Rate Allowance (HRA) rates also, the most talked about allowance of all, but did not in Jaitley's absence. The Finance Minister had received the consolidated proposals from the Empowered Committee of Secretaries (E-CoS) on June 1 for federal Cabinet's consideration, raising hopes of central government employees that good news is on the cards. But the matter has eluded the Cabinet for the second meeting.

We had reported earlier today that Cabinet might not take up the allowances of central government employees on account of Finance Minister's not being able to attend the meeting.

Central government employees had been waiting almost for a year now for updates on allowances since the 7th Pay Commission recommendations on pay and pension were approved by the Cabinet. The pay panel had, however, recommended abolition of or subsuming of allowances like acting, assisting cashier, cycle, condiment, flying squad, haircutting, rajbhasha, rajdhani, robe, shoe, shorthand, soap, spectacle, uniform, vigilance and washing.

The Seventh Pay Commission had recommended abolishing 53 of the 196 allowances, and subsuming 36 other allowances. It also recommended slashing the House Rent Allowance (HRA)--for metros, commission recommended bringing down the HRA from 30 per cent to 24 per cent.

The Seventh Pay Commission had recommended the rate of House Rent Allowance (HRA) be kept at 24 percent, 16 percent and 8 percent of the Basic Pay for Class X, Y and Z cities respectively.

Government employees protested the recommendations of the Seventh Pay Commission, following which the Narendra Modi-government formed a Committee on Allowances under Finance Secretary Ashok Lavasa to review the suggestions. It was constituted in July and after an extended deadline was asked to submit its report to the government by February 22, 2017. The review report was finally submitted in April this year.

The report was then forwarded to the Empowered Committee for consideration and consolidation which, in turn, submitted it to Jaitley. He is now expected to present the same before the Cabinet for the final nod.

MEGA-CONVENTION OF AIACEGEO, GANDHI DHAM..

MEGA-CONVENTION OF AIACEGEO, GANDHI DHAM..

The above pictures are at Gandhidham, where convention of AICEGEEO held 
on 27/28 May 2017. The ambience pics speaks the involvement the devotion
 dedication of the organizers/ host unit i.e. KANDLA, MUNDARA & KUTCH.  
The Convention was inaugurated with lighting the lamp followed with inspiring 
speech inaugural address of Chief Guest Commissioner Kutch. He referred
 the GST as Growth stimulating tax (GST) in his Urdu Juban, and soothing 
words. There were invitee viz. the ex-office bearers Shri S. P. Sidhanto, 
Shri Sushil Pareeks and Shri Lok Nath Mishra. Their presence and observance 
on the occasion was laudable.

            The second session of the Convention was turbulent and every units’ Office
 bearers expressed their concern very loud and clear on the issue which was the bone 
of contention.

            Out of 16 Cadre controlling zones units of the 15 Cadre Controlling zones, 
109 delegates from all over India were present in the Convention at Gandhidham.
 On 28^th May Election was held for the post of Secretary General and President 
and it was conducted by the Election Officer Shri Nirnajan Godara, appointed by
 the House on 27^th May, 2017. The Election Officer was very upright and straight forward and having clarity on the issues placed before him. The manner in which he has conducted the election was unprecedented never seen before. 

            There was straight contest for both the posts and the total votes polled by the participating units was 174. Votes were counted and thereafter the results were declared by the Election Officer. Shri Ravi Malik and Shri A Venkatesh declared elected for the post of Secretary General and President of AICEGEEO respectively. The delegates those who were participated the Convention at Gandhidham, were overwhelmed by the hospitality of the host units and the ambience which they have raised have no words. The standards of each sphere whether accommodation or food transportation or any other convenience, all were excellent and marvelous.

            The delegates feels those units who have created a partisan in the organization and missed the event and deviated from the main stream, if they were together perhaps the above pictures would have been different.

            This is the PICTURE of parallel event at Chennai, convened by the Ex- President of AICEGEEO, only one cadre controlling zone i.e. Chennai out of 16, was participated along with some regular units i.e. COIMBATORE, PUNE, NASHIK, who participated in the event.

            The splinter groups were also managed to sneak they are from Calcutta, Nagpur, and Mumbai. They took chance to fulfill their long cherished ambition to become office bearer at least in parallel body. As you are aware they engineered to create a splinter group in Mumbai and tried the same modus in Nagpur, Delhi, and Chandigarh but failed to trap them. Anyhow as per the pre written script they have held the event and distributed the posts amongst themselves as charity. The Master mind of the event become the Secretary General for the second time (in Group B Cadre, earlier also in AIACEIO in same manner). When by very nature is partitioned and thinking is divisive and self-promoting then where the cadre interests are?   Whether they are for the cadre or the cadre is taken granted by them for them.

            Both the events are over now! CESA Mumbai feels the ex-President whose actions at the fag end of his tenure finds no place which he might have imagined and designed accordingly. Happy people are always happy not because everything is right in their life. They are happy because their attitude towards everything is right but the action of Ex-office bearer is not condonable, not right in their actions, not happy with the outcome. The interest of the cadre is the last concern the interest of the local units and the overambitious individuals self promoting  as if they are the only one no one else as competent to lead the body. 

            But at the last the great damage done to the Cadre for few self seeker individuals who intends only they will work as a Chief office bearer not less than that. The time is crucial when the major tax reforms are to be rolled out and in future there may be more claimants to share with us the benefits of the reforms we are not able to settle down ourselves. When the existence of our Cadre is on the stake, we do not know what will be our designation, our position, utility in the system but we are fighting for ourselves like a pauper. All the burning issues will remain in the back foot and we will polish ourselves that we are the shining one not glittering one. Other stake holders  are very happy that the major contender are busy in their in house fighting and in the back end not only they will take their share but also ours and we will be busy in our philosophy, rights and democracy and we are the most stagnated and neglected ones nothing else.