GST: Tax department unveils draft rules for registration, invoice and payments

New Delhi: In less than a week after the first meeting of the GST Council, the tax department came out with three draft rules and their formats relating to registration, invoice and payments which would be finalised by week-end.

The Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC) has invited comments on draft rules by Wednesday. The draft rules provide for online registration by residents within three days of submission of application.

For non-residents who will come under the purview of GST, they will be required to electronically submit the application for registration at least 5 days prior to the commencement of business and shall also deposit full tax liability in advance.

The government aims to implement the new indirect tax regime Goods and Services Tax (GST) from April 1, 2017, and to that effect the GST Council will hold its second meeting on September 30. The meeting would finalise rules for GST.

The draft rules also provide that if a tax official fails to take action on registration application within a stipulated time frame, the application for grant of registration shall be deemed to have been approved.

As per the draft norms, the applicant seeking registration will have to submit PAN, mobile number, email address on the common portal or through a facilitation centre.

The tax authorities will use PAN, one time password and Aadhaar number to verify the details of the applicant.

In case all documents are in order, the tax official will approve registration in three working days from the date of submission of application.

In case there are defects, the applicant has to be intimated within three working days and after receiving clarification, he will be granted registration within 7 days from the date for receiving of reply. There will also be a provision for grant of separate registration for business verticals of the same organisation.The rules also provide for suo moto registration of person who are liable but have failed to apply for registration. The rules also provide for physical verification of business premises after grant of registration.

Nangia & Co Director Rajat Mohan said, "Government is working enthusiastically and is moving with lightening speed in hitting bull's eye for April, 2017".

In all, the CBEC has come out with 17 rules and 26 forms for Registration, five rules and one form for Invoice and four rules and seven forms for Payment.

Invoice rules prima facie prescribed that number of details should be mentioned in an invoice e.G. Description of Goods, HSN Code of each good supplied, Quantity of Goods, Rate (Per Item), Discount Offered, Freight, Amount of tax (Under reverse charge), Electronic reference number etc.

These rules also prescribe that transporter need not carry any invoice if supplier provides invoice reference number to transporter.