Lack of tax refund as well as claiming of unclaimed tax credit under Goods and Services Tax (GST) were among a host of issues that were raised during the one-day meeting of National Action Committee (NAC) of GST practitioners held at Indore on Saturday. Participants called for increased interaction with the government to sort out the issues.
"There is no provision to claim Input Tax Credit in the annual return for the fiscal 2017-19. Close to 30% of tax payers are facing this problem," said a tax practitioner based out of Gujarat, who participated in the meet. This is one of the burning issues for businesses, locking up their capital.
Another participant Axat Vyas, who is also a member of Governing Council of NAC, said that inspite of the legal provision to dispose cases of appeal in one year, there are several cases of e-Way Bill pending for over 18 months. The issue of delay condonation was also raised as it is for the first time that a grace (of 30 days) has been implemented. "Generally there is no deadline, as it is up to the official who condones a delay. Tax advocates are looking at a possibility of challenging the decision in courts," he said.
Tax practitioners also expressed urgency to get a clarity on whether interest on late filing or returns and non payment of tax should be levied on net tax liability or gross tax liability. Net liability takes into account the tax credit the businessmen is entitled to. While there is a general consensus that interest will be levied on net liability, there is no such notification by the government. Moreover, there is ambiguity about the date of application of this provision.
NAC was formed about a year ago in Ahmedabad as an informal body to propagate the interest of tax practitioners and to interact with the government for a smoother roll out of GST. Not it has been decided that it would be converted into a legal entity. It is expected to get registered and start functioning from next financial year.