Below are the recommendation made on 53rd GST Council meeting held in New Delhi on 22 June 2024:

Valuation of Corporate Guarantee not applicable on export and where recipient is eligible for full ITC:

• To amend rule 28(2) of CGST Rules retrospectively with effect from 26.10.2023 and issuance of a circular to clarify various issues. Rule 28(2) of CGST Rules would not be applicable in case of export of such services and also where the recipient is eligible for full input tax credit.

No interest where balance is available in Electronic Cash Ledger

• To amend in rule 88B of CGST Rules to provide that an amount, which is available in the Electronic Cash Ledger on the due date of filing of return in FORM GSTR-3B, and is debited while filing the said return, shall not be included while calculating interest under section 50 of the CGST Act in respect of delayed filing of the said return.

Nil valuation for import from related persons

• To clarify where foreign affiliate is providing certain services to the related domestic entity, for which full input tax credit is available to the said related domestic entity, the value declared in the invoice may be deemed as open market value. 
• Further, where full input tax credit is available to the recipient, if the invoice is not issued, the value may be declared as Nil.

Time limit to claim ITC basis self-invoice

• To clarify that in cases of supplies received from unregistered suppliers, where tax has to be paid by the recipient under reverse charge mechanism (RCM) and invoice is to be issued by the recipient only, the relevant financial year for calculation of time limit for
  availment of input tax credit under the provisions of section 16(4) of CGST Act is the financial year in which the invoice has been issued by the recipient.

Reduction in Pre-deposit

• The maximum amount for filing appeal with the appellate authority has been reduced from Rs. 25 crores CGST and Rs. 25 crores SGST to Rs. 20 crores CGST and Rs. 20 crores SGST. 
• The amount of pre-deposit for filing appeal with the Appellate Tribunal has been reduced from 20% with a maximum amount of Rs. 50 crores CGST and Rs. 50 crores SGST to 10 % with a maximum of Rs. 20 crores CGST and Rs. 20 crores SGST.

Amnesty scheme

• Waiving interest and penalties for demand notices issued under Section 73 for fiscal years 2017-18, 2018-19 and 2019-20, in cases where the taxpayer pays the full amount of tax demanded in the notice upto 31.03.2025. 
• The waiver does not cover demand of erroneous refunds. To implement this, the GST Council has recommended insertion of Section 128A in CGST Act.

No Compensation Cess on import of goods by SEZ

• To exempt Compensation Cess on the imports in SEZ by SEZ Unit/developers for authorised operations w.e.f. 01.07.2017.

Amendment of GSTR-1

•  To amend GSTR-1 for a tax period and/ or to declare additional details, if any, before filing of return in FORM GSTR-3B for the said tax period to facilitate to add any supply of the current tax period missed out in reporting in FORM GSTR-1 or to amend any particulars already declared in FORM GSTR-1 of the current tax period

Common time limit for issuance of demand notices and orders u/s 73 and 74

• A common time limit for issuance of demand notices and orders in respect of demands for FY 2024-25 onwards, in cases involving charges of fraud or wilful misstatement and cases not involving the charges of fraud or wilful misstatement etc.
• The time limit for the taxpayers to avail the benefit of reduced penalty, by paying the tax demanded along with interest, has been recommended to be increased from 30 days to 60 days.

Non-recovery of tax as a result of general practice

• Insertion of new Section 11A in CGST Act to give powers to the Government, on the recommendations of the Council, to allow regularization of non-levy or short levy of GST, where tax was being short paid or not paid due to common trade practices.

Monetary Limits to appeal

• Monetary limit of Rs. 20 lakh for GST Appellate Tribunal, Rs. 1 crore for High Court and Rs. 2 crore for Supreme Court, for filing of appeals by the Department, to reduce litigation

Clarifications to be issued

• Taxability of re-imbursement of securities/shares as ESOP/ESPP/RSU provided by a company to its employees.
• Taxability of loans granted between related person or between group companies.
• Place of supply of goods supplied to unregistered persons, where delivery address is different from the billing address.
• Mechanism for providing evidence by the suppliers that recipient has reversed ITC in case of post supply discount
• Sharing of the incentive by acquiring bank with other stakeholders, where the sharing of such incentive is clearly defined under Incentive scheme for promotion of RuPay Debit Cards and low value BHIM-UPI transactions and is decided in the proportion and manner by NPCI in consultation with the participating banks, is not taxable.

Others

• Clarification – ITC is not restricted in respect of ducts and manhole used in network of optical fiber cables (OFCs), under clause (c) or under clause (d) of section 17(5) of CGST Act.
• Reduction in rate of TCS to be collected by the ECOs– from 1% (0.5% CGST + 0.5% SGST, or 1% IGST) to 0.5% (0.25% CGST + 0.25% SGST, or 0.5% IGST).
• Time for filing appeals in GST Appellate Tribunal – 3 months period to start from a date to be notified by the Government
• Earlier, it was to be calculated from the date on which President enters office – President took oath on 6 May 2024 and therefore, time limit to file appeal commenced. However, necessary infrastructure and appointment of other members was pending
• Amendment in section 140(7) of CGST Act retrospectively w.e.f. 1 July 2017 to provide for transitional credit in respect of invoices pertaining to services provided before appointed date, and where invoices were received by ISD before the appointed date.
• Filing of annual return in GSTR-9/9A for the FY 2023-24 may be exempted for taxpayers having aggregate annual turnover upto INR 2 crore.
• Amendment in rule 142 and issuance of a circular to prescribe a mechanism for adjustment of an amount paid in respect of a demand through FORM GST DRC-03 against the amount to be paid as pre-deposit for filing appeal
• Amendments in section 16 of IGST Act and section 54 of CGST Act to provide that the refund in respect of goods, which are subjected to export duty, is restricted, irrespective of whether the said goods are exported without payment of taxes or with payment of taxes, and such restrictions should also be applicable, if such goods are supplied to a SEZ developer or a SEZ unit for authorized operations.
• Return in FORM GSTR-7, to be filed by the registered persons who are required to deduct tax at source under section 51, is to be filed every month irrespective of whether any tax has been deducted during the said month or not. No late fee may be payable for delayed filing of Nil GSTR-7 return. Further, invoice-wise details may be required to be furnished in the said FORM GSTR-7 return.
• Biometric-based Aadhaar authentication of registration applicants on pan-India basis in a phased manner.
• The threshold for reporting of B2C inter-State supplies invoice-wise in Table 5 of GSTR-1 was recommended to be reduced from Rs 2.5 Lakh to Rs 1 Lakh
• Clarification - Place of supply of Custodial services supplied by Indian Banks to Foreign Portfolio Investors is determinable as per Section 13(2) of the IGST Act, 2017.
• A uniform rate of 5% IGST to apply to  imports of ‘Parts, components, testing equipment, tools and tool-kits of aircrafts, irrespective of their HS classification to provide a fillip to MRO activities subject to specified conditions.
• Mechanism to be prescribed for claiming refund of additional IGST paid on account of upward revision in price of the goods subsequent to their export
• To exempt accommodation services having value of supply of accommodation up to Rs. 20,000/- per month per person subject to the condition that the accommodation service is supplied for a minimum continuous period of 90 days.