The 53rd GST Council Meeting was the first meeting of the GST Council port elections. As it appears, most of the decisions have been taken in the favour of taxpayers. Some rates have been reduced, quite a lot of things have been exempted, Cost of litigations has been brought down and most importantly, there have been some relaxations in rules for claiming ITC. Here is a quick snapshot of the recommendations for the ease of understanding of the common people:

1. Services provided by Indian Railways to general public, namely, sale of platform tickets, facility of retiring rooms/waiting rooms, cloak room services and battery-operated car services are now exempt from GST
2. Accommodation services having value of supply of accommodation up to Rs. 20,000/- per month per person have also been exempted subject to the condition that the accommodation service is supplied for a minimum continuous period of 90 days which is aimed at providing relief to students and working professionals.
3. conditional waiver of interest or penalty: Under Section 73 for FY 2017-18 to 2019-20, all interest and penalty has been proposed to be waived if the tax demand as demanded in the Notice is paid till 31-03-2025. However, erroneous refunds are not included in this benefit.
4. Fixing monetary limits for filing appeals under GST: Now the department has been restricted for filing of appeals before GST Appellate Tribunal, High Court, and Supreme Court, to reduce government litigation:
   • Appellate Tribunal: Up to ₹20 lakh
   • High Court: Up to ₹1 crore
   • Supreme Court: Up to ₹2 crore
5. Reduction in the amount of pre-deposit required to be paid for filing of appeals under GST by the Taxpayer: Reduced from 20% with a maximum amount of Rs. 50 crores under CGST and SGST each to 10 % with a maximum of Rs. 20 crores under CGST SGST each
6. Reduction in maximum amount for filing appeal with the appellate authority: Reduced from Rs. 25 crores under CGST and SGST each to Rs. 20 crores under CGST and SGST each. 
7. NO GST on Extra Neutral Alcohol used in the production of alcoholic liquor for human consumption
8. E Commerce Suppliers like Amazon and Flipkart will now charge reduced Rate of TCS from 1% to 0.5%
9. Time for filing appeals in GST Appellate Tribunal has been provided for 3 Months from the date of o be notified by the Government
10. Maximum Time Limit for Claiming Input Tax Credit:
    • From FY 2017-18 to FY 2019-20: ITC for the aforementioned periods can now be claimed even if filed in GSTR 3B till 30-11-2021.
    • For Returns filed after revocation of cancellation, the time limit conditions u/s 16(4) are relaxed provided the ITC claim is filed within 30 days of the order of revocation.
11. Extension of Time limit for GSTR 4: extended from 30th April to 30th June, for FY 2024-2025 onwards
12. Relaxation in Interest Payment: For calculation of Interest on delayed filing of returns, the amount already available on the due date of filing returns in the electronic cash ledger should be excluded from calculation of Interest.
13. Input Tax Credit (ITC) on ducts and manholes used in the network of Optical Fiber Cables (OFCs): It is clarified that this ITC is not restricted.
14. Valuation of corporate guarantee provided between related persons: Valuation under rule 28(2) of CGST Rules (1% of the Amount of Gaurantee) would not be applicable in case of export of such services and also where the recipient is eligible for full input tax credit.
15. Time limit for claiming ITC for invoices under Reverse Charge Mechanism: the time limit is 30th November of the Succeeding financial year in which the invoice was raised. It is clarified that under RCM in cases of supplies received from unregistered suppliers the invoice would be the self invoice raised by the Recipient and not the date of the invoice issued by the unregistered supplier.
16. Transitional credit is being allowed for services by Input Service Distributor for services provided before 01-07-2017
17. GSTR 1A is being proposed to be introduced to bring amendments in GSTR 1, before filing GSTR 3B, so that correct liabilities are reflected in GSTR 3B
18. GSTR 9/9A to be exempted for Taxpayers with Turnover upto Rs 2 Crores.
19. A procedure is being recommended to adjust the demand paid in DRC 03 with the amount to be paid as pre-deposit for filing appeal

Changes pertaining to Law and Procedure

1. Adhaar Based Authentication across india during registration of new applicants
2. Common time limit for issuance of demand notices both under Sec 73 & 74 by the department to simplify the implementation
3. Time limit for payment of tax demanded to be increased from 30 to 60 days without payment of penalty
4. No refund of GST in cases where the goods are subjected to export duty
5. More reporting: Threshold limit for reporting of B2C inter-State supplies invoice-wise in FORM GSTR-1 to be reduced from Rs 2.5 Lakh to Rs 1 Lakh.
6. GSTR 7 now to be filed every month by those registered persons who are required to deduct tax at source.
7. 12% GST on milk cans (steel, iron, aluminum) irrespective of use; Carton, Boxes And Cases of both corrugated and non-corrugated paper or paper-board; Solar cookers whether single or dual energy source; and sprinklers including fire water sprinklers