1. Standard Operating Procedure and New Format for claim of GST refund Ministry notifies (Circular No 131/1/2020-GST from the Department of Revenue under the Ministry of Finance).
    1. The Department has issued a Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) to be followed by exporters in order to release Refund Claims of genuine exporters. several cases of monetization  of credit fraudulently obtained or ineligible credit through refund of Integrated Goods & Service Tax (IGST) on exports of goods and that the Input Tax Credit (ITC) was taken by the exporters on the basis of fake invoices and IGST on exports was paid using such ITC.  The Department insisted that the export consignments/shipments of concerned exporters are subjected to 100 % examination at the customs port. The exporters whose scrolls have been kept in abeyance for verification would be informed at the earliest possible either by the jurisdictional CGST or by Customs. To expedite the verification, the exporters on being informed in this regard or on their own volition should fill in information in the format attached as Annexure ‘A’ to this Circular and submit the same to their jurisdictional CGST authorities for verification by them. Verification shall be completed by jurisdiction CGST office within 14 working days of furnishing of information in pro forma by the exporter.
    2.  The deadline for Filling of March to May Returns of GST extended to June 30 without payment of late fees, penalty etc Notification No. 32/2020 – Central Tax.
      1. Amid the Corona crisis affecting the whole industry, the Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman extended the deadline for filing GST returns for March-May to June 30. On late filing of GST returns, no late fee, penalty or interest will be charged for companies with turnover of up to Rs 5 crore. For companies with more than Rs 5 crore turnover, no late fee and penalty will be charged on GST return filed by 15 days. A reduced interest rate of 9 per cent will be charged, she said.
    3. Time limit of completion or compliance of action extended to 30th June 2020;
      1. Vide Notification No. 35/2020 – Central Tax dated 3rd April 2020 , the Government, on the recommendations of the Council, hereby notifies, as under
      2. (i) where, any time limit for completion or compliance of any action, by any authority or by any person, has been specified in, or prescribed or notified under the said Act, which falls during the period from the 20th day of March, 2020 to the 29th day of June, 2020, and where completion or compliance of such action has not been made within such time, then, the time limit for completion or compliance of such action, shall be extended up to the 30th day of June, 2020, including for the purposes of—
      3. (a) completion of any proceeding or passing of any order or issuance of any notice, intimation, notification, sanction or approval or such other action, by whatever name called, by any authority, commission or tribunal, by whatever name called, under the provisions of the Acts stated above; or
      4. (b) filing of any appeal, reply or application or furnishing of any report, document, return, statement or such other record, by whatever name called, under the provisions of the Acts stated above;
      5. but, such extension of time shall not be applicable for the compliances of the provisions of the said Act, as mentioned below –
        1. (a) Chapter IV;
        2. (b) sub-section (3) of section 10, sections 25, 27, 31, 37, 47, 50, 69, 90, 122, 129;
        3. (c) section 39, except sub-section (3), (4) and (5);
        4. (d) section 68, in so far as e-way bill is concerned; and
        5. (e) rules made under the provisions specified at clause (a) to (d) above;
    4. Exemption form payment of Integrated Tax and Compensation Cess on goods imported against AA/EPCG authorizations extended upto 31.03.2021
      1. In a Notification No. 18/2020- Customs dated 30th March 20202, what is considered as a welcome move and must to do act, the Central Government, on being satisfied that it is necessary in the public interest so to do, has made the amendment  to its earlier notification of the Government of India in the Ministry of Finance (Department of Revenue), so as to allow import against Advance Authorisation/ EPCG Authorisation without payment of Integrated tax and Compensation Cess.
      2. For customs clearance, testing of samples for import of Food products to be done by FSSAI notified labs.
      3. The CBIC vide Instruction No. 01/2020Cus, dated 12.02.2020 has stated that the testing of samples of imported food products should be carried out only through the FSSAI notified labs. FSAAI has notified 150 Point of Entries in order to put in place a robust food import regulatory framework which shall come into force with effective from 1st April 2020.