NEW DELHI: The GST Council in its 53rd meeting under the Chairmanship of Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Saturday proposed major relief to taxpayers by recommending sunset clause for the anti-profiteering provisions.
It recommended that starting April 1, 2025, no new applications regarding anti-profiteering would be accepted by Competition Commission of India (CCI).
Meanwhile, the Council also proposed that anti-profiteering cases would be shifted to the GST Appellate Tribunal (GSTAT) from the CCI.
Revenue Secretary Sanjay Malhotra during the press conference clarified, “The sunset date is April 1, 2025. However, the cases which have already been registered will continue to be heard and they will be decided. The other decision taken in this regard is shift of the hearing of these cases from the CCI to the principal the GSTAT when it is functional.
Appreciating the Council’s decision on anti-profiteering, Pratik Jain, Partner with Price Waterhouse & Co LLP, said, “In view of anti-profiteering provisions in existence, there was always a possibility of a dispute in case of price increase by industry, even though it was because of rise in costs or market dynamics. Since it has been about 7 years of GST implementation, ideally pricing should be determined by market forces and not by law. Hence, a sunset clause is a welcome step.”
The Council proposed rules about how to calculate the value of services involving corporate guarantees between related parties and a circular will be issued in this regard. This change is effective from October 26, 2023, and they clarified that there won’t be any tax when these services are exported or when the recipient can claim full input tax credit.