InterState Supply of Services upto Rs. 20 Lakhs exempt now. Reverse Charge Suspended!

(Summary of decisions taken by GST Council in its 22nd Meeting held on 6th October 2017)

Under the GST (Goods and Service Tax) laws, anyone making inter-state supplies (of goods and services) was liable to obtain registration irrespective of turnover limit.  In other words, even a supply of Rs. 100 from one state to another required registration under GST Act. Services up to Rs. 10 lakhs were exempted under the earlier provisions of the Service Tax Act and rules.

Considering the hardship faced by small service providers, It has now been decided to exempt those service providers whose annual aggregate turnover is less than Rs. 20 lacs from obtaining registration even if they are making inter-State taxable supplies of services. This measure is likely to ease the compliance burden on small service providers. This decision was taken at the 22nd Meeting of the GST Council.

Another important decision taken today was to enhance the composition limit to Rs. 1 crore from Rs. 75 lacs. The facility of availing composition under the increased threshold shall be available to both migrated and new taxpayers up to 31.03.2018. The new composition scheme is likely to greatly benefit the MSME sector.

Other key decisions taken by GST Council in its 22nd Meeting held on 6th October are :

1. The reverse charge mechanism will be kept under suspension till 31st March 2018. 
2. Taxpayers having aggregate annual turnover of up to Rs. 1.5 crores would not be required to pay GST in advance against sales. 
3. The services provided by a GTA to an unregistered person shall be exempted. 
4. TDS/TCS provisions shall be postponed till 31st March 2018. 
5. E-way bill system will be introduced in a staggered manner from 1st Jan 2018 and will be rolled out nationally on 1st April 2018.