GST: Karnataka issues notification related to five subsumed Acts
[ad_1]
Nearly 4 years after Goods and Services Tax (GST) got here into pressure within the nation, the State authorities has notified that the authorities involved will proceed to train the powers and discharge capabilities as per the provisions of five Acts that have been subsumed when the tax regime got here into pressure on July 1, 2017.
A notification from the Finance Department on March 15 said that the “notification shall be deemed to have come into effect from July 1, 2017”.
The notification has been issued beneath Section 174 of the Karnataka Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017, and Section 24 of the Karnataka General Clauses Act, 1899. Specifying a listing of authorities, the notification said that they’re deemed to have continued to train the identical powers and discharge the capabilities authorised beneath the repealed Acts.
“The notification became necessary since a member of the Karnataka Appellate Tribunal (KAT) pointed to the lacunae in a recent order. Without it, several appeals and reassessments done under the now-repealed Acts before GST was implemented would come under cloud. These have ramifications of several hundreds of crores to the State exchequer,” a supply within the division stated.
The Acts that have been subsumed when uniform GST was carried out on July 1, 2017, have been the Karnataka Value Added Tax Act, 2003; the Karnataka Tax on Luxuries Act, 1979; the Karnataka Entertainment Tax Act, 1958; the Karnataka Tax on Entry of Goods Act, 1979; and the Karnataka Betting Tax Act, 1932
The problem got here into focus in October 2020, in a case pertaining to DEN Network, a multi-system operator which had contested the tax slapped beneath the Karnataka Value Added Tax Act on the gathering of activation expenses for set-top containers.
In a cut up order on the KAT, one of many two members listening to the case had disagreed with the State representatives that it was computerized that these authorities would derive powers for assessments after GST got here into pressure.
The member identified that the federal government had not exercised powers beneath Section 174 of the KGST Act within the official gazette, specifying the competent authorities to train capabilities of reassessment and attraction. In the absence of such a notification, no authority or officer can be legally competent to perform the capabilities in Section 174(1) of the SGST Act, 2017, learn with the related provisions of the repealed KVAT Act, 2003, said the order.
Pointing to earlier Supreme Court orders on such a issues, and in addition on the Central General Clauses Act, 1897, the order said that there was nothing in Karnataka comparable to the Maharashtra GST (Amendment, Validation and Savings) Act, 2016, to “save the provisions of repealed Acts” or wherever within the nation. The order didn’t agree with the State’s competition, which pointed to a number of High Court judgments on related issues.
Meanwhile, when the opinion of a senior officer within the Commercial Taxes Department was sought on the retrospective nature of the chief order, he clarified, “The transition provisions are already there in the Act, and the notification is in pursuant with the provisions.” He added, “There was some confusion prevailing and hence the notification was given with retrospective effect.” The officer stated that this was an explanatory clarification to the prevailing transition provision, which is already there within the Karnataka Goods and Service Tax Act.
[ad_2]
