As far as the filing of returns go, section 39 of the CGST Act has been amended to introduce a new option for specified taxpayers to furnish their returns on a quarterly basis, instead of monthly

There have been several amendments to the CGST Act, which favour the taxpayer with better compliance. There have been updates to the sections relating to the payment of taxes and interest, hence easing the filing of GST returns and reducing the burden of interest. Let's analyse some of the major amendments made and how GST-registered taxpayers will benefit from them.

The threshold limit for registration under GST for suppliers of goods has been increased to Rs 40 lakh from Rs 20 lakh. This change had already been proposed by the GST Council in its 32nd meet, and has now been passed by Parliament and amended in the CGST Act under section 22. This new amendment will greatly benefit all small and medium scale suppliers, who can utilise the benefit of a higher exemption limit and refrain from collecting taxes and filing their returns. This revised limit does not impact the other sections that require mandatory registration in case of inter-state suppliers or those selling through an e-commerce operator. Also, it is only available to a supplier of goods.

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On the topic of registration under GST, a new sub-section has been introduced under section 25, relating to the procedure of registration. The government has now mandated Aadhaar authentication for all taxpayers under GST, even those who are getting registered for the first time. Without getting Aadhaar authentication done, the registration allotted to a person will be deemed invalid. For registrations allotted to persons other than individuals, the Aadhaar authentication of its authorised representative or authorised signatory needs to be done in such cases. This new procedural compliance introduced, demonstrates the focus the Government has on making Aadhaar a common proof of identification to be used across all legal departments.

The best news yet for taxpayers is that they will now be able to shift wrongly paid taxes to the correct head under the latest amendment to section 49 of the CGST Act. The inability to shift wrongly paid taxes in the past, had led to a lot of hassles and grievances among taxpayers, as these taxes, once paid, could not be utilised and would need to be paid again. With this new update, any amount in the electronic cash ledger, be it under taxes, interest, penalties or fees can now be transferred to the correct head under IGST, CGST or SGST/UTGST as applicable.