The 49th GST Council Meeting was held on February 18, 2023 in New Delhi under the Chairmanship of Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman. This meeting is being conducted within a span of three weeks from the Union Budget 2023. The GST Council has inter-alia made the recommendation for amendment to Section 62 of the Central Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017 (“the CGST Act”) to extend timelines under sub-section (2) thereof and one time amnesty for past cases. In this regard, the council has recommended as per sub-section (2) of Section 62 of the CGST Act, 2017, the best judgment assessment order issued under sub-section (1) of the said section is deemed to be withdrawn if the relevant return is filed within 30 days of service of the said assessment order. The Council recommended to amend section 62 so as to increase the time period for filing of return for enabling deemed withdrawal of such best judgment assessment order, from the present 30 days to 60 days, extendable by another 60 days, subject to certain conditions.
The Council has also recommended to provide an amnesty scheme for conditional deemed withdrawal of assessment orders in past cases where the concerned return could not be filed within 30 days of the assessment order but has been filed along with due interest and late fee upto a specified date, irrespective of whether appeal has been filed or not against the assessment order, or whether the said appeal has been decided or not.
The Press Release can be accessed at: https://www.pib.gov.in/PressReleasePage.aspx?PRID=1900376