New GST Compliance Measures

Context: 

The government has decided to lower the threshold for businesses to generate e-invoice for business-to-business (B2B) transactions, from Rs 10 crore to Rs 5 crore, and has rolled out the automated return scrutiny module for GST returns in a backend application for central tax officers.

What is the automated return scrutiny module?

• It is a module that will enable the officers to scrutinise GST returns of centre-administered taxpayers selected on the basis of data analytics and risks identified by the system.
• Discrepancies on account of risks associated with a return will be displayed to the tax officers. 
• They will interact with the taxpayers through the GSTN common portal for communication of discrepancies noticed and subsequent action.
• It has already commenced with the scrutiny of GST returns for FY 2019-20, with the requisite data already with the tax officers.

e-Invoicing:

• The GST Council in 2019 had approved the standard of e-invoice with the primary objective to enable interoperability across the entire GST ecosystem. 
• Under this, a phased implementation was proposed to ensure a common standard for all invoices.
• An e-invoice is generated by one software which is capable of being read by any other software and through machine readability, an invoice can then be uniformly interpreted.
• It is expected to help to curb the actions of tax evaders and reduce the number of frauds as the tax authorities will have access to data in real-time.
• E-invoicing was initially implemented for large companies with turnover of over Rs 500 crore, and within three years the threshold has now been lowered to Rs 5 crore.

What are the recent changes for e-invoicing?

• The government has also lowered the threshold for businesses to generate e-invoice for business-to-business (B2B) transactions to Rs 5 crore from Rs 10 crore under GST. 
• The changes will come into effect from August 1.
• At present, businesses with turnover of Rs 10 crore and above are required to generate e-invoice for all B2B transactions.

News Source: Indian Express