December 2021

Newsletter - December 2021

The year comes to a close as we spent a full year with the Corona Virus. It has been challenging during the times of the Delta variant that swept across the country with ferocity and we lost many people and later as the wave receded, we spent sometime with family during the festival months.

However, the new variant of the virus is now fully upon us and spreading very rapidly across the population. We are lucky that early observations show that this variant is largely like the seasonal flu and not like the Delta variant in severity and mortality. We pray and hope that it stays like that and all that we need to go through is some discomfort from having a cold and mild fever.

Our governments might go into protection mode and may ask us to curtail some social and commercial interactions. We need to keep an eye out for the trend in hospitalizations and deaths before panicking fully.

The new year is time for new resolutions - one resolution that I think we all should make is to focus on sustainability as a practice, rather than a buzzword, and look at sustainability in all aspects of our life.

Our consumption habits are not sustainable for the environment is something that most of us have now understood, however, we need to look at sustainability in areas like whether our business model and structure is sustainable or can be disrupted and what can be done to make it sustainable? The same can be extended for for our physical and spiritual well-being. Doing actions that sustain our health and well-being is critical.

We wish you a very happy new year and wish you and your loved ones stay safe and healthy.

DIRECT TAX 
OVERVIEW OF ‘CPGrams’
 
Our Prime Minister Office (PMO) of India has introduced a service called  ‘CPGrams’ with the aim to provide citizens with a platform for redressal of their grievances. If you have any grievance against any government organisation in the country, you can lodge your grievance which will go to the concerned Ministry / Department / State Government for immediate redressal.
 
To know more in detail, please click here.
 
 
INDIRECT TAX (GST)

GST ON RESTAURANT SERVICE THROUGH ECO FROM 01.01.22
 
Adding to the complexities of the e-commerce sector, the Government has introduced changes in respect of GST on restaurant services supplied by restaurants through E-commerce operators (ECOs) by issuing Notification No. 17/2021- Central Tax (Rate) dated 18/11/2021 along with clarification through Circular No. 167/23/2021- GST dated 17/12/2021. In view of such change, the ECOs shall be liable to pay GST on service supplied by restaurants through ECOs with effect from 01st January, 2022.
 
To know more in detail, please click here.
 
 

GST AMENDMENTS EFFECTIVE FROM 01.01.2022
 
The Central Board of Indirect Tax Council has issued Notification No. 39/2021 dated 21st December 2021 wherein all the sections of Finance Act 2021 (not notified earlier) have been notified to be effective from 1st January, 2022. Some of the important provisions have been analysed in the attached note for your ease of reference and includes – 
• Retrospective amendment to the definition of “supply” to clarify taxability of         transactions between AOP / BOI and its’ members
• Additional Restriction on availment of Input Tax Credit introduced in the Act
• Penalty for contravention of provisions of CGST Act in case of transportation or     storage of goods in transit revised
• Meaning of “self-assessed tax” for the purposes of recovery of tax expanded to     include details furnished in GSTR-1
• The quantum of pre-deposit increased to 25% of penalty for appeal against an     order of detention or seizure
 
To know more in detail, please click here.