Section 35 (5) Omitted

OVERVIEW

Nirmala Sitharaman, finance minister introduced the Financial Bill, 2021 in which it has been proposed that certain amendments will be made in the CGST Act and IGST Act, 2017.

GST audit has been abolished which was under sub-section (5) of Section 35 of the CGST Act. Earlier it was compulsory to get annual accounts audited by CA and the statement of reconciliation had to be submitted. Now this will be removed.

Such amendment will put the industry at ease, however it may not lead to positive outcome for the chartered accountants. Section 44’s substitution also has the same effect.

WHAT IS CGST ACT?

It is an act which lays down provisions to levy and collect tax on intra-state supply of goods or services or both by the Central Government and for matters connected therewith.

The amendment to this act, not only allows for self-auditing but also increases the scope of supply. With the new changes, supply of goods or services by any person, to its members or constituents or vice-versa for cash or valuable consideration will also be taxed.

A certain range of people are also being exempted from paying taxes under the new financial bill.

IMPACT OF PROPOSALS

It has been observed that the budget proposed has been good news for the assesses but the opposite for professionals like CA and CMAs.

There is skepticism regarding the future result of these proposals. It is being noted that even though the Government has tried to make business easy, this may not be the case in future when the departmental officials will audit the accounts of such business.

It has also been observed that there is a scope of malpractice, as self-certifications may lead to errors due to lack of external review.

WHAT IS YOUR VIEW REGARDING THESE PROPOSALS? LET US KNOW IN THE COMMENTS BELOW! (CENTRALLY ALIGNED, TITLE IN BOLD)