No action against lawyers, law firms for GST non-compliance - Delhi HC
PrintListen to this Article
The bench comprising Justice Muralidhar and Justice Pratibha M Singh also asked the Centre to clarify whether services of lawyers and law firms come under the GST, after concluding that there exists no clarity on whether all legal services would be governed by the reverse charge mechanism. The orders were passed on a petition by J K Mittal, owner of a Delhi-based law firm, seeking the quashing of notifications issued by the Centre and Delhi governments according to which GST is to be paid by advocates and law firms on all services offered by them, apart from representing clients in courts and tribunals.
The high court passed the directions after concluding there was prima facie merit that lawyers and law firms were faced with a genuine doubt regarding the legal requirement for registration under the new tax regime. The bench also said that if all legal services were to be governed under the reverse charge mechanism, there would be no purpose in getting registered under the CGST, IGST and DGST Act. In such a case, those seeking voluntary registration could anyway avail the facility under Section 25 of the CGST Act and the corresponding provisions of the other two laws.
The petitioner has claimed that for representational services, the client (receiver of the service) will have to pay GST as per the relevant notifications and also alleges that the Centre and Delhi governments have failed to follow the GST Council recommendation that lawyers and law firms should be exempt from registration requirements. The petition also says that the government notifications are not in consonance with the CGST, IGST and DGST Acts and Article 279A of the Constitution and will have a negative impact on the legal sector. It also questions the need to re-register a legal professional who has already been registered under the Finance Act of 2011 and asks for these lawyers to be exempted from such requirements.
The matter has been posted for further hearing on July 18. #casansaar (Source - Business Standard)
Category : GST | Comments : 0 | Hits : 1186
TEST
Dear Taxpayers, 1. GSTN is pleased to inform that an enhanced version of the GST portal would be launched on 3rd May 2024. The effort is to improve user experience and ensure that the information you need is accessible and easy to navigate. 2. Key Enhancements Include (PDF with screenshots attached): i. News and Updates Section: We have introduced a dedicated tab for all news and updates. This section now includes a bet...
The Supreme Court on Friday issued notices to the central government, the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC), the Goods and Services (GST) Council and the National Anti-Profiteering Authority (its functions have been taken over by the Competition Commission of India) on a petition challenging a Delhi High Court verdict, upholding the constitutional validity of anti-profiteering provisions filed by a real estate company. The petition, filed by Swati Realty, says the high court ...
The delectable Malabar Parota will taste even better with the Kerala High Court ruling that the popular flatbread will attract GST at 5 per cent and not 18 per cent. With this the court has turned down order by the State’s Authority of Advance Ruling (AAR) and Appellate Authority for Advance Ruling (AAAR). Disposing a petition by Kochi-based Modern Food Enterprises, a single judge bench of Justice Dinesh Kumar Singh said if key inputs (cereals, flour, starch, etc) and preparations are s...
A businessman from Delhi was taken into custody by the Noida police for his alleged involvement in a massive Rs 15,000 crore GST fraud that was exposed last year, TOI reported. Tushar Gupta, aged 39 and residing in Tilak Nagar, was arrested as the 33rd suspect in this case. The police revealed that Gupta had exploited input tax credit (ITC) using 35 fake companies, resulting in a loss of Rs 24 crore to the exchequer over the past two years. He was reportedly part of a syndicate that utiliz...
Comments