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Govt's answer to prayers is GST refund!

Published: Aug 02, 2018

BY TIOL News Service

NEW DELHI, AUG 02, 2018: THE Ministry of Culture yesterday launched the new 'Seva Bhoj Yojna', with a total outlay of Rs 325 Crores for Financial Years 2018-19 and 2019-20. Such scheme seeks to provide relief to tax burden incurred by religious and charitable institutions on ingredients used in serving food free of charge & without any discrimination to devotees and the general public at large. The scheme envisages reimburse the Central Government share of Central Goods and Services Tax (CGST) and Integrated Goods and Service Tax (IGST) so as to lessen the financial burden of such institutions

The Religious & Charitable Institutions such as Temples, Gurudwara, Mosque, Church, Dharmik Ashram, Dargah, Matth, Monasteries etc. which have been in existence for at least Three years before applying for financial assistance/grant and who serve free food to at least 5000 people in a month and such institutions covered under  the provisions of section 10 (23BBA) of the Income Tax Act, 1961 (as amended from time to time) or registered under the provisions of section 12AA of the Income Tax Act, 1961, for Religious & Charitable   purposes, or a company formed and registered under the provisions of section 8 of the Companies Act, 2013 or section 25 of the Companies Act, 1956, as the case may be, for Religious & Charitable  Ipurposes, or a Public Trust registered as such for charitable & religious purposes under any Law for the time being in force, or a society registered under the Societies Registration Act, 1860, for Religious & Charitable  purposes shall be eligible for grant under the scheme.

Ministry of Culture would enrol the eligible Religious & Charitable  Institutions for a time period ending with financial year 2019-20 and subsequently the enrolment may be renewed by the Ministry, subject to the performance evaluation of the institutions. The details of registered institutions would be available on an online portal for the viewership of public, GST authorities and entity / institution itself. The Religious & Charitable Institution shall first register with Darpan Portal of NITI Aayog and get Unique ID generated by Darpan Portal . Thereafter, the institution shall enrol itself in CSMS Portal (http://csms.nic.in/login/sevabhoj.php) on the Ministry of Culture's website in a prescribed format. Followed by the enrolment, the Charitable & Religious Institution shall apply 'online' in the prescribed application form and upload required documents as listed below in CSMS Portal of Ministry of Culture's website (www.indiaculture.nic.in).