NEWS UPDATE
Global Debt & Fiscal Silhouette rising! Do Elections contribute to fiscal slippages? Tax Refund Conundrum - Odyssey of Legal Missteps Tax - on Death and Contemplation Right to Sleep - A Legal lullaby Nexus between Election Manifesto and Budget 2024 in July! GST Penalty of Rs. 3731 Crores on an employee! TIOL Fiscal Awards: Maastricht is dead & gone! What next? When the Stars Aligned: An Evening at the TIOL Awards Kudos for Digitalisation vs Pillories for e-waste! Import of Obscene goods - Who decides obscenity - Customs? EV Revolution: Lessons for India to learn from US and China! Massager or sex toy? One Nation, Many Elections: Time to repair the feet of clay! Too Many Sleuths Spoil the GST Soup WTO needs active aid-in-dying! China favours alternative trade architecture! GST in Income tax The Rhetoric of Illusory Decoupling of American Economy from Chinese! Where is that GST Appellate Tribunal? Trump's return to Oval Office! China sweating like just out of heated hammam! Cached Cash and GST America to quit NATO! A case of more theatre than threat! Aha, Trumpian in flavour! Doctrine of Proportionality Global Trade: Ruptured geopolitical order letting Red Sea turn 'Redder'! Templated Show Cause Notice - GST Ishtyle Interim Budget 2024: Quo Vadis, Indian Economy? Personal Hearing - By Law, Not Discretion Interim Budget 2024: Will FM really play fiscal 'Santa Claus' today! Sweet Beginning - Halwa Served - Budget Interim US Presidential Election: 'Tariff Man' is coming! Take cover! Summons - power of pen more effective than the presence of an officer in court Mamma mia! Nationalism-tinged AI may derail 'Re-globalisation'! PM visits GST Academy Din over DIN: What is FOMO for CBIC is actually JOMO for CBDT! Arrest under PMLA

Real Estate - GST Council nod for trasition formula for reversal of ITC on pro-rata basis

Published: Mar 19, 2019

By TIOL News Service

NEW DELHI, MAR 19, 2019: WHILE approving the new GST regime for the real estate sector the GST Council at its 34th meeting has given the nod for 1% tax rate for affordable housing and 5% for other than affordable houses, on two key conditions:

++ Input tax credit shall not be available,

++ 80% of inputs and input services (other than capital goods, TDR/ JDA, FSI, long term lease (premiums)) shall be purchased from registered persons. On shortfall of purchases from 80%, tax shall be paid by the builder @ 18% on RCM basis. However, Tax on cement purchased from unregistered person shall be paid @ 28% under RCM, and on capital goods under RCM at applicable rates.

Transition for ongoing projects opting for the new tax rate:

Ongoing projects (buildings where construction and booking both had started before 01.04.2019) and have not been completed by 31.03.2019 opting for new tax rates shall transition the ITC as per the prescribed method.

The transition formula approved by the GST Council, for residential projects (refer to para 4(ii)) extrapolates ITC taken for percentage completion of construction as on 01.04.2019 to arrive at ITC for the entire project. Then based on percentage booking of flats and percentage invoicing, ITC eligibility is determined. Thus, transition would thus be on pro-rata basis based on a simple formula such that credit in proportion to booking of the flat and invoicing done for the booked flat is available subject to a few safeguards.

For a mixed project transition shall also allow ITC on pro-rata basis in proportion to carpet area of the commercial portion in the ongoing projects (on which tax will be payable @ 12% with ITC even after 1.4.2019) to the total carpet area of the project.

Treatment of TDR/ FSI and Long term lease for projects commencing after 01.04.2019

The following treatment shall apply to TDR/ FSI and Long term lease for projects commencing after 01.04.2019.

++ Supply of TDR, FSI, long term lease (premium) of land by a landowner to a developer shall be exempted subject to the condition that the constructed flats are sold before issuance of completion certificate and tax is paid on them. Exemption of TDR, FSI, long term lease (premium) shall be withdrawn in case of flats sold after issue of completion certificate, but such withdrawal shall be limited to 1% of value in case of affordable houses and 5% of value in case of other than affordable houses. This will achieve a fair degree of taxation parity between under construction and ready to move property.

++ The liability to pay tax on TDR, FSI, long term lease (premium) shall be shifted from land owner to builder under the reverse charge mechanism (RCM).

++ The date on which builder shall be liable to pay tax on TDR, FSI, long term lease (premium) of land under RCM in respect of flats sold after completion certificate is being shifted to date of issue of completion certificate.

++ The liability of builder to pay tax on construction of houses given to land owner in a JDA is also being shifted to the date of completion. Decisions from para 7.1 to 7.4 are expected to address the problem of cash flow in the sector.

Amendment to ITC rules:

ITC rules shall be amended to bring greater clarity on monthly and final determination of ITC and reversal thereof in real estate projects. The change would clearly provide procedure for availing input tax credit in relation to commercial units as such units would continue to be eligible for input tax credit in a mixed project.

TIOL SEARCH