Goods and Services Tax (Amendment) Bill 2025 passed
Raipur, 31 July 2025: The Goods and Services Tax (Amendment) Bill 2025 passed by the Chhattisgarh government is an important step towards making trade and commerce simple, transparent and convenient in the state. The main objective of this amendment bill is to provide legal relief to traders, simplify business processes, speedy resolution of tax matters and strengthen the economy of the state. The provisions of input tax credit have been further clarified in the bill so that there can be transparency in business, tax payment and use of credit. Special category transactions (such as SEZ, export, warehouse circulation) have been clearly defined. Also, many technical and procedural changes have been made in line with the amendments of the Central Government to the Finance Act, 2025. According to the Goods and Services Tax (Amendment) Bill 2025, the Input Service Distributor Rules have been amended. Now in IGST, permission will be given to distribute the input tax credit received under the reverse charge mechanism to its branches. This will remove the anomalies in the GST Act and promote ‘Ease of Doing Business’.
In the bill, the amount of penalty which does not include tax demand, in such cases, the pre-deposited amount of 25 percent for filing an appeal before the appellate authority has been reduced to 10 percent. Similarly, voucher tax determination has been made more clear. Earlier in the GST system, the situation regarding tax determination on vouchers was not clear. There was a difference of opinion among various advance ruling authorities regarding when GST will be levied on them, at the time of issuing them or while redeeming them. According to the amendment bill, now GST will be levied at the time of redeeming the voucher. Track and trace mechanism has been implemented for products like tobacco etc., which will enable strict monitoring of their supply chain. A QR code will have to be printed on all unit packets of such products, which on scanning will provide information about the manufacturer, product, MRP, seller, bill order, all records of payment etc. Also, the manufacturer and wholesaler will have to keep a record of the movement of these unit packets. So that such information can be made available to the investigating agencies at any time. Under the promotion of Special Economic Zones, GST will no longer be levied on purchase and sale of goods kept in the warehouse of these special zones without physical movement of goods before export. This change will promote investment and business in SEZ and these areas will be more competitive. In the bill, the words ‘plant and machinery’ have been substituted in place of the words ‘plant or machinery’. The word ‘building’ will not be included in the word plant and will not be eligible for input credit. Provision of ‘unique identification marking’ including digital seal, digital sign or any other marking has also been included.
Achievements of Chhattisgarh- In the year 2024-25, the state received GST revenue of Rs 16,299 crore in Chhattisgarh, which is 38 percent of the total tax revenue of the state. This year growth was recorded at the rate of 18 percent and Chhattisgarh stood first in the country. The limit of e-way bill for intra-state goods transport has been increased from Rs 50,000 to Rs 1,00,000, which has provided relief from paperwork to 26 percent of small traders. 43,612 new registrations have been done since the formation of the new government. The registration process has been reduced from 13 days to just 2 days. Earlier there were GST offices in only 15 districts, now offices have been set up in 33 districts of the state. Artificial Intelligence, Data Analytics and Business Intelligence Unit have been formed to prevent tax evasion.