It’s a curtain call for anti profiteering cases under the goods and services tax. The Centre has formally notified April 1, 2025 as the sunset date after which no more anti-profiteering cases will be taken up. Ongoing cases will however, continue.
This would mean that businesses would have the flexibility to decide on pricing of goods and services, without taking into account the anti profiteering regulations under GST under which benefits of lower taxes are to be commensurately passed on to customers through lower prices.
“... the Central Government, on the recommendations of the Goods and Services Tax Council, hereby appoints the 1st day of April, 2025 as the date from which the Authority referred to in the said section shall not accept any request for examination as to whether input tax credits availed by any registered person or the reduction in the tax rate have actually resulted in a commensurate reduction in the price of the goods or services or both supplied by that registered person,” said a notification by the finance ministry.
Meanwhile in a separate notification, the finance ministry also empowered the principal bench of the GST Appellate Tribunal (GSTAT) to examine whether input tax credits availed by any registered person or the reduction in the tax rate have actually resulted in a commensurate reduction in the price of the goods or services or both supplied by that registered person. Accordingly, the principal bench of the GSTAT will hear ongoing anti profiteering complaints, taking over from the Competition Commission of India (CCI).
The GST Council in its meeting on June 22 this year had recommended the sunset clause of April 1, 2025 for receipt of any new application for anti-profiteering.
Sandeep Sehgal, Partner-Tax, AKM Global noted that anti-profiteering refers to the legal provision aimed at ensuring that the benefits of reduced tax rates or input credits are passed on to consumers in the form of lower prices, preventing businesses from unjustly profiting from tax benefits.
“Effective from April 1, 2025, the CCI will no longer accept requests for examining such anti-profiteering cases. This marks a shift in the adjudication of these cases, which will now fall under the specialised purview of the GSTAT, streamlining the process and strengthening the GST framework,” he said, adding that the move also aims to enhance efficiency by reducing the burden on CCI and ensuring cases are resolved under the tax-specific mechanisms of GSTAT.
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