FADA welcomes new Rule 88A in CGST Act, move to benefit 15,000 dealers

The Federation of Automobile Dealers Associations (FADA), the apex body of automobile retail industry in India, today lauded the prime minister, finance minister and the GST Council members for the recent amendment made by the government in terms of introduction of Rule 88A in CGST (Central Goods & Services Tax) Act.

The new Rule 88A, which came into effect from March 29, 2019, not only nullifies the impact from the changes brought in by the newly introduced Section 49A but even changes the provision regarding manner of credit utilisation existent before February 1, 2019. After the 34th GST council meeting, the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIT) had finally come out with a notification on March 29, 2019 with respect to the same.

As per the amendment, a new rule has been inserted as Rule 88A, which states that input of IGST (Integrated GST) has to be first used against the output of IGST followed by a set-off of IGST against either CGST (Central GST) or SGST (State GST) as per one’s requirement. In the end, IGST credit has to be nullified.

Commenting on this positive development, Ashish Harsharaj Kale, president, FADA, said: “FADA expresses its deep gratitude to the prime minister, finance minister, transport minister and all the members of GST council for taking up this issue with such urgency and helping 15,000 dealers across the country get immediate relief. The new amendment would have otherwise put the dealers under huge financial burden but by providing an immediate solution, this has been avoided. FADA would like to place on record the proactiveness and helpful attitude of Upender Gupta and S K Rehman for working with FADA in solving our issues, especially this amendment.”