50th Meeting of the GST Council was held on July 11, 2023 in New Delhi, wherein it was recommended to strengthen the registration process and to effectively deal with the menace of fake and fraudulent registrations in GST by amending rule 9 and rule 25 to do away with the requirement that the physical verification of business premises is to be conducted in the presence of the applicant and also to provide for physical verification in high risk cases even where Aadhaar has been authenticated.
Notification:
Accordingly, The CBIC has issued 'the Central Goods and Services Tax (Second Amendment) Rules, 2023' vide Notification No. No. 38/2023- Central Tax dated 04.08.2023 to amend the CGST Rules 2017.
In the said rules, for rule 25, the following rule shall be substituted, namely:-
"25. Physical verification of business premises in certain cases.-
(1) Where the proper officer is satisfied that the physical verification of the place of business of a person is required after the grant of registration, he may get such verification of the place of business done and the verification report along with the other documents, including photographs, shall be uploaded in FORM GST REG-30 on the common portal within a period of fifteen working days following the date of such verification.
(2) Where the physical verification of the place of business of a person is required before the grant of registration in the circumstances specified in the proviso to sub-rule (1) of rule 9, the proper officer shall get such verification of the place of business done and the verification report along with the other documents, including photographs, shall be uploaded in FORM GST REG-30 on the common portal at least five working days prior to the completion of the time period specified in the said proviso."
Analysis:
Earlier, Rule 25 of the CGST Rules mandated the applicant's presence during the physical verification of premises. Now, the requirement that the physical verification of business premises is to be conducted in the presence of the applicant has been done away with.
Where the proper officer is satisfied that the physical verification of the place of business of a person is required after the grant of registration, he may get such verification of the place of business done.
Where the physical verification of the place of business of a person is required before the grant of registration in the circumstances specified in the proviso to sub-rule (1) of rule 9, the proper officer shall get such verification of the place of business done.
The verification report along with the other documents, including photographs, shall be uploaded in FORM GST REG-30 on the common portal.
