Your Queries on GST 2.0 is a practitioner's manual for the 2025 rate rationalisation and compliance reset. Framed entirely as answers to practical queries, it translates the 56th GST Council decisions (September 2025) into actionable steps for pricing, documentation, credits, transitions, and consumer-facing obligations. The book explains the shift from the earlier four-tier system (5/12/18/28%) to a streamlined two-tier structure (5% and 18%), alongside a special 40% slab for demerit/luxury goods and specific services, and shows how this plays out across food, education, health, textiles, automobiles, energy, construction, electronics, local delivery and gaming/casinos. Each chapter combines statutes, rules, judicial precedents, circulars/press notes, and worked illustrations, allowing readers to transition from 'what changed' to 'how to implement today'.
This book is intended for the following audience:
- Indirect Tax Consultants & Litigation Teams needing sector-wise rate maps, anti-profiteering positions and transition treatments
- CFOs/Tax Heads & In-house GST Teams who must recast MRPs, pass on benefits, re-paper contracts, adjust credits, and cleanly handle returns/re-invoicing
- Accountants & CA/CMA/CS preparing returns, audits and reconciliations where time-of-supply and credit rules intersect with rate change
- Sector Stakeholders in FMCG, pharma/medical, education, textiles, auto, electronics, logistics/GTA, hotels, e-commerce, local delivery/ECO and entertainment
- Consumer-facing Brands & Legal/Metrology Teams implementing MRP changes and disclosures under Legal Metrology and NPPA directions
The Present Publication is the October 2025 Edition, incorporating Notifications issued on 17-09-2025. It is authored by CA. Kishore Harjani, with the following noteworthy features:
- Sector-wise Impact Mapped with HSN-wise Tables Crisp 'What changed/What remains the same' tables for goods and services—so teams can re-tag SKUs and services quickly
- Anti-profiteering & Consumer-law Alignment How to evidence 'commensurate reduction', what survives via CPA/CCI, and how to handle grammage vs. price in low-price packs
- MRP under Legal Metrology & NPPA Revised price stickers, unit-price rounding, sector exceptions (scheduled drugs), and communication duties down the chain
- Credit & Cash-flow Clarity When to reverse ITC on exemption (Sec. 18(4)/Rule 44), why refund of accumulated ITC is limited after mere rate cuts, and how inverted duty refunds work
- Transition 'Edge Cases' Pre/post-change supplies, advances, returns, credit notes vs. financial credit notes (when recipient hasn't reversed ITC), re-invoicing, long-term fixed-price contracts
- E-way Bill Continuity Confirms no re-issue needed for goods already in transit; validity unaffected by rate change
- Official FAQs, Worked Examples & Matrices Consolidated Government clarifications across insurance, hotels/beauty services (5% without ITC), job work (5%/18%), multimodal transport, ECO/local delivery, automobiles, beverages, textiles and renewables
- Annexures CBIC price-tracking format; Legal Metrology permissions/waivers; NPPA instructions for drugs/devices; extended packaging-material usage timelines
- Author Credibility CA. Kishore Harjani brings two decades of indirect-tax practice across multiple sectors, Big-4 engagements, government trainings, and prior authorship on classification, tariff and FTP—assuring both depth and practicality
- Use Cases Ideal as a desk-companion for price-reset programmes, statutory audits, consumer-law exposure reviews, and Board-level briefings on GST 2.0's commercial impact
The coverage of the book is as follows:
- Chapter 1 – Introduction
- Places GST 2.0 in context, recaps the July 2017 rollout, and explains the 56th Council Meeting (3 Sept 2025) that drove rationalisation; includes the '7 Pillars' visual
- Chapter 2 – What has Changed/What Remains the Same
- The heart of the book's HSN-linked rate tables. Examples:
- Automobiles – Most passenger vehicles/items shifted 28%→18%, but certain cars/motorcycles now 40%; EVs remain at 5%
- Common Household & Personal-care Items – Tooth powder, feeding bottles, umbrellas, utensils (iron/copper/aluminium), bicycles & parts, napkins/diapers, toothbrushes—many moved 12/18%→5%
- Services – Specified gaming/actionable-claim categories now at 40% with ITC; cultural/religious/public-convenience services unchanged.
- Chapter 3 – General FAQs
- Explains why 12%/28% were removed, the new 5/18/40 structure, timelines (22 Sept 2025 effective date; treatment of tobacco while cess accounts are settled), and macro intent (inflation/demand)
- Chapter 4 – Whether To Pass on The Benefit
- Maps Section 171 principles to CPA 2019 and clarifies the CCI's empowerment (Dec 2022–Sept 2024) to examine profiteering when NAA wound down—plus what this means post-April 2025
- Chapter 5 – How To Pass on The Benefit
- Mechanics—price revision, credit notes, discounts, MRP declaration—and how to talk about it (e.g., avoid implying it's merely 'voluntary compliance'). Includes e-commerce platform liability if old MRPs remain online
- Chapter 6 – Impact on Accumulated ITC
- No ITC reversal merely because output rate falls; Rule 44 doesn't cover simple rate reductions—illustrated with a numeric example.
- IDS refunds—what Section 54(3) allows, how CBIC circulars evolved, and how courts read them (BMG Informatics; Baker Hughes; Shivaco; Micro Systems)
- Chapter 7 – Handling Transitional Challenges
- Section 14 clarified with tables for goods/services when supply, invoice, and payment fall on either side of 22-09-2025; detailed credit-note treatment when returns/adjustments occur post-change; fixed-price contract nuances and AAR/HC case law (e.g., Universal MEP Projects)
- Chapter 8 – Modifying E-way Bills for Goods in Transit
- Explains Rule 138 parts A/B, how systems auto-populate rates by HSN, and—critically—that existing e-way bills aren't invalidated and validity isn't affected by a rate change; cancellation/re-generation isn't triggered solely by revised rates
- Chapter 9 – FAQs Issued by Government
- Conspectus of official clarifications—e.g., NPPA OMs confirm no recall/re-labelling for medicines already released; just price-list updates and retailer-level compliance. Also includes job-work rates (pharma/leather to 5% with ITC; residuary job-work 18%; E&P offshore works contracts 18%)
The structure of the book is as follows:
- Each FAQ presents the issue → legal position (Act/Rules/Notifications/Circulars) → practical approach → documentation & evidence → worked example
- Cross-references to Council decisions, Legal Metrology, NPPA/DoP OMs, and CBIC instructions are embedded for implementation
- Sector-wise Rate Tables provide quick look-ups; matrices simplify time-of-supply during transition; illustrations cover MRP rounding and SKU-level benefit passing
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