EXAMINATION OF GOODS AND SERVICES TAX PRACTITIONERS
The Goods and
Services Tax Act, 2017 came into force with effect from 1.7.2018
The Central
Government has amended Rule 83A of the Central Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017
as shown below:
“83A. Examination of Goods and Services Tax Practitioners.- (1) Every
person referred to in clause (b) of sub-rule (1)
of rule 83 and who is enrolled as a
goods and services tax practitioner under sub-rule (2) of the said rule, shall pass an examination as
per sub-rule (3) of
the said rule.
(2) The National Academy
of Customs, Indirect Taxes and Narcotics (hereinafter referred to as “NACIN”) shall conduct the examination.
(3) Frequency of examination.- The
examination shall be conducted twice in a year as per the schedule of the examination published by NACIN every year on the official websites of the Board, NACIN, common portal, GST Council
Secretariat and in
the leading English
and
regional newspapers.
(4)
Registration for the examination and payment of fee.- (i) A person who is required to pass the examination shall register online
on a website specified
by NACIN.
(ii) A person who registers for the examination shall pay examination fee as specified by
NACIN, and the amount for the same and the manner of its payment shall be specified by NACIN on the official websites of the Board, NACIN and common portal.
(5)
Examination centers.- The
examination shall be
held across India at the designated centers. The candidate shall be given an option to choose
from the list of centers as provided
by
NACIN at
the
time of registration.
(6) Period for passing the examination and number of attempts allowed.- (i) A
person enrolled as a goods and services tax practitioner in terms of sub-rule (2) of rule
83 is required
to pass the examination
within two years of enrolment:
Provided that if a
person is enrolled as a goods and services tax practitioner before 1st of July 2018, he shall get one more year to
pass the examination:
Provided further that for a goods and services tax practitioner to whom the provisions of clause (b) of sub-rule
(1) of rule 83 apply, the period to pass the
examination
will be as specified in the second proviso of sub-rule
(3) of said rule.
(ii) A person required to pass the examination may avail of any number of attempts but these attempts shall be within the period as
specified in clause (i).
(iii)
A person shall register and pay the requisite
fee every time he intends to appear at
the examination.
(iv) In case the goods and services tax practitioner having applied for appearing
in the examination
is prevented from
availing
one or more attempts due to unforeseen circumstances such as critical illness, accident
or natural calamity, he may
make
a request in writing
to the jurisdictional Commissioner for granting him one additional
attempt to
pass the examination,
within thirty days of
conduct of the said examination. NACIN may
consider such requests on merits based on recommendations of the
jurisdictional Commissioner.
(7)
Nature of examination.-The examination shall be
a Computer Based Test. It shall
have one question paper consisting of Multiple
Choice Questions. The pattern and syllabus are specified
in Annexure-A.
(8) Qualifying marks.- A person shall be required to secure fifty per cent. of the total
marks.
(9) Guidelines for the candidates.- (i) NACIN shall issue examination guidelines
covering issues such as procedure of registration, payment of fee, nature of identity documents, provision of admit card, manner of reporting at the examination center, prohibition on possession of certain items in the examination center, procedure of making representation
and the manner of its
disposal.
(ii)
Any person who is or has been found to be indulging in unfair means or practices
shall be dealt in accordance with
the provisions of sub-rule (10). An
illustrative list of use of
unfair means or practices by a person
is as under: -
(a) obtaining support for his candidature by any means;
(b) impersonating;
(c) submitting fabricated documents;
(d)
resorting
to any unfair means or practices in connection with the examination or
in connection with the result of the
examination;
(e) found
in possession of any paper, book, note or any other material, the use of
which is not permitted
in the examination
center;
(f) communicating with others or exchanging calculators, chits, papers etc. (on
which something is
written);
(g) misbehaving in the examination
center in any manner;
(h) tampering with the hardware and/or
software deployed;
and
(i) attempting to commit or, as the case may be, to abet in the commission of all or
any of
the acts specified in
the foregoing clauses.
(10) Disqualification of
person using unfair means or practice.- If any person
is or has been found to be indulging in use of unfair means or practices, NACIN may, after considering his representation,
if any, declare him disqualified
for the examination.
(11) Declaration of result.-
NACIN shall declare the
results within one month of the conduct of
examination on the
official websites of
the Board, NACIN, GST Council Secretariat, common portal and State Tax Department of the respective States or
Union territories, if any. The results shall also be communicated to the applicants by e-mail
and/or by post.
(12) Handling representations.- A person not satisfied with his result may
represent in
writing, clearly specifying the reasons therein to NACIN or the jurisdictional Commissioner as per the procedure established by NACIN on the official websites of
the Board, NACIN and
common
portal.
(13) Power to relax.- Where the Board or State Tax Commissioner is of the opinion that
it is necessary or expedient to do so, it may, on the recommendations of the
Council, relax any of the provisions of this rule with respect to any class or category
of persons.
Explanation :- For the purposes of
this sub-rule, the expressions –
(a) “jurisdictional Commissioner”
means the Commissioner having jurisdiction over
the place declared as address in the application for enrolment as the GST
Practitioner
in FORM GST PCT-1. It shall refer to the Commissioner of
Central Tax if the enrolling authority in FORM GST PCT-1 has been selected as Centre, or the Commissioner of State Tax if the enrolling authority
in FORM GST PCT-
1 has been
selected as
State;
(b) NACIN
means
as notified by
notification
No. 24/2018-Central Tax, dated
28.05.2018.
Annexure-A [See
sub-rule 7]
Pattern and
Syllabus of the Examination
PAPER: GST
Law & Procedures:
|
|
Time
allowed:
|
2 hours
and 30 minutes
|
Number of Multiple
Choice Questions:
|
100
|
Language of Questions:
|
English and Hindi
|
Maximum marks:
|
200
|
Qualifying marks:
|
100
|
No
negative marking
|
|
Syllabus:
|
|
1
|
The Central
Goods and Services Tax
Act, 2017
|
2
|
The Integrated Goods and Services
Tax Act, 2017
|
3
|
All The State Goods and Services Tax
Acts, 2017
|
4
|
The Union territory Goods
and Services
Tax Act, 2017
|
5
|
The Goods and Services Tax (Compensation to
States) Act, 2017
|
6
|
The Central
Goods and Services Tax
Rules, 2017
|
7
|
The Integrated Goods and Services
Tax Rules, 2017
|
8
|
All The State Goods and Services
Tax Rules, 2017
|
9
|
Notifications, Circulars and orders issued from time to time under the said Acts and
Rules.”.
|
The Press Release issued regarding the date of examination and postponement date of examinations are given below for ready reference.:
Examination for confirmation of enrolment
of GST Practitioners
GUIDELINES FOR THE CANDIDATES
(Please refer
sub-rule (9) of rule
83A of the Central
Goods and Services Tax Rules, 2017)
A. Guidelines for filling
up
application form:
1. All GST Practitioners who are eligible to appear in the examination are required to submit online application on the Examination registration portal. Link of the portal shall be provided
on official websites
of NACIN and CBIC.
2. Landing page of the portal will display guidelines for filling up the application and also important dates namely- (i) date
of commencement of
online registration, (ii) last
date of submitting
application form, (iii) date from when admit card can be downloaded, (iv) date of examination, and
(v) date of result declaration.
3. Candidates are required to login on the portal with the help of GST enrolment number
(login id) and PAN no. (password).
4. The GST enrolment number
has been provided to each eligible candidate by GSTN on his enrolment
on the GST portal.
5. Application form will appear on the screen
after a candidate successfully logs in.
6. Based on the GST enrolment number and PAN number
provided by a candidate on the
login page, the application form will auto-populate candidate's data already available with the GST Network such as name, address, mobile number, email address etc. This data is
the same which was provided by
the candidate in Form PCT-01 while applying for enrolment as GST
Practitioner
on the GST portal.
7. Hence, in the online application form on this Examination registration portal, a candidate
is required to fill in/provide only the following information/documents:
i) Three choices of test centres
(stations) from the drop-down menu,
ii)
Softcopy of
passport
size
photograph (File Type JPG, JPEG, PNG of Size 20 to 60 KB), iii) Softcopy of
signatures (File Type JPG,
JPEG,
PNG of Size 10
to 30 KB), and
iv) Whether the
candidate falls
under the category ‘person
with
disability’
8. The candidates will be prompted fill in three choices from a list of test centres (stations). To
the extent possible, center will be allocated to a candidate
according to the choices indicated
by
him.
9. Once a candidate submits completed application form on the registration portal, he will be
prompted to pay the
examination
fee
online.
10. On completion of online fee payment, the candidate will be guided to access ‘Candidate’s
Dashboard’ from where the
submitted application as well as Admit Card can be
downloaded.
Score card and Examination Certificate will also be
made
available for download on the same Dashboard.
11. A mock
test of 15-20 questions will also be available
on Candidate’s Dashboard.
B.
Guidelines for appearing in the Examination:
1. Candidates are advised to report at the Examination Centre one and a half hour before the
scheduled examination time. Gate will be closed fifteen minutes before commencement of examination after which no candidate shall be
allowed to enter the examination
venue.
2. Entry in the examination hall will be allowed on production of printout of Admit Card
and
a valid identity
document in original {Aadhar, PAN Card, Driving License, EPIC (Electoral Photo ID
Card)
or Passport}.
3. PROHIBITED ITEMS, such as watches, books, pens, pencil, paper, chits, magazines,
electronic gadgets (mobile
phones, Bluetooth devices, head phones, pen/buttonhole
cameras, scanner, calculator, storage devices etc.) are
STRICTLY NOT ALLOWED in the examination hall.
4. Each candidate shall be provided
with complete examination infrastructure including hardware (a desktop computer)
loaded with examination software.
5. Before the start of the test, a candidate will be required to enter the Roll No. (Roll no.
displayed in Admit Card) and password (PAN
no.) to start the test.
6. On designated time, the question paper shall be made available on computer screen of the
candidates.
7. The test will be in Computer Based mode in a secure environment such that while the test
is taken, access to all possible web resources i.e. browsing chatting etc. will be blocked from the
computer of the candidates as well as any other computer peripherals such as printers. Similarly,
functions like "Copy-Paste" will be disabled in the question paper page
appearing in
the
test.
8. For answering a question, candidate
has to click on the correct / most appropriate option
from the given answer
choices.
9. Pen/pencil for rough work will be provided in the examination hall. Rough work needs to
be done on the back side of Admit card. No separate rough sheet will be provided to the candidates.
10. Electronic watch
(timer) will be available on the computer
screen allotted to the candidates.
11. It is reiterated that Candidates should
not bring Bags and prohibited/valuable items as
mentioned above to the examination venue as arrangements
for safe custody of such items
cannot be assured.
12. Candidates must not indulge in use of unfair means or practices. An illustrative list of use of
unfair means
or practices by a person is as
below:
a) Obtaining support for his candidature by any means;
b) Impersonating;
c) Submitting fabricated documents;
d) Resorting to any unfair means or practices in connection with the examination or in connection
with the result of the examination;
e) Found in possession of any paper, book, note or any other material, the use of which is
not permitted
in the examination
center;
f) Communicating with
others
or
exchanging
calculators, chits, papers etc.
(on
which something is written);
g) Misbehaving in the examination center in any manner;
h) Tampering with
the
hardware and/or software deployed;
and
i) Attempting to commit or, as the case may be, to abet in the commission of all or any of the acts
specified
in the foregoing clauses.
Resorting
to unfair means or practices shall be considered as a serious offence. If any candidate is or has been found to be indulging use of unfair means or practices, his candidature will be
cancelled and
he will be disqualified for
the examination.
13. Candidates shall maintain silence in the examination venue. Any
conversation or gesticulating
or disturbance or attempt to change seats/admit cards in the Examination Hall shall
be deemed as use of
unfair means.
14. Candidates are not allowed to leave the examination hall until completion of the test and handing over the
Admit card to the Invigilator.
15. Candidates are
not allowed under any circumstances to go out of the hall in the first thirty minutes
even
on completion/submission of the paper.
16. The question papers shall be in English and in Hindi. In case of any discrepancy, English version
will prevail.
17. Smoking and eating are strictly prohibited
in the examination hall.
C. Guidelines for post-examination representation and its disposal:
1. Any candidate, not satisfied with his result may send a representation
to Assistant / Deputy Director (Examination), National Academy
of Customs, Indirect Taxes and Narcotics,
NACIN Complex, Sector-29, Faridabad-121008, clearly specifying the reasons of representation, within seven days
of declaration of results on NACIN
website.
2. If the representation requires re-evaluation, it shall be entertained only in cases where a
candidate has failed the examination. In such a case, the representation shall be sent along with re-evaluation fee in the form of a Demand draft of Rs. 200/- in favour of PAO, CBEC, payable at
New Delhi.
3. NACIN shall inform result
of representation to the candidate, preferably within one
month of receipt of the representation.
*****
PRESS
RELEASE
November 1st, 2018
EXAMINATION FOR CONFIRMATION OF
ENROLLMENT OF
GST PRACTITIONERS
The National Academy of Customs, Indirect Taxes and Narcotics (NACIN) has been authorized to
conduct an examination for
confirmation
of enrollment
of
Goods and Services
Tax Practitioners (GSTPs) in terms of the sub-rule
(3)
of Rule 83 of the Central Goods
and Services Tax Rules,
2017, vide Notification
No. 24/2018-Central Tax dated 28.5.2018.
The GSTPs enrolled on the GST Network under sub-rule (2) of Rule 83 and covered by clause (b) of sub-rule (1) of Rule 83, i.e. those meeting
the
eligibility criteria of having enrolled as sales tax practitioners or tax return preparer under the existing law for a period not less than five years, are
required to pass the said examination before 31.12.2018 in terms of second proviso to Rule 83(3). The first examination for such
GSTPs has already been conducted on 31.10.2018. The next examination
for
them
shall be conducted on 7.12.2018 from 1100hrs to 1330 hrs at designated examination centres across India.
It will be a Computer Based Exam. The registration for the exam can be done by the eligible GSTPs on a registration portal, link of which will be provided on NACIN and CBIC websites. The registration
portal for exam scheduled on 7.12.2018 will be activated on 16th November, 2018 and will remain open up to 25rd November 2018. For convenience of candidates, a help desk will also be set up, details of which will be made available on the
registration portal. The applicants are required to make online
payment of examination fee
of Rs. 500/- at the time
of registration for this exam.
Pattern and Syllabus
of
the Examination
PAPER: GST Law & Procedures:
Time allowed: 2 hours and 30 minutes
Number of Multiple
Choice Questions: 100
Language
of Questions: English and Hindi
Maximum marks: 200
Qualifying marks: 100
No negative marking
Syllabus:
1.
Central Goods and Services Tax
Act, 2017
2.
Integrated
Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017
3.
State Goods
and Services Tax Acts, 2017
4.
Union Territory Goods and Services Tax
Act,
2017
5.
Goods
and Services Tax (Compensation to
States) Act, 2017
6.
Central Goods and Services Tax
Rules, 2017
7.
Integrated
Goods and Services Tax Rules,
2017
8.
All State
Goods and Services Tax Rules,
2017
9.
Notifications, Circulars and orders issued
from time to time
Note: As GST
Law and Procedures are still evolving, the
various items
of the
above
syllabus will be considered as on 1.9.2018
for
the purpose of this examination.
****
PRESS RELEASE
November 19th, 2018
EXAMINATION FOR
CONFIRMATION OF ENROLLMENT OF GST
PRACTITIONERS
Reference is invited to Press Release dated 1.11.2018 regarding exam
for
GST Practitioners
scheduled on 7.12.2018. On account of Assembly Elections in some of the states on 7.12.2018,
the
date of the examination stands
revised to 17.12.2018 (17th December 2018)
ELIGIBILITY OF CANDIDATES
PRESS RELEASE DATED 29.11.2018
EXAMINATION FOR
CONFIRMATION OF ENROLLMENT OF GST
PRACTITIONERS
Reference is
invited to Press Release dated 1.11.2018 and 19.11.2018 regarding exam
for GST Practitioners (GSTPs) scheduled on 17.12.2018. For this exam, only those
GSTPs of the relevant
category were invited to register on examination portal
whose enrolment on GST Network was
approved as on 15.11.2018. Now
the GSTPs in the relevant category, who are enrolled on GSTN after
15.11.2018 and till 26.11.2018, are also invited
to
register on the portal. The portal is open
for
registration upto 5.12.2018.
PRESS RELEASE DATED 4.12.2018
EXAMINATION FOR CONFIRMATION OF ENROLLMENT OF GST PRACTITIONERS
Reference is invited to Press Releases dated 1.11.2018 and 29.11.2018 regarding exam to be conducted on 17.12.2018 for GST Practitioners (GSTPs) covered under clause (b) of sub-rule (1) of Rule 83 of CGST Rules 2017, i.e. those enrolled as a sales tax practitioners or tax return preparer under the existing law for a period not less than five years, and enrolled under sub-rule (2) of Rule 83 of the said Rules. For the said examination, candidates enrolled up-to 4.12.2018 (11.59.59 PM) will be eligible to register, instead of 26.11.2018, notified earlier. The registration window will also remain open till 7.12.18 (11.59.59PM), instead of 5.12.18 (11.59.59PM) notified earlier.
2. Further, if there are any candidates who get enrolled from 5.12.18 to 16.12.18 in the relevant category, they will also be allowed to register and appear in examination on provisional basis. Such candidates will have to make a request to NACIN for provisional registration at email gstp.nacin@gmail.com. Such candidates will be required to appear at the test centres as allotted by NACIN. The registration fee paid by such candidates shall be non refundable, irrespective of their eligibility.