The government has eased filing of Goods and Services Tax (GST) returns for taxpayers by allowing them to file in a staggered manner. The new deadlines will come into effect from April.
Taxpayers having annual turnover of Rs. 5 crore and above in previous financial year, will have a deadline of the 20th of every month to file their GSTR 3B returns, benefiting about eight lakh entities.
GSTR 3B is a monthly return to be filed under GST in which every taxable person has to summarise the details of outward and inward supplies. Taxpayers below the Rs. 5-crore threshold will be split into two, depending on the state that they belong to.
For 15 states — Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Daman and Diu, Dadra and Nagar Haveli, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Goa, Lakshadweep, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Puducherry, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Telangana and Andhra Pradesh — the deadline will be 22nd of every month. About 46 lakh taxpayers will benefit from this change. For other 22, it will be the 24th of every month. The extension will benefit 49 lakh taxpayers.
“Considering the difficulties faced by trade and industry in filing of returns, the government has decided to introduce several measures to ease the process,” the finance ministry said in a statement on Wednesday.
Presently, the last date of filing GSTR-3B returns for every taxpayer is 20th of every month. Notifications to the effect will be issued in due course.
The government has also taken a note of difficulties and concerns expressed by the taxpayers regarding filing of GSTR-3B and other returns, the finance ministry added.
“The matter has been discussed by the GSTN with Infosys, the managed service provider, which has come out with above solution to destress the process as a temporary but immediate measure,” the ministry added.
For further improving the performance of GSTN filing portal on permanent basis, several technological measures are being worked out with Infosys and will be in place by April.
Tax experts say this would give some relief to taxpayers when the GSTN portal faces hiccups due to heavy load close to last dates.
