Tax paying Indian micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) with nil liability will no longer require to log on to the goods and services tax (GST) website to file their returns. They can instead do that through an SMS to help reduce their compliance cost, according to Ajit Kumar, chairman of Central Board of Indirect Taxes & Customs (CBITC). He was addressing a session of Bharat Chamber of Commerce.
The step will improve the ease of doing business, he said.
To a proposal that GST be charged on receipt of payment instead of the tax liability coming to them on the date of issuance of invoice or receipt of payment, whichever is earlier, as that causes blockage of working capital, putting much pressure on the liquidity, Kumar reportedly remained non-committal, saying the customs department rolled out the nationwide faceless assessment system for shipment clearances at every port from October 31, providing maximum benefit to the industry, once again saving their costs of compliance.
GST collections in the last two months have shown a positive trend, registering a 10 per cent year-on-year increase.
From next January, small taxpayers having an aggregate turnover of up to ₹5 crore in the preceding financial year can file tax returns on a quarterly basis and pay duty on a monthly basis, he was quoted as saying by Indian media reports.
“This scheme will allow taxpayers to file all their taxes in four returns instead of 12 returns every year,” Kumar said, adding a new provision of registering at the GST portal through an Aadhaar authentication will enable taxpayers to get registered within three working days.
From January next year, a reformed GSTR form 3B will be introduced, which will be self-populated and editable, showing both liability and credit.
