GST High Powered Committee On Return Filing – Representation by GST Research Foundation
By: – Rakesh Chitkara
Goods and Services Tax – GST
Dated:- 29-11-2017
GST Research Foundation (GRF) consisting of professionals practicing in the field of GST made a detailed representation to Sh. Dheeraj Rastogi, Hon'ble Commissioner GST Council & Member of High Powered Committee on Return filing.
The Hon'ble Commissioner has responded in his communication of 28.11.2017 :
Thanks all of you for sending a number of valuable suggestions. The meeting on Return Simplification today held preliminary discussion on the issue and the course of action to be taken.. The brief outline of the discussion and points for consideration were as follows:
* Short Term issues affecting return filing and compliance
* Long Term Compliance regime to be put in place
It was felt that let the Long term direction be finalised first and then one can adjust Short Term Compliance issues accordingly so tha
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iew as some of these aspects, may not have been considered by you while making the suggestions and they may be of incremental nature pre-supposing certain things.
This structured way of approaching the problem will result in a comprehensive suggestion for consideration and implementation.
As regards, Short Term issues affecting return filing and compliance are concerned, these may be finalised after the Long Term ones are finalised. Further, many of them may be in the nature of bugs in the current system or malfunction of Software. All such issues which pertain to be in the nature of bugs in the current system or malfunction of Software, will be flagged separately to GSTN.
Suggestions from above perspective (will) be taken up in the next meeting.
TEXT OF THE REPRESENTATION :
At the outset we humbly thank the Committee on GST returns for giving us this opportunity of highlighting major problems faced by Trade and Professionals while filing Goods and Services Tax (“GST”) Returns. Hu
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indirect scalability of portal's user handling capacity.
2.
Multiple processes of Upload, Submit, Set off and Filing:
Any return has no legal sanctity or meaning in the eyes of law till returned data is signed.
Right now taxpayer has to got through multiple steps of uploading data, save, submission, set off and then finally signing it. This creates lots of confusion amongst taxpayer community and simple form is being treated as a bulky one.
The difference between Saved, Submit and Filed should be removed and it should be replaced with a simple process of “Sign and Submit”. Till the point return is “Signed and submitted”, user/taxpayer should be able to change any data in his return, as he deems fit.
3.
No facility to preview taxpayer's net tax liability
A Taxpayer's net liability is computed after adjusting ITC already available, fresh ITC and balance available in Cash Ledger. Right now, purview and submit option only display Gross Output Liability as well as Gross ITC being c
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ase of supplier of goods/services covered by RCM provisions u/s 9(3)/5(3), online form does not allow taxpayer to enter Zero Tax in table 3.1(a).
Online table 3.1 of form 3B should be enabled to accept values other than positive values.
5.
Details asked for in form 3B is bulky and has no direct relation with GST Liability
Table no. 3.2 (further bifurcation of interstate supplies to Unregistered persons and Composition Taxable Persons) and Table no. 5 (Value of Exempt, Nil – rated and Non GST Inward Supplies)
Please remove the details asked in table no. 3.2 & 5 as it has no tax impact. In any case, tax liability is already captured from table 3.1.
6.
Absence of Differential Due Dates
Due date of Small as well as Big Tax Payer's falls on same on due date. This creates pressure on system and reduce response time of system.
Allow differential dates for filing. This will give server breathing space as well.
GSTN has already implemented this system while fixing Due Date of GSTR-1 f
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on for revision of return after it is filed. Returns are being filed by large taxpayers as well as by small taxpayers. However, in case of large taxpayers returns are filed by large team of consultants and in case of small taxpayers returns are generally filed by small taxpayers themselves. Thus, system for revision of return should be allowed. Law should not penalize taxpayers for small errors rather than it should be taxpayer friendly.
9
No Quick fix solution for Tax Payment made under Wrong Head.
If for any reason while making Tax Payment, major code or minor code is wrongly inserted, in absence of GSTR-3, working capital of Tax Payer is getting blocked.
Option to apply for refund of excess in cash ledger should be enabled in form 3B as well. A lot of people have paid tax in wrong heads and are unable to utilise it. This option is available only in table 14 of GSTR 3 filing of which is being delayed. Or In other words, a table similar to table 14 of GSTR-3 should be incorporated
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figures are displayed and Gross & Net Liability figures disappears. This anomaly should be corrected immediately.
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* Suggestions in respect of Form GSTR-1
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Issues
Suggestion
1.
Offline Tool provided for GSTR-1 is not comprehensive enough.
Right now a taxpayer has to be mandatorily use certain tables of online form, as a part of return filing process since present offline tool is not comprehensive enough to handle all tables of GSTR-1 and GSTR-2
The offline tool should contain all sections like documents details section.
Eg., Table 8, Table 9, Table 13 etc. are missing in present offline version 2.1 released by GSTN.
2.
Saving of Invoice data online takes lot of time
It takes a lot of time and effort to save the data and filing. Time taken by GSTN to update and show data generally varies from 1 day or more. For better user acceptability this should be reduced to few minutes.
Correcting/Deleting bulk data online is a mammoth
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ed for in annual return.
4
Too Many Return Compliances
Imposing 49 statement/returns (12 GSTR-3B, 12 GSTR-1, 12 GSTR-2, 12 GSTR-3 and 1 GSTR-9) (which does not include other returns like ITC-04 etc.) even on big tax payers is unnecessarily increasing compliance cost, more so now with Quarterly filing of GSTR 1, 2 & 3 by small taxpayers even matching concept has shifted to quarterly basis.
Return filing periodicity must be made quarterly for all taxpayer for GSTR-1, 2 or 3, as government is any way collecting its tax only monthly basis through GSTR-3B or in alternate only for Taxpayers having turnover of more than 100 cr be required to file Monthly GSTR-1, 2 & 3 and rest be permitted to file Quarterly Returns.
Further Due date of filing GST Returns for big and small Tax Payer should fall on different due date for effective server response
5.
Dichotomy in date of Liability vis-a-vis eligible ITC for newly registered Taxpayers.
Once Taxpayer has applied for GST Registration, ther
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Redundant tables in GSTR-1
Two separate B2C tables i.e. table no. 5 & table no. 7 can be merged.
Table no. 5: “Taxable outward inter-State supplies to unregistered persons where the invoice value is more than ₹ 2.5 lakh”and Table no. 7: “Taxable supplies (Net of debit notes and credit notes) to unregistered persons other than the supplies covered in Table 5” both should be combined in one Table
There should be only 2 Tables: B2B & B2C.
More number of tables, creates unintended errors and increase compliance overall time.
8.
Export refunds stuck due to mismatch in Table 6A and icegate data
Many export refunds are stuck due to wrong quoting of invoice particulars in GSTR-1. This issue is more aggravated due to lack of availability of GSTR-1 of August 2017
As filing of GSTR-1 of August is not enabled as of today, at least edit option for Table 6A of July 2017 return should be introduced online immediately.
9
Three separate statements/returns for one Tax period is too burde
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Form GSTR-2
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Issues
Suggestion
1
Present system of invoice level matching is a strain on nation's resource & puts entire burden on Taxpayers shoulders.
Mechanism should be developed that taxpayer needs to upload just the purchases and automatically GSTN system should figure out the mismatch invoices. Matching every single entry manually from thousands of entries by Tax payer is not practicable. Instead of invoice wise matching, GSTIN wise matching should be implemented or in other words Instead of Invoice level matching it should be supplier to buyer level matching.
2
Input, input service or capital good segregation information should be removed.
Selecting such details on Invoice level is highly time consuming.
Furthermore GSTR-2 gives option to taxpayer to select ineligible credit at invoice level as well as at gross level separately. Option to select eligibility/ineligibility first at invoice level and then at gross level serves no real purpose.
Collecting such trivial
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Taxpayer be exempted from inserting inward supply details of Section 17(5) Transactions. Details of transaction where recipient does not want to claim credit/ ineligible for credit should also not be insisted in monthly / quarterly returns.
5
No option available for of consolidated Accept / Reject / Keep Pending actions
Presently Taxpayer can take such action only on a single invoice at a time. This takes lot of time and energy of Taxpayers.
Option to accept / Reject / Keep Pending multiple invoices should be provided in online mode.
6.
No option available for auto populated Import Bill of entry in GSTR-2
Bill of entry details to be auto populated from the customs portal (ICEGATE) to reduce further mismatch between customs & GSTR 2 captured.
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* Common Suggestion for GSTR 1 & 2
S.No.
Issues
Suggestion
1
HSN code
HSN code requirement for each and every Commodities / Services is very cumbersome
Only for Top 10 (Ten) Commoditi
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.
For filing NIL Return, simple declaration like TDS Return should be good enough, further
5.
Comprehensive Preview Option
Lack of Preview option may cause unintended error and thereby promotes amendments.
Return preview in PDF should be available with offline tool also.
6.
One cash ledger instead of separate cash ledger(s)
Credit in Cash ledger is segregated into different heads which makes taxpayers unable to set off the cash credit of one head for other, which can be possible if there is a uniform cash ledger without minor codes. E.g.: If a person has 1,000/- in interest & a short amount of ₹ 100/- in late fee then again, he need to transfer amount from Bank Account although an excess amount is lying Electronic cash ledger.
It is suggested that in cash ledger there should only be one major head without any minor heads. GSTN offset facility is capable of capturing Tax payment into major heads viz IGST / CGST / SGST and minor heads Viz. Tax/ Interest / Late fees / Penal
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dling does not pinpoint Errors accurately.
Excel / CSV download option should be available for the entries uploaded. Error reporting be streamlined and should pinpoint exact cause of errors.
We trust our suggestions would be positively considered by Committee.
GST Research Foundation is a society integrating the Tax Assessees, Tax Administrators, Tax Practitioners, Judiciary, Academics and Government Policy Makers across 30 States, 9 Union Territories and Central Government in India for deriving cutting edge economic and taxation policies for development of the nation on community serving model and is compliant with UN 2030 Sustainable Development Goals Agenda.
Presentation prepared by:
GST Research Foundation (GRF)
CA. Atal Bhanja CA. Deepak Bholusaria CA. Jignesh Kansara
Convenor Committee Member Committee Member
Under Guidance of: Adv. Rakesh Chitkara
With active support of:
CA. Harini Shridharan, CA. Divya Bansal, Mr. M P Vasudevan, CA. Ramakant Hemani, Mr.Gawesh Narula,
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