Monday, September 10, 2018

Gst return late fee waived to boost complaince


Businesses and traders have been spared late fee and penalty for any delay so far in filing detailed tax returns regarding the sales they have made in the goods and services tax (GST) regime, a finance ministry statement said here. Detailed sales return to be filed by businesses in GST Return-1 is a vital tool for the authorities in combating tax evasion as it furnishes details about the buyer. 

Businesses have to file a summary of the transactions they have made every month in a form called GST Return-3B and a detailed filing of the sales they have made in Gst returns-1 . The tax authorities have noticed that filings of the detailed sales return are lower than the summary return filings. 

“Non-furnishing of GST Return-1 is liable to late fee and penalty as per law. In order to encourage taxpayers to furnish GST Return-1, a one-time scheme to waive late fee payable for delayed furnishing of GST Return-1 for the period from July 2017 to September 2018 till 31 October 2018 has been launched,” said the ministry statement.

Giving more time to businesses to file details of their sales makes sense as information contained in GST Return-1 is of immense value to tax officials. It enables officials to find out who the buyer is, the quantum of purchase and whether the buyer has filed his return and paid taxes on subsequent transactions. Giving extra time for filing GST Return-1 to businesses will aid in taking strong anti-evasion measures in the future.

“GST Return-1 is intrinsic to the GST overall and an extension of the timelines will accelerate filings, “ said M.S.Mani, Partner, Deloitte India.

The ministry statement said that the due date for businesses with more than Rs 1.5 crore, including for those registered in Kerala, to file GST Return-1 for the period July 2017 to September 2018 has been extended till 31 October 2018. This extension is also applicable to those entities with principal place of business in Kodagu in Karnataka and Mahe in Puducherry. For smaller taxpayers, with annual sales less than Rs 1.5 crore, quarterly filing of GST Return-1 is now possible without fine till the end of October. For small taxpayers in Kerala and those with principal place of business is in Kodagu and Mahe, the deadline will continue to be 15 November as announced last month. The ministry statement also advised taxpayers to file returns on time so that their tax credits do not lapse. 

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