The Karnataka State Chartered Accountants Association (KCAA) recently sent a memorandum to the Revenue Secretary Hasmukh Adhia pointing out the Hardships faced by the tax payers and practitioners in filing returns under the Goods and Services Tax (GST) laws which was implemented from 1st July 2017.
The first return under the new indirect tax law is being filed by the tax payers aross the country. The last date for filing return for the month of July is August 25th.
The timeline for filing Form GST TRAN-1 for claiming transitional input tax credits is 90 days from the appointed day i.e. 30th September 2017. However, recent notification No.23/2017 – Central Tax dated 17th August 2017 curtails this due date to 28th August 2017
The memorandum further seeks clarity on claim of ITC flowing from GST TRANS-1. “There are situations where few assessees have already filed the GSTR- 3B immediately after the release of the said form in second week of August and before the issuance of the notification No.23/2017-Central Tax clarifying the filing of GST TRAN-1 & GSTR-3B. Further, few assessees who might have filed their returns without claiming ITC as GST TRAN-1 is yet to be released and in the light of the statutory mandate that ITC has to flow from GST TRANS-1 and due date for filing is 90 days from appointed date, claim of the assessee shall be made available to him in the month in which the GST TRANS-1 is filed thereby following the provisions of the statute in letter and spirit,” it said.
It also points out another issue that the returns cannot be revised and they are required to provide all the information in a short timeline. Also, the input matching is not available yet as the GSTR-1 & 2 is not yet operational. This will have major matching issue. Hence, a request for allowing GST-3B revision would be helpful to match the data with GSTR 1 & 2 and avoiding undue hassles to the assessees at large. The resolution of matters offline with State/ Central jurisdiction be notified for the teething issues, which cannot be resolved online for initial few months, this would be highly appreciated.
The association also requested the Government to issue clarifications on the authenticity of contents since most of the stakeholders are dependent on Sectoral FAQs, Handbooks and GOI Twitter for query resolution. “We are amused to observe contradictory clarifications coming out GOI Twitter handle on the same issue.,” it said.
The Karnataka State Chartered Accountants Association (R) (in short ‘KSCAA’) is an association of Chartered Accountants, registered under the Karnataka Societies Registration Act, in the year 1957.
Read the full text of the Memorandum below.
