The Central Government on Saturday said that no further extension will be given for filing of returns under the new Goods and Services Tax (GST) regime. It further advised the tax payers to file the returns in advance and not to wait for the last day.
“We have kept long deadlines for GST filing. For at least six months the taxpayers have to file their own assessment. There will be no extension later,” Revenue Secretary Hasmukh Adhia said after the first meeting of the Group of Ministers (GOM) that was formed to tackle the income tax-related glitches.
The GST Council has allowed businesses to file GSTR-3B, which is a self-assessment of their sale and purchases, until December.
“Initial hiccups are there but no mass scale failure. Initial issues need to be sorted out. We have decided a plan of action. The attempt was to work around the difficulties to eliminate problems, leading to better understanding of all stakeholders,” he added.
Bihar Deputy Chief Minister and BJP leader Sushil Kumar Modi, who heads the GoM, said that it would be only by October 30 that the government would be able to iron out 70-80 per cent of the technical issues being faced in return filing.
“Taxpayers should not wait for the last day. The general tendency is that people wait for the last day resulting in a heavy rush.
“In the last 3-4 days before the deadline, there is a heavy rush to file returns. I appeal to all the taxpayers that they should not wait for last day. By October 30, 70-80 per cent of problems we will be able to solve,” Modi said.
The GSTN Company has been set up to provide IT infrastructure and services to the Central and state governments, tax payers and other stakeholders for implementing GST. IT services firm Infosys is taking care of the IT infrastructure for GSTN.
GOM was formed at the last meeting of GST Council in Hyderabad after a lot of I-T issues concerning returns filing were raised by the states.
The GOM meeting will be held every 15 days, mostly in Bengaluru. The next meeting scheduled in the first week of October.
