Govt extends April GST payment deadline till May 24 amid tech glitches

As taxpayers face technical glitches on the GST portal, the government on Tuesday extended the due date for April tax payment till May 24 and has directed Infosys for early resolution of the problem.

The due date for filing FORM GSTR-3B for the month of April 2022 has been extended till 24th May 2022, the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) said in a late-night tweet.

Earlier in the day, the CBIC had said that a technical glitch has been reported by Infosys in the generation of April GSTR-2B and auto-population of GSTR-3B on the portal.

"Infosys has been directed by Govt for early resolution. Technical team is working to provide GSTR-2B & correct auto-populated GSTR-3B at the earliest," the CBIC tweeted.

GSTR-2B is an auto-drafted Input Tax credit (ITC) statement which is available to every GST registered entity based on the information furnished by their suppliers in their respective sales return form GSTR-1.

GSTR-2B statement is usually made available to businesses on the 12th day of the succeeding month, based on which they can claim ITC while paying taxes and filing GSTR-3B.

GSTR-3B is filed in a staggered manner between 20th, 22nd and 24th of every month for different categories of taxpayers.

"Considering the difficulties faced by taxpayers in filing their GSTR-3B for the month of April 2022, a proposal to extend the due date of filing GSTR-3B for April 2022 is under active consideration," the CBIC tweeted.

On Sunday, GST Network, which provides the technology backbone for Goods and Services Tax, had issued an advisory saying that in a few cases, certain records are not reflected in the GSTR-2B statement for the period of April 2022 and asked taxpayers to file GSTR-3B return on a self-assessment basis.

"The technical team is working to resolve this issue for the impacted taxpayers and generate fresh GSTR-2B at the earliest. In the interim, affected taxpayers interested in filing GSTR-3B are requested to file the return on a self-assessment basis using GSTR-2A," the GSTN had said.

GSTR-2A is a system-generated statement of inward supplies.

In 2015, Infosys was awarded a Rs 1,380 crore contract to build and maintain the GST system.

AMRG & Associates Senior Partner Rajat Mohan said "technical glitches on the portal would derail the tax filings for millions of taxpayers in the current month. For the benefit of all the businesses, the government must either extend the timelines for tax filings or waive the late fees payable on delayed filings".