GST return filing woes remain

The government had extended the date for filing of returns for GSTR-1

Assessees are still facing problems in filing the goods and services tax (GST) returns even as the government has extended the deadline. They have also sought an applicability of the summary form for six months instead of only for the first two months, besides an extension for filing of returns for outward supplies as firms are busy during the first 10 days of the month with tasks such as paying tax deducted at source of employees, paying salaries and reimbursements, among others.

On Monday, the government had extended the date for filing of returns for outward supplies — GSTR-1 — by five days to September 10. “As this is the first time, taxpayers are struggling with various heads of GSTR-1. They are confused about how to report GSTR-1 and often end up reporting same invoice under separate sections,” said Archit Gupta, CEO of ClearTax.

He said there were cases of entering wrong GSTIN (GST identification number) of customers, which attract a reverse charge (where the GST is to be paid by buyers).

"Some taxpayers are facing errors when the invoice date is before the customers' registration date," he pointed out.

The portal had a huge volume of traffic which is why it was taking longer than expected while placing a request or generating an acknowledgement reference number, he said.

"These problems are expected to be resolved with the extension of deadline," he suggested.

M S Mani of Deloitte said companies are caught up in the first ten days of a month as they have tasks such as paying tax deducted at source of employees, paying salaries, reimbursements and preparing their monthly accounts for internal purposes.

Thus, he said, the original date for filing GST returns began from the tenth of a month. These dates were relaxed for July and August, the first two months after GST roll-out.

He said the goods and services tax network (GSTN) site was working intermittently on Monday.

The deadline for filing for purchase returns - GSTR-2 - was extended by 15 days to September 25. Similarly, GSTR-3, which is the match of GSTR-1 and 2, will have to be filed by September 30 instead of September 15.