One nation, one tax: Nearly 3 million GST returns filed in August

Almost half came on final day; Network chief says system stood up to huge test and all glitches would be soon resolved

As many as 2.97 million assessees have filed the summary input-output return under the new goods and services tax (GST) for the month of August (‘GSTR 3B’), much less than the 4.6 million that came for the month of July.

As many as 46 per cent of filers — 1.37 million — submitted returns on Wednesday, the deadline for doing so.

However, the July returns had risen after an extension of five to eight days was given to assessees, depending on whether they wanted to claim input tax credit for pre-GST stocks or not. The GST Network (GSTN), the entity handling the information technology backbone for the new structure, is hopeful that return filing would equal the tally of July. 

Even if the same number of filers are there for the month of August as in July, proportionately it would be much less. This is so because there were only 5.95 million registrations under the GST in July, excluding those opting for the composition scheme. Now, a little over nine million businesses have registered under the GST. Of this, around one million was for the composition scheme; these may file quarterly returns. 

Taxes to the tune of Rs 95,000 crore were collected in the maiden month of the roll-out. The central GST (CGST) and state GST (SGST) laws mandate an interest levy at 18 per cent for delayed payment of tax. And, Rs 100 a day will be levied for SGST and CGST each for filing late returns.

Bolstered by the August number and the fact that the system did not crash despite the last-minute rush, except for stray incidents, GSTN Chairman Ajay Bhushan Pandey said this showed the system’s robustness. Having taken charge earlier this month, he said the network was in a “very sound state”, and the number of returns were testimony to this. 

He said the GSTN accepted up to 85,000 returns an hour on Wednesday, the the last day to file a GSTR-3B for August. 

About 75 per cent of the registered businesses had not filed their returns until then. As many as 1.37 million of these entities had flocked the GSTN portal on Wednesday to do so, the highest in a day under the GST so far.

“Though our system can take the load, it is in the interest of businesses not to wait till the last moment because there could be some problem at their end or their computer might not work,” Pandey said.

The GST Council had earlier this month constituted a Group of Ministers under Bihar’s Deputy Chief Minister, Sushil Modi, to address issues faced by businesses while filing returns and paying taxes on the portal. After its first meeting last week, Modi had said 25 issues were identified and there would be visible changes on the GSTN portal in a week to 10 days.
 

Pandey said the issues in question pertained to a specific situation faced by some taxpayers or was a peculiar case that might have happened in rare cases. Steps are being taken to ensure that everyone is able to file returns without difficulty, he promised.

"Any large system like the GSTN will have some issues in the initial few months and that is how the system becomes perfect. Generally, the system has been working and people are able to file returns," he said.