GST Council likely to consider changes in monthly tax payment form

The GST Council in its meeting next week is likely to consider a proposal for making changes in the monthly tax payment form -- GSTR-3B, which would include auto-population of outward supplies from sales return and non-editable tax payment table, officials said.

The move would help curb the menace of fake billing, whereby sellers would show higher sales in GSTR-1 to enable purchasers to claim input tax credit (ITC), but report suppressed sales in GSTR-3B to lower GST liability.

Currently, GSTR-3B of a taxpayer includes auto drafted input tax credit (ITC) statements based on inward and outward B2B supplies and also red flags any mismatch between GSTR-1 and 3B.

As per the changes proposed by the Law Committee of the GST Council, there will be auto-population of values from GTSR-1 into GSTR-3B in specific rows to establish one-to-one correspondence to a large extent between rows of the two return forms, thereby providing clarity to the taxpayer and tax officers.

The change would minimize the requirement of user input in GSTR-3B and ease the GSTR-3B filing process, an official said.

The tax payment table in Form GSTR-3B will be auto-populated from other tables in the form and will be non-editable, as per the amended form recommended by the Law Committee of the Council.

Noting that amendment in Form GSTR-3B, as far as feasible, should flow from amendment in Form GSTR-1, with regard to outward liabilities, the Committee suggested that for giving more clarity to the taxpayers, separate amendment table (for liabilities) may be introduced in GSTR-3B, so that any amendment made in Form GSTR-1 gets reflected in GSTR-3B clearly.

Similarly, an amendment table may also be incorporated in GSTR-3B to show any amendment in the ITC portion, the Committee suggested.

Once the changes proposed by the Law Committee gets an in-principle approval of the GST Council, the revamped form will be put in public domain for stakeholder consultation. The GST Council in a meeting later will then approve the final form.

Currently, taxpayers file statements of outward supplies in GSTR-1 by the 11th day of the subsequent month, while taxes are paid by filing GSTR-3B between 20th, 22nd and 24th of every month for different categories of taxpayers.

Commenting on the proposed changes in GSTR-3B, AMRG & Associates Senior Partner Rajat Mohan said tax filings are set to change for e-commerce operators rendering passenger transportation services, accommodation services, housekeeping services, and cloud kitchens. Such e-commerce players would now be made liable to report supplies on behalf of suppliers in their GSTR -1 and GSTR-3B in separate cells.

"E-commerce players like Uber, Swiggy, Zomato and MMT would see few changes in monthly tax filings that will ensure more data points for the government system for big data analytics," Mohan added.