Piyush Goyal introduces simplified filing of tax returns

Union Finance Minister Piyush Goyal on Saturday announced several crucial amendments to the established format for filing tax returns.

Addressing a presser in New Delhi after the 28th Goods and Service Tax (GST) council meeting, Goyal said the steps taken would help ease tax filing for the masses.

"Traders with a turnover up to Rs 5 crore will deposit GST monthly and their returns will be filed on a quarterly basis. This will enable 93 per cent taxpayers to file quarterly returns. This is a huge step and a bold one that has been decided by the state finance ministers," he said.

 

In addition, Goyal announced the introduction of two new formats, 'Sugaam' and 'Sahaj'.

"The returns have been structured in a very simplified format; it will be different for the composite dealers and for dealers who are engaged in Business to Business or Business to Consumer," he added.

As part of the GST Council meeting, 46 amendments were cleared, which, Goyal said, would be passed in Parliament.

Among the reforms is the postponement of the reverse charge mechanism, which makes the recipient of the goods and/or services liable to pay GST instead of the supplier.

This, Goyal said, has been stalled till September 30, 2019.

He further noted that in the coming months, the linking of RFID (radio frequency identification devices) tags with the GST Network (GSTN) for transporters will be implemented, so as to reduce the harassment they face.

The GST Council also confirmed the approval of the proposal to open the migration window for taxpayers, who received provisional IDs but could not complete the migration process.

Taxpayers who have filed Part A of the GST REG-26 Form, but not Part B of the said form will be required to approach the jurisdictional Central Tax officers or the State Tax nodal officers with the necessary details on or before August 31, 2018, in order to complete their migration process.

The nodal officer will then forward the details to the GSTN for enabling migration of such taxpayers.

It has also been decided to waive the late fee payable for delayed filing of return in such cases. Such taxpayers will be required to first file the returns on payment of late fees, and the waiver will be brought into effect by way of a reversal of the amount paid as late fees in the cash ledger under the tax head.

Furthermore, the exemption limit for traders in Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Meghalaya, Sikkim and Uttarakhand has been increased from Rs 10 lakh to Rs 20 lakh.

However, Goyal clarified that the decisions taken in the meaning will have minimal impact on revenue.

A special meeting of the GST Council will be held on August 4, dedicated to the welfare of the Micro Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) sector.

During this meeting, Goyal said recommendations made on promoting digital payment methods like BHIM, RuPay cards and Unified Payment Interface (UPI) will be put forth.