AUGUST 28, 2019

The Return Rush - Relax

By Vijay Kumar

GST consultants, especially chartered accountants heaved a sigh of relief as the news flashed that the due date for filing the GSTR-9 returns has been extended to November 30 th from August 31 st. The chartered accountants were struggling to meet the deadline for filing income tax and GST returns. Everybody was hoping, praying and knew that the due date for GST filing would be extended and several people claimed credit for making the government extend the date.

Last week, I reported a Chief Commissioner calling a press meet and declaring that the due date for filing GSTR-9 returns had been extended several times and would not be extended further. He also warned, Taxpayers should file their GST returns for 2017-18 by August 31 and failure to do so will attract very severe consequences, including hefty penalty,

Just yesterday, the Government announced the extension by three months.

But why? The Order states,

AND WHEREAS, for the purpose of furnishing of the annual return electronically for every financial year as referred to in sub-section (1) of section 44 of the said Act, certain technical problems are being faced by the taxpayers as a result whereof, the said annual return for the period from the 1st July, 2017 to the 31st March, 2018 could not be furnished by the registered persons, as referred to in the said sub-section (1) and because of that, certain difficulties have arisen in giving effect to the provisions of the said section.

Now, the fact is that there are some technical problems due to which returns could not be filed and so the due date is extended - just five days before the original due date.

Have the technical problems been solved? Will they be solved within three months? There is absolutely no use extending the date, if the taxpayers have to face the same problem in November as they did in August.

Now they should introduce a scheme under which it should be mandatory for every officer of the Department from Inspector to Chairman of CBIC to file at least one real return for a taxpayer by 5 th of November. The taxpayers should be asked to file the return only after all the officers have filed their returns. Even if one officer fails to file the return, the taxpayers should be exempted from filing the returns.

Though, all concerned are happy for the moment, there is a Sword of Damocles hanging with the threat becoming a reality in November.

Why should GST be so complicated that even uploading a return has become a Herculean task? In such massive electronic interface, some things are bound to go wrong and you can't blame anyone except God who created GST. But we seem to have mastered the art of messing up so much that even God seems to be a helpless bystander. Can't we just manage the whole system efficiently if we make it mandatory for all the invoices to be uploaded in the portal and the portal would do the rest of the work? There simply is no need to file any returns and complicate things. Now fake 'invoice manufacturing' which started as a cottage industry seems to have become a mega enterprise.

Who Won?

GST was supposed to be a win-win proposition. If GST is such win-win scheme where the Centre and the States gain, who was supposed to foot the bill - the mango man?. Then they said the GST is a win-win-win game where everybody wins including the taxpayer, but now it seems everybody is losing. But no, everything is not lost. There is still time. Maybe we can think of something like the Sabka Vishwas Scheme for GST administration. Maybe we should start afresh and forget the past.

Finance Minister Ms Nirmala Sitharaman recently stated, "I want to assure that we are responsive to changes. GST filing will be simplified further with fewer forms and will meet GSTN officials to remove further glitches in GST filing process."

It was perhaps her responsive gesture that made a responsible government to extend the due date for filing the annual returns. Let us hope she would make the return filing process a little simpler. God is with her, hopefully so is the Board.