Question and answers in GSTR 1
filing in GST portal – how to understand it and what are the added features in
return utilities on GST Portal that would bring relief for tax payers :
The GST Council took a slew of
decisions during its 23rd meeting in Guwahati to benefit consumers and
businesses alike. While consumers will stand to benefit from a number of rate
cuts, including the tax on restaurants, businesses stand to benefit from a
significant easing of compliance norms to do with filing returns.
So what has changed with the
forms and how is it going to ease the burden of tax payers
Originally
upto 15th Nov 2017
|
v GST system required
businesses to submit at least three forms to file their returns.
v The GSTR-1 dealt with the
invoice-wise details of supply, GSTR-2 dealt with the receipts of goods, and
GSTR-3 an overall summary derived from GSTR 1 Form and GSTR 2 respectively
.
|
Decisions
taken in 23rd GST Council Meeting
|
v GST Council decided to
ease the compliance burden on businesses, companies would be allowed to only
file the GSTR-1 form, up to March 31, 2018 and there by negating the
requirement of filing other two forms GSTR2 and GSTR-3 which will be filed as
scheduled in the original drafting of law from April 18.
v GST Council organized a
committee to look into how to make the GSTR-2 Form easier, to bring it back
into the system with full functionality.
v The Council also decided to
extend the usage of the summary GSTR-3B form, meant to make life easier for
those unfamiliar with the filing process, till March 31 from the earlier
December 31 deadline.
|
Changes in deadlines for GST
Return filing and how the GST Council has divided the Tax payers into two slots
providing the tax payers the burden less smooth filing of GST Returns as they
promised :
Seeing the difficulties faced by
small and medium sized enterprises the council then decided to divide the tax
payers into two groups based on turnover filed by the tax payers in the previous
financial year. Let’s see how this has been worked out and whether this really
going to benefit tax payers especially SME’s and let’s also look at the same
time how these decisions are being reflected in the GST Return utilities on GST
Portal.
I. Class A or Group A Tax Payers
(for convenience of understanding) :
♦ Who are these tax payers : These are tax payers –
Companies, Partnership firms, Limited liability Partnership companies, sole
proprietorship firms with a turnover of up to ₹1.5 crore in the preceeding
financial year.
So if your turnover in the
preceeding financial year following the Action period (i.e., GST Period
01.07.2017) is within the said prescribed limit of 1.5 Crores then you fall in
this group.
♦ What are the benefits given
here for them :
To file their GSTR-1 forms for each month in a quarterly manner. Since GSTR2
and GSTR3 utility filing has not been finalized the work for which is under
process the manner of filing these Forms (GSTR-2 and GSTR 3) will be notified
on later date in future. So overall it’s a relief for small traders whose
turnover is well within the said limit requiring to file GSTR-1 Form on
quarterly basis and there by not requiring to file returns on monthly basis.
[Note : The Taxes have to be paid on monthly basis by filing Form GSTR 3B which
has to be filed by all tax payers irrespective of the turnover till March 2018]
♦ New GST dates to remember if
you have opted for Quarterly return : GSTR-1
Form for July to September are to now be filed by December 31, the October to
December forms by February 15, 2018 and the January to March forms by April 30,
2018.
♦ How to choose this plan on GST
Portal : Logging
onto GST Portal from 10th of this Month has been different we saw following
questions that creeped up the ladder while filing the GSTR 3B return lets
understand these in details. Logging onto GST Portal the new pop up page would
look something like this.
Finer Points here :
Please select the last month of
the Quarter?? How to understand this :
l
July
month’s GSTR-1 return has already been filed by us during September 2017 and
hence for the Quarter July – September GSTR 1 for August and September alone
needs to be filed by selecting the last month of the Quarter (September in this
case)
l
Do
we need to fill up separate GSTR-1 for each of the month of the Quarter?? No
the GSTR 1 Form is one for all months of the Quarter. So you would be required
to file one GSTR-1 Form for the whole Quarter.
♦ Is there any Changes in GSTR 1
Form then?? Yes few headings been added…
GSTR1 Form – Other Details : These are the details in excess
of Original GSTR 1 Form which we used for filing July’s GSTR 1 filing and the
other particulars of GSTR1 are kept intact.
Table
11A Amended Tax Liability (Advance Received)
Table 11B Amendment of Adjustment of Advances
Table-10 Amendment B2C (Others)
|
Each table requires
furnishing of Consolidated Statement of Advances Received/Advances which were
adjusted in the current tax period/ Amendments of information which were
furnished in earlier tax period.
|
II. Class A or Group A Tax Payers
(for convenience of understanding) :
♦ Who are these tax payers : These are tax payers –
Companies, Partnership firms, Limited liability Partnership companies, sole
proprietorship firms with a turnover exceeding ₹1.5 crore in the preceeding
financial year.
So if your turnover in the
preceeding financial year exceeds 1.5 Crores then you fall in this group.
♦ New GST dates to remember if
you have opted for Monthly return :
To File their July to October forms by December 31. And from thereafter, they
will have to file monthly returns, but with a delay of 40 days from the end of
the taxable period. That is, the returns for November will have to be filed by
January 10, those for December by February 10, and so on. The extension period
of 40 days for each month’s return is given in order to match the return filing
period of those who would be filing the returns on Quarterly basis because GSTs
matching concept cannot be compromised and hence the delay is allowed in
returns for those who will be opting for monthly returns.
♦ How to choose this plan on GST
Portal : The
page will open similar to the diagram above. In order to select monthly return
you have to click ‘No’ instead of ‘Yes’. And there is no further change in GSTR
1 Form, the GSTR1 Form is one for all tax payers irrespective of the turnover
criteria. [Note : Again the Taxes have to be paid on monthly basis by filing
Form GSTR 3B which has to be filed by all tax payers irrespective of the
turnover till March 2018]
Conclusion : Still we are waiting for GSTN to
work to its fullest as GSTR2 filing and GSTR-3 filing utility are yet to be put
up on GST Portal. It’s clear from these changes brought up by GST Council that
they are clear in presenting the true picture of GST to Tax payers and they are
seriously working on clearing the issues related to GSTN and its
implementation. As a tax payer everyone would expect the same from the law
makers to repair and re structure the GST to suit the needs of various tax
payers so that GST return filing is not considered as a burden by tax payers
anymore. And Tally.ERP 9 has a like mind when it comes to embrace the changes
or adapting the changed environment as it states to deliver the packed GST just
as it is originated from GST Network. And the experience of filing GST returns
from Tally.ERP 9 is way more easier than filing with offline utility tool on
GST Portal as in offline utility tool either you would be required to fill all
particulars about outward supplies manually or through a automated software
which are very few in the market. But with Tally.ERP 9 you can directly export
the data into JSON format then into the GST portal. Thus making the process of
return filing a easier task. But the transformation part of Tally.ERP 9 comes
with its innovative ideas which one would have witnessed recently with its
online forums which has received wide interest from Chartered accountants
community as it allows them to seek to share to depart knowledge on various
topics concerning GST and this is such a good initiative considering that the
new India to be build in the back drop of GST and that would be possible only
when people with knowledge shares what they know about GST and Tally.ERP 9 is
one such medium which is educating and bridging this knowledge gap.
