GST: What Businesses Need To Know About Return Filing

GST is slated to come into effect from 1 July. 

(Photo: The Quint) 

The decision of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) Council to ease the timeline for filing tax returns came as a huge relief for taxpayers. But the relief is just a nine-day wonder. Come September, businesses will have to file detailed invoice level returns.

In the interim, for the month of July and August, businesses will have to file taxes on the basis of a simple return, Form GSTR-3B, consisting of a summary of outward and inward supplies.

Also Read: Know Your GST: Impact on Consumers, Traders and the Government

Although no specific format for this has been prescribed as of now, the expectation is that a summary of inward and outward supplies (with bifurcation between interstate-intrastate supplies) made to registered and unregistered persons will have to be provided under Form GSTR-3B, Jigar Doshi, a partner at SKP Group told BloombergQuint.

(Photo: BloombergQuint)

Chirag Mehta, a chartered accountant and member of Bombay Chartered Accountants' Society, said that the era where businesses could leave the return filing to professionals will come to an end once GST kicks in.

The process of return filing won’t be restricted to professionals. The clients will need to be much more involved because the level and accuracy of data expected is huge. Small stores who may have a turnover of more than Rs 1.5 crore will have more than 500 items and they will now have to code everything. Though the summary return is a short-term relief, I doubt small businesses will be able to file detailed returns from September.

Chirag Mehta, Chartered Accountant

(Photo: BloombergQuint)

Also Read: GST-Ready or Not, Businesses Brace For India’s Biggest Tax Reform

To be able to file detailed returns in September, starting 1 July, the accounting software should have fields that allow taxpayers to enter data required for GSTR-1.

The outward supplies have to be captured in GSTR-1. GSTR 2A will be a reflection of goods that the taxpayer has received. This will be auto-populated and communicated on the screen to each taxpayer. GSTR- 2 will be a statement showing all the inward supplies he has received of goods and services. This may be in addition to GSTR-2A because its quite possible that your supplier has not filed his statement in GSTR-1 by the due date i.e. 10th of the following month. You’ll need to self-claim credit on such supplies in your GSTR-2. This will also include import inward supplies – that will come from a unregistered supplies; so it will need to be added by the taxpayer himself. 

Chirag Mehta, Chartered Accountant

The moment you enter details in GSTR-2, which are not available in GSTR-2A and which do not get matched, to that extent GSTR-1A will be communicated to the suppliers, he added. The supplier may reject or accept the changes made by the recipient which will complete the process of GSTR-1, 2 and 3, Mehta explained.

Also Read: Roti, Kapda, Makaan: How GST Will Affect Your Monthly Budget

(This article was originally published on BloombergQuint.)