New Simplified GST Returns Filing Form to be Available on Monday

The Finance Ministry will put the draft of new simplified GST return filing form on its website by Monday, Upendra Gupta, GST Commissioner has said.

While addressing a CII event, Gupta said, “Industry can send comments on the form for one month. Your feedback will help further improve the system.”

He said the tax authorities plan to put in place the new return filing system by January 1, 2019.

The new simplified return will end all existing forms and facilitate one return to be filed every month.

There will also be provision to file return by SMS if turnover in a particular month is ‘nil’. It has been decided that businesses with annual turnover of up to Rs 5 crore will have an option of filing the return on a quarterly basis.

The Chairman of the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC), S Ramesh, urged industries to give compliance “top priority”.

Later in the event, Upendra Gupta, said a one-month window is being opened for those who have yet to migrate to the new tax system. He said that new migrants will be allowed to file returns for the period July 2017 to August 2018 without any late fee. They will also get transitional credit.