Manufacturers' body writes to Finance Ministry as GST remains a worry

The Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) sector is yet to solve the issues related to the Goods and Services Tax (GST) even after 50 days since it was implemented, All India Manufacturers' Organisation (Aimo) said. 

The sector faced problems on basic issues like filling GSTR-3 B form. The GST portal became inaccessible last week due to heavy traffic. 

"Has the government failed to expect this traffic and address them beforehand? We are facing difficulty in accessing the portal," said the organisation in a letter to Finance Minister Arun Jaitley.

Due to traffic congestion and the inability of the users to pay online and submit data, the government had extended the last date to August 25 from August 20.

According to Aimo, national president, K E Raghunathan, in certain cases, even after the payment is made and the money is deducted from the bank account, the GST portal does not return to the dashboard page and the amount appears as unpaid or payment initiated. 

Raghunathan added that several businessmen also said the emails sent to help desk are not acknowledged or responded even after 24 hours and the users are unable to submit GSTR-3 B form as the payment is not reflected in the system. There is no clear instruction on filling up of details, filling up reverse tax remittances, and payment of tax on advances received.

There is a widespread misconception as to what details to be furnished with respect to the non-GST supply and editing the details before submitting the return is disabled.

"We again attribute these avoidable situations to the lack of interaction between the users and your Ministry. We request your immediate resolution of these problems and making sure the sufferings of the Industries are minimised," Aimo wrote in its letter. 

Aimo has also requested the government to extend the deadline dates on account of these issues.