Ministerial panel to discuss return simplification ahead of GST meet

Ahead of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) Council meeting on March 10, a ministerial panel under Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Modi will meet here on Saturday to firm up the simplified “single-stage” return filing process.

In the run-up to the meeting, key members of the return simplification committee Nandan Nilekani and CBEC Excise Commissioner Manish Kumar Sinha, along with Goods and Services Tax Network Chairman Ajay Bhushan Pandey, met Finance Secretary Hasmukh Adhia on Wednesday.

After the meeting Pandey said over the last two months the return simplification committee had held series of meetings with state governments and trade associations.

“On Saturday, the group of ministers (GoM) will meet and discuss various available options on the GST return simplification,” he said.

The GoM under Sushil Modi will look at finalising the simplified return filing system on February 24.

“Any system that emerges has to ensure that the government revenue is protected and it has to be convenient for taxpayers,” Pandey said. It will “mostly be a single-stage” return where invoices would be matched while buyer makes the payment for supplies.

The GoM would also consider separate dates of return filing for micro small and medium enterprises and large businesses. The new return filing process will be rolled out from the next fiscal year.

In the new system, GST returns would be auto-populated based on the invoice details filed by businesses on the GSTN portal.

AMRG & Associates Partner Rajat Mohan said after 200 days of GST rollout, the biggest expectation of businesses from the government is stability in the GSTN system for ease in return filing.

"What we expect is that government wants to shift from GSTR – 1& 2 to the new machinery of real-time invoice uploading and accepting. This new mechanism will have multiple challenges and multiple risks which include a change in law by way of parliamentary action," Mohan said.