GST deadline for July ends; 4.3 million business file returns

GSTN sent reminder SMSes and emails twice to the businesses which had not filed their GSTR-1

As many as 4.3 million businesses have filed the final GST returns for the month of July so far, with the deadline ending at midnight on Tuesday, officials said.

Till 6 pm, 4.3 million of the 5.3 million businesses scheduled to submit GSTR-1 had filed the final sales returns. GST Network (GSTN), the IT backbone for the new indirect tax regime, has sent reminder SMSes and emails twice to the businesses which have not filed their GSTR-1.

According to estimates by GSTN, most of the non-filers fall under the 'nil' tax category. The finance ministry had yesterday nudged taxpayers to file GSTR-1 by October 10.

Once a taxpayer files GSTR-1, the corresponding entries in GSTR-2A of his buyer shall get auto populated. The buyer shall finalise his GSTR-2 after making modifications, if required, in GSTR-2A and avail the Input Tax Credit (ITC).

"If a taxpayer does not file GSTR-1 by October 10, then his buyer may face difficulty in availing ITC of the tax paid on his supplies," the ministry had said. About 5.3 million taxpayers had filed GSTR-3B return for the month of July 2017.

The same number of taxpayers need to file GSTR-1 by tonight. The government has already collected over Rs 95,000 crore as GST in July, the first month of the rollout of the Goods and Services Tax.