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Around 43 Lakh Taxpayers File GSTR-1 Returns For July

Around 66% of all eligible taxpayers filed final Goods and Services Tax returns for July



A worker holds his goods and services tax (GST) papers in his store at a wholesale market in the Old Delhi area of Delhi, India. (Photographer: Anindito Mukherjee/Bloomberg)
A worker holds his goods and services tax (GST) papers in his store at a wholesale market in the Old Delhi area of Delhi, India. (Photographer: Anindito Mukherjee/Bloomberg)

Around 66 percent of all eligible taxpayers filed final Goods and Services Tax returns for July so far with the deadline set to end at midnight tonight.

Forty-three lakh entities of the eligible 65 lakh taxpayers filed GSTR-1 returns for for the first month of GST implementation as of 6 pm today, a government official told BloombergQuint.

The deadline to file GSTR-1 has been extended twice, first from September 5 to September 10 due to technical issues with the Goods and Services Tax Network portal, and later to October 10 at the 21st meeting of the GST Council.

More taxpayers are expected to file returns today and after the deadline, the official quoted above said.

“The number of GSTR 1 returns are much lower than what one would have expected, particularly because this forms the basis for the purchaser to claim input credit,” Pratik Jain, partner and leader of indirect tax at PwC said in an emailed statement.

It is possible that many dealers who have the GST registration have nil turnover and hence have not filed the return. Government will have to investigate the reasons for low level of compliance and take corrective steps.
Pratik Jain, Partner and Leader-Indirect Tax, PwC

On Monday, the finance ministry had appealed to taxpayers to file their GSTR-1 returns on time, warning there will be no further extension in the deadline. “It is therefore advised that all suppliers of goods or services, especially B2B suppliers, furnish their outward supply details in GSTR-1 by the due date so that no difficulty is faced by their buyers in availing ITC and the return cycle can be completed in due course,” a press release from the finance ministry said.

GSTR-1 return has all sales transactions of a registered dealer for a month.

After a taxpayer files GSTR-1, the information is used to auto populate GSTR-3 for dealers and GSTR-2A for dealers to whom supplies have been made.



Pedestrians walk past stores at a wholesale market in the Old Delhi area of Delhi, India. (Photographer: Anindito Mukherjee/Bloomberg)
Pedestrians walk past stores at a wholesale market in the Old Delhi area of Delhi, India. (Photographer: Anindito Mukherjee/Bloomberg)

About 38.38 lakh taxpayers had filed summarised returns (GSTR-3B ) for July as collected on August 29, while 37.63 lakh taxpayers had filed returns for August as on September 25. The government collected Rs 94,063 crore in July as on August 31, and Rs 90,669 crore in August as on September 25.

In its October 6 meeting, the GST Council had approved quarterly filing of returns for small taxpayers with turnover up to Rs 1.5 crore. These taxpayers till have to file GSTR-1, GSTR-2 and GSTR-3 returns till September.

Considering the government’s stringent compliance norms, all eligible taxpayers should have filed GSTR-1 returns as on today, Biren Vyas, indirect tax partner at Grant Thronton LLP told BloombergQuint.

“Teething problems relating to uploading of GST returns are still continuing, hence taxpayers might not have been able to upload their returns. Revision of data saved on GSTN also takes about one day, and this could be another for delay in the process of filing GSTR-1,” Vyas added.

Those taxpayers who have missed filing their GSTR-1 returns will now have to wait till October 31 since during this time GSTR-2 filing would be open and GSTR-1 filing would remain suspended, Abhishek Jain, indirect tax partner at EY India said.

(Adds comments from PwC.)