Skip to main content

File GST returns on time and plan your vacation, says Adhia

File GST returns on time and plan your vacation, says Adhia
Revenue Secretary Hasmukh Adhia at the Business Standard GST Round Table 2017 in New Delhi on Wednesday

The days of leniency may be numbered in the good and services tax (GST) regime. Cautioning industry against incomplete and late filing of the GST returns, Revenue Secretary Hasmukh Adhia on Wednesday said, “Right now, we are not touching you. But the tax authorities will find out, and then you will be subject to penalties.”

In his keynote address at the Business Standard GST Round Table, Adhia asked an estimated 1.1 million entities with incomplete registrations to finish the process on the GST Network without waiting for another extension in the date for filing returns, so that they don’t come under the tax scanner and face penalty.

Ruling out any further extension in the date for filing returns, the revenue secretary elaborated on the success of the biggest indirect tax reform. Around 74 per cent of the fully migrated, or 4.4 million entities, have filed the summary form GSTR 3B, a significant improvement from 64 per cent, or 3.8 million entities, who filed by August 25 — the last date of filing without late fees. “The revenue for July is trickling in. At least ~2,500-crore more has come in since August 25 for July, taking the revenue for the month to approximately ~95,000 crore,” he said.

On a witty note, Adhia narrated instances of late filings and subsequent complaints. “Does God tell you to finish work on the last day?” was his response to an unusual SMS he got.

An upset tax professional texted him that he was unable to spend time with Lord Ganesha on the festival day (August 25) as he was busy in office filing returns on the last day.

Again, someone messaged Adhia that frequent changes in timeline of return filing were spoiling his Diwali vacation. ‘’My answer is, why don’t you file on time and plan your vacation.” He was clearly sending across a message to the industry — don’t put off filing returns till the last day.

The 1.1-million people, Adhia referred to, have filled Part A of the GST Network registration form, but not Part B.

It is mandatory for those with an annual turnover of Rs 20 lakh to register with the GSTN.

On the industry demand for further extension of date to file returns, Adhia said that unfortunately there was a tendency to postpone work till the last day. “If the last day of filing is August 25, why don’t you file your returns by August 21?” he asked.

On September 4, a day before the earlier deadline for filing GSTR 1, the traffic on the GSTN website peaked to 80,000 users an hour, Adhia pointed out. Soon the portal erroneously sent out the message that it was not accepting returns, prompting the government to extend the deadline to September 10. “The problem is too many people try to file returns on the last date, despite an extension. You should be filing returns on time. My suggestion is, do not panic. Do not wait for the last day. There are still four days to go for GSTR 1 filing,” he said.

On the problems faced by people with registrations, the revenue secretary said that the government is willing to do a course correction for that.

Adhia reinforced that it is mandatory to file even nil returns if one is registered under the GSTN, but has no income to show. Otherwise, a late fee will be charged.

On the refunds claimed by entities for the pre-GST period for service tax and excise duty paid though the TRAN 1 form, the revenue secretary said, “We are still evaluating the number, but it seems to be too large.”

Adhia said that there’s been a 30 per cent expansion in the tax net through the GST, with textiles coming into the fold for the first time. “We brought a lot of new businesses into the tax net. Around 2.1 million new registered people are with us today. We have got 60 million private enterprises, below the ~20-lakh exemption threshold,” he said.

Adhia urged manufacturers to ask their respective state governments to lower the value-added tax (VAT) burden on petroleum products used for manufacturing, so that there’s minimum disruption in the price of goods which are out of the GST net. “In an earlier GST Council meeting, we had urged states to consider lowering VAT. The industry should also urge the respective state governments to do that. In fact, the Centre has always wanted to include petroleum in the GST net,” Adhia added.

In the pre-GST regime, as both petroleum products and final goods attracted VAT, the input tax credit of petroleum products was allowed by different states. However, after the rollout of the tax reform, the manufactured goods attract GST, while the inputs of petroleum products used in the manufacturing attract VAT, resulting in cascading of taxes.

Before GST, some states had a lower rate of 5 per cent VAT on compressed natural gas used for manufacturing of goods. Some states also had a lower rate of VAT on diesel being used for the manufacturing sector.

The Business Standard, New Delhi, 07th September 2017

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Budget: Startup sector gets new Fund of Funds, FM to allocate Rs 10K cr

  The Indian startup sector received a boost with Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announcing the establishment of a new fund of funds (FoF) in the Budget 2025. The minister unveiled a fresh FoF with an expanded scope, allocating Rs 10,000 crore. The initial fund of funds announced by the government with an investment of Rs 10,000 crore successfully catalysed commitments worth Rs 91,000 crore, the minister said.   “The renewal of the Rs 10,000 crore commitment to the Fund of Funds for alternative investment funds (AIFs) is a significant step forward for the Indian startup and investment ecosystem. The initial Rs 10,000 crore commitment catalysed Rs 91,000 crore in investments, and I fully expect this fresh infusion to attract an additional Rs 1 lakh to Rs 1.5 lakh crore in capital,” said Anirudh Damani, managing partner, Artha Venture Funds.   Damani further added that this initiative will provide much-needed growth capital to early-stage startups, further strengthenin...

After RBI rate cut, check latest home loan interest rates of top banks for loans above Rs 75 lakh

  The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has reduced the repo rate by 25 basis points from 6.50% to 6.25% in its monetary policy review as announced on February 7, 2025. After the RBI repo rate cut, banks such as SBI, Canara Bank, PNB, and Union Bank among others have cut their repo linked lending rates. Most other banks are also expected to cut their lending rates in line with the RBI rate cut. After banks cut their lending rates, their home loan borrowers will have to pay less interest. Normally, when a lender cuts the lending rate, borrowers get two options: Either to go for a reduction in EMIs or reduce the tenure of the loan. The second option will help the borrowers clear their home loan outstanding faster. In case, the borrower goes for reduction in EMI then the lower lending rate of the lender would mean lower Equated Monthly Installment (EMI) for borrowers.   EMI is the amount you will pay on a specific date each month till the loan is repaid in full.A repo rate-linked home ...

GST collections rise 9.9% to exceed Rs 1.96 trillion in March 2025

  Gross GST collection in March grew 9.9 per cent to over Rs 1.96 lakh crore, government data showed on Tuesday. GST revenue from domestic transactions rose 8.8 per cent to Rs 1.49 lakh crore, while revenue from imported goods was higher 13.56 per cent to Rs 46,919 crore. Total refunds during March rose 41 per cent to Rs 19,615 crore. After adjusting refunds, net GST revenue stood at over Rs 1.76 lakh crore in March 2025, a 7.3 per cent growth over the year-ago period.       - Business Standard 02 th March, 2025