The much awaited Simplified forms are soon be implemented under GST. The government on 4th December, 2018 (i.e. on Tuesday) announced that the new and simplified Goods and Services Tax (GST) return forms will roll-out from April 1. To ease the filing process, the GST Council this year agreed to launch new forms with simplified steps to file indirect tax returns.
The newly-appointed Revenue Secretary Ajay Bhushan Pandey, also the CEO of UIDAI, said that the government is targeting April 1 for the roll-out of new GST return forms. Until the new forms are roll-out, businesses will be required to continue filing GSTR-1 and GSTR-3B.
Under the new GST form design, columns asking questions, which many small taxpayers found difficult, have been done away with. The new forms will work on the concept of Upload-Lock-Pay.
Here’s how the system will work:
- New return to contain two main tables – One for reporting outward supplies and one for availing Input Tax Credit (ITC)
- ITC would be based on invoice uploaded by the supplier
- Invoices can be uploaded continuously by the seller and can be continuously viewed and locked by the buyer
- Optional facility of filing quarterly returns in forms ‘Sahaj’ (only B2C supply) and ‘Sugam’ (B2C + B2B supply) for small taxpayers having turnover below Rs 50 million
In July’18, the GST council approved the new and simplified returns filing format. In September’18, GST Network (GSTN) asked software vendor Infosys to design new forms for filing returns by traders.