Filing GST monthly return will be easier from this month for over one crore assessees, as the GSTN (GST Network or the IT backbone of the indirect tax system) has deployed two major functionalities.

There are over 1.20 crore assessees, of which 17 lakh have opted for the Composition Scheme and have to file return on a quarterly basis.

The remaining 1.03 crore assessees need to file form GSTR 3B on a monthly basis, which will indicate how much tax has actually been paid after deducting input tax credit (ITC). There have been some issues on calculation of ITC availability and tax calculation, which lead to disputes and tax evasion. Now, GSTN says the system will compute liability and ITC availability for the filer. For the computation of liability, just after filing the monthly GSTR-1 the outward supply statement — the system will compute liabilities along with the break-up and make it available as a PDF document on the GSTR-3B dashboard of the taxpayer.

This data can be used for filing GSTR-3B from August 2020 after reconciliation. The facility is currently available for monthly GSTR-1 filers. For those filing GSTR-1on a quarterly basis, this functionality will be available in the next few months.

Big edge

The systems will auto-draft the ITC statement — it will auto-generate the invoice-wise ITC statement based on information furnished by the suppliers of the taxpayer. It essentially means the taxpayer will know how much ITC is available for the month. A new form GSTR-2B has been launched for this purpose which is, unlike GSTR-2A, a static statement and will be made available for each month on the 12th day of the succeeding month.

The linking of returns is expected to give GSTN a big edge in curbing under-reporting of liability and over-reporting of ITC which has been a major concern for the government. Data from these statements will automatically flow into GSTR-3B. In other words, GSTN will auto-populate the GSTR-3B returns of the taxpayers.

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