Taxpayers have to file only one return under GST: Revenue Secy

The fear that three returns in a month and one annual return under the proposed Goods and Services Tax (GST) would make the whole process very cumbersome and compliance-heavy is unfounded and exaggerated, said Revenue Secretary Hasmukh Adhia in an interaction with media here today.

Explaining how filing returns would not be as cumbersome as it is made out to be, Adhia said that when a supplier uploads details of the sales invoices generated in the GST system, and files GST Return-I, the details from the suppliers GSTR-I automatically gets updated in the GST Return II (GSTR-II) of the purchaser. All the recipient needs to do is amend or modify and file the GSTR-II by 15th of every month.

By 17th of the month both the supplier and the recipient would have to reconcile the invoice details and file the third return (GSTR-III) by 20th of the month.

"So what looks like three returns in a month is effectively just one return, and the other two are taken care of with little efforts of the assessee," says Adhia.

Under the GST, all registered taxable entities have to file three monthly returns and one annual return (see Table). The first return is for all the sales made by the taxpayer,  the second one is for the purchases and the third monthly return is a composite return of all sales and purchases. So, in a year a total 37 returns have to be filed by assessees.

Tax experts and businesses have expressed their concern that three returns in a month would mean a huge compliance burden on taxpayers especially for small traders and SMEs.