Ahead of deadline, GST filing website faces technical glitch

Just one day left to file first Goods and Service Tax (GST) return form. The last day to submit the return is August 20.

Ahead of the deadline, GST filing official website faced technical glitch, creating confusion among the traders. 

The confusion among traders rose further, after the government extended the deadline for filing from GSTR-3B to August 28 from August 20. 

What needs to be noted here is, this extension of deadline to August 28, is only for those taxpayers who wants to use the opening balance of pre-GST in the current month. However, for those taxpayers who do not have any credit, the deadline will be August 20.

If media reports to be believed, the official website stopped working since noon 12 pm today. A notice on the GST site, however, stated: "The services will not be available from August 19, 2 p.m. to 2.45 p.m. Do come back later." 

Soon, the website rolled out a ticker, on its website stating, "GSTR-3B Return is now available on the Portal. GSTR-3B is not to be filed by Composition Taxpayers. We are experiencing slowness and are working to improve the response. Please bear with us."

The government took the decision to extend the deadline, after concerns were raised about the non-availability of the "Form" for claim of the transitional input tax credit on the GSTN website. 

According to Ministry of Finance, the "Form" will be made available on the GSTN website from August 21, 2017.

"In view of this, a small window of opportunity is being given to all the taxpayers... taxpayers who want to avail the transitional input tax credit should also calculate their tax liability after estimating the amount of transitional credit as per Form TRANS I," the ministry said in a statement.

If you are still thinking, what is GSTR-3B is, then we tell you. Form GSTR-3B needs to be filed by a taxable person under GST for submitting the provisional assessment of the tax liability. Each manufacturer, trader, service provider who is liable to register under GST has to complete a self-assessment of his taxes and has to file form GSTR-3B.

Filing GSTR-3B is mandatory. Even if a business has no transactions during July, it will still have to file nil return. If you do not file by August 20, you will be liable to pay interest and a late fee. Interest is 18% per annum.

GST-3B includes a full detail of the tax under different heads CGST, SGST, UTGST, IGST and cess for the transactions which were taxable due to reverse charge.

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