The biggest weak link in regard to GST is generally stated to be the GST portal due to which the taxpayers face lot of problems / issues. In this regard the GSTN is continuously working for making the portal taxpayer friendly and in recent past several new features have been provided in the GST portal for ease of taxpayers.
Further several steps have been taken by Government for benefit of tax payers like launch of QRMP Scheme etc which have also been incorporated in the GST portal. Further restraints will be introduced in the portal by which GSTR-3B defaulters cannot file GSTR-1 or use IFF.
Lets discuss each of the recent facilities / restraints provided on the GST Portal:
1. GSTR-3B defaulters cannot file GSTR-1 / use IFF facility
On the first day of the new year, 2021 a lone GST notification has been issued mandating that GSTR-3B defaulters cannot file GSTR-1 or use IFF facility (in case QRMP Scheme has been opted for).
The Notification we are talking about is Notification No. 01/2021–Central Tax dated 01-01-2021 (Central Goods and Services Tax (Amendment) Rules, 2021) which has inserted sub-rule (6) in Rule 59 of the CGST Rules, 2017.
As per said Notification , the GSTR-3B defaulters for two months shall not be allowed to furnish the details of outward supplies of goods or services or both in FORM GSTR-1.
Also, GSTR-3B defaulter for preceding quarter will not be allowed to furnish the quarterly FORM GSTR-1 or use the invoice furnishing facility (under QRMP Scheme). The above amendment is effective from 1st January, 2021 and necessary incorporation of this restriction will be made on the portal.
For further details Click Here
2. New Auto drafted ITC Statement in Form GSTR 2B
GSTR-2B was a new static month-wise auto-drafted ITC statement for regular taxpayers introduced on the GST portal. The statement was launched from the tax period August 2020.
In order to provide legal sanction to Form GSTR-2B amendment has been made in the CGST Rules, 2017 vide Notification No. 82/2020–Central Tax dated 10-11-2020 wherein interalia Rule 60 of the CGST Rules, 2017 has been substituted. As per sub-rule (7) and (8) of substituted Rule 60, legal backing has been provided to Form GSTR-2B.
FORM GSTR-2B is a static statement which has been generated on 12th of next month on the basis of the information furnished by your suppliers in their respective FORMS GSTR-1,5 and 6. It is a static statement and will be made available once a month. The documents filed by the supplier in any FORMS GSTR-1,5 and 6 would reflect in the next open FORM GSTR-2B of the recipient irrespective of supplier’s date of filing.
Taxpayers are advised to refer FORM GSTR-2B for availing credit in FORM GSTR-3B. However, in case for additional details, they may refer to their respective FORM GSTR-2A (which is updated on near real time basis) for more details. The auto populated GSTR-3B is also based on GSTR-2B.
For further details of Form GSTR-2B please Click Here
3. Auto Population of Form GSTR 3B on GST Portal
GSTN has introduced a facility to auto-populate system computed details in Form GSTR-3B for taxpayers (filing their Form GSTR-1 on monthly basis), from November 2020 Tax Period onwards. The mechanism of such auto population shall be as under:
1. Liabilities in Tables-3.1 & 3.2 of Form GSTR-3B (except Table-3.1 (d) pertaining to inward supplies liable to reverse charge), are computed by the system on the basis of details of outward supplies as filed in Form GSTR-1 for the tax period.
2. Input Tax Credit (ITC) details and details of inward supplies liable to reverse charge, to be reported in Tables-4 and 3.1 (d) respectively, are computed as per system generated Form GSTR-2B for the tax period
It may be noted that the values are auto-populated in GSTR-3B for the assistance of taxpayers. However, taxpayers have to ensure the correctness of the values being reported and filed in GSTR-3B in all respects. Consequently, the auto-populated values can be edited by the taxpayers, if required. However if you are entering values which are more than 10% of the values in the system generated GSTR 3B, then you will get messages saying, so and even those tables will get red coloured. Although, CBIC has clarified that, taxpayer should ignore the message, about RCM. If one has entered RCM liability more than 10% as system generated, then they have to ignore such message, and declare actual RCM liability.
Thus, the taxpayers may continue their filing with the edited values, and system will not restrict the same.
It is pertinent to mention here that if the taxpayer has entered & saved any values in GSTR-3B before auto-population by the system, the saved values will not be changed/over-written by the system.
4. Quarterly Return and Monthly Payment (QRMP) Scheme
As a trade facilitation measure and in order to further ease the process of doing business, the GST Council in its 42nd meeting held on 05.10.2020, had recommended that registered person having aggregate turnover up to Rs 5 crore may be allowed quarterly filing of GSTR-3B along with monthly payment of tax, with effect from 01.01.2021.
In line with the Government has issued notifications to implement the Scheme of quarterly return filing along with monthly payment of taxes (referred to as “QRMP Scheme”). Under the Scheme the taxpayer is required to make payment of GST on monthly basis , however he can file GSTR 1 and GSTR 3B on quarterly basis. Also, facility of IFF, have been made available to taxpayers under QRMP Scheme through which they can upload B2B invoices before actual filing of GSTR-1 and GSTR-3B.
The mechanism of opting for / opting out of QRMP Scheme and other features have been activated on the GST Portal.
For further details on QRMP Scheme Click Here
5. Filing of Annual Return for Financial Year 2019-20 activated on GST Portal
The due date of filing of Annual Return for FY 2019-20 has recently been extended till 28th February, 2020. The facility of filing GSTR-9 / 9-C has been activated on the GST portal.
It may be noted that Form GSTR 9 is annual return required to be filed by every Registered person other than an Input Service Distributor, a person paying tax under section 51 (TDS) or section 52 (TCS), a casual taxable person and a non-resident taxable person.
Form GSTR 9C is a statement of reconciliation of the Annual Returns in GSTR-9 filed for a Financial Year with the figures as per the audited annual Financial Statements of the taxpayer. It also includes Audit Certificate of a Chartered Accountant / Cost Accountant.
Offline Utility of GSTR-9C for the FY 2019-20 is also now available on GST Portal. In order to generate GSTR-9 C offline utility go to Downloads, click on Offline Tools then click on GSTR9C Offline Tool and click download.
The excel based GSTR-9C offline utility is designed to help the taxpayer to prepare the GSTR-9C return offline. The utility can be downloaded from this link. Download
6. Facility of auto-population of details from e-invoices into GSTR-1.
Certain notified taxpayers have been issuing invoices after obtaining Invoice Reference Number (IRN) from Invoice Registration Portal (IRP) (commonly referred as ‘e-invoices’). Details from such e-invoices shall be auto-populated in respective tables of GSTR-1. Update on the status of such auto-population was last published on 30/11/2020.
For those taxpayers who had started e-invoicing from 1-10-2020, the auto-population of e-invoice data into GSTR-1 (of December 2020) had started from December 3rd, 2020.
For further details on auto-population Click Here
7. Annual aggregate turnover of preceding financial year can be checked from the GST portal
The status showing annual aggregate turnover (PAN wise) of preceding financial year of all GSTINs of a taxpayer was made live on by Goods and Service Tax Network (GSTN) on the GST portal in November, 2020.
However the portal is not showing the exact figures of annual aggregate turnover and showing the status whether it is up to 5 crores or more than 5 crores. It may be noted that the limit of aggregate turnover Rs 5 crore is very important for determining the due date of furnishing of GSTR-3B, eligibility to the newly introduced quarterly return and monthly payment scheme etc.
The aggregate turnover appearing on the website would be used for certain validations in the GSTN system such as determining the due date of returns, computing the late fees, etc. In case of any discrepancies in aggregate turnover, the taxpayer may report the same to the grievance redressal system of the GST portal.
For ready reference of our readers the relevant screenshots are as under for reference purposes.
8. New Facility of “Communication between Taxpayers” provided on GST Portal
A facility of ‘Communication Between Taxpayers’ has been provided on the GST Portal, for sending a notification by recipient (or supplier) taxpayers to their supplier (or recipient) taxpayers, regarding missing documents or any shortcomings in the documents or any other issue related to it. This facility is available to all registered persons, except those registered as TDS, TCS or NRTP.
For reading FAQs and Manual on Communication between Recipient and Supplier Taxpayers Click Here
9. Un-blocking of E-Way Bill (EWB) generation facility by Online filing of application
GSTN has today communicated on its portal that taxpayers can now file an application online for unblocking of their EWB generation facility (in Form EWB-05), in case their EWB generation facility has been blocked on the EWB Portal due to non filing of GST returns.
For ready reference of our readers the advisory issued by GSTN is given below:
- In terms of Rule 138E (a) and (b) of the CGST Rules, 2017, the E-Way Bill (EWB) generation facility of a taxpayer is to be blocked, in case the taxpayer fails to file their returns in Form GSTR-3B or Statement in Form CMP-08, for two or more consecutive tax periods. For unblocking of this facility, taxpayer need to apply to jurisdictional Tax Official in Form GST EWB 05.
- A facility has now been provided to the taxpayers on the GST Portal, from 28th November, 2020 onwards, to file an application online for unblocking of their EWB generation facility (in Form EWB-05), in case their EWB generation facility has been blocked on the EWB Portal.
Note: So far taxpayers were applying to tax officials vide manual application, for unblocking of their EWB generation facility and tax officials were issuing orders online on GST Portal, in Form GST EWB 06. Now this facility is being discontinued. - To file an online application for unblocking EWB generation facility on GST Portal, a taxpayer need to:
- The application so filed is populated to dashboard of jurisdictional tax official. The tax official can issue a Notice for personal hearing to the taxpayer. Then the taxpayer can file their reply to the notice online, along with supporting documents.
- At conclusion of the proceedings, the Tax Officer can issue an order (in Form EWB-06) approving the taxpayer application for unblocking the EWB generation facility. After which their EWB generation facility will be restored for the duration specified in the order.
- If the Tax Officer rejects the taxpayer’s application vide order in Form EWB-06, the EWB generation facility will remain blocked and the taxpayer shall be required to file their pending returns (in Form GSTR-3B / Statement in FORM CMP-08, so as to reduce the pendency to less than two tax periods), for restoration of the EWB generation facility.
- Notice(s)/ Order issued by Tax Officer will be sent via SMS and mail to taxpayer and will be made available on the taxpayer dashboard (Services > User Services > View Additional Notices/Orders option).
- Click here for details – https://tutorial.gst.gov.in/userguide/returns/index.htm#t=Manual_ewaybill.htm
Also Read: FAQs on Blocking and Unblocking of E-way bill generation facility in EWB Portal
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Frah Saeed is a law graduate specializing in the core field of indirect taxes and is the Co-founder of taxwallah.com. She has authored many publications on GST and is into full-time consultancy on GST to big corporates. She as a part of taxwallah.com heads a team comprising of Chartered Accountants and Advocates and plays a key role in our mission to disseminate GST knowledge to all.
