Perfecting Taxation? Government May Delay Rollout Of GST Returns System To Fine-Tune The Architecture

Government may postpone the rollout of a new simplified returns system under the Goods and Services Tax (GST) framework, The Hindu BusinessLine has reported.

“This will have to be a decision by the GST Council. But given that businesses have struggled significantly with GST returns in the past, it may not be right to upset them, with State elections and more importantly, general elections just around the corner,” sources told The Hindu BusinessLine.

However, certain officials of the government have maintained that the work on the new system is on schedule and is expected to be rolled as per previous plans.

Under the new architecture, all taxpayers, barring few exceptions, will need to file only monthly returns and input tax credit will be calculated automatically by the system based on invoices uploaded by his sellers. Also, invoices will be uploaded unidirectionally, from the seller to the buyer.

It was earlier reported that though the government was in favour of introducing the new system in January 2019, officials have asked for more time to fine-tune the architecture and conduct tests so that technical errors could be prevented.

Also Read: A Year On, GST Remains India’s Biggest Tax Reform