GST Council to meet today to discuss simplified GST return filing process

New Delhi, May 4 (KNN) The 27th GST Council meeting to discuss the issues related to simplified return filing process will be held today through video conferencing.

The meeting will likely bring the comprehensive changes in the return filing process in order to make it simpler.

Through this video conferencing, Finance Minister Arun Jaitely along with other Finance Ministers of State would mull over the proposal of converting GSTN into a government company by buying the stakes of private entities.

Presently, 5 private financial institutions- HDFC Ltd, HDFC Bank Ltd, ICICI Bank Ltd, NSE Strategic Investment Co and LIC Housing Finance Ltd, together holds 51% stake in GSTN.

In today’s meeting, the council will finalize one model out of the 3 new models of the return filing process as proposed by the Sushil Modi-led Group of Ministers.

One of the models presented before the Council was that provisional credit should not be granted unless the taxpayers file returns and pay taxes.

The second model stated that provisional credit could be granted to a taxpayer, but returns have to be filed within 3-4 months and taxes have to be paid or else the credit amount would be reversed. 

After consulting the stakeholders, the GoM earlier this month worked out a third model for return filing as per which credit could be extended once the invoice uploaded by the supplier is verified by the purchaser on the GSTN portal.

The Council is widely expected to agree to one of them, which is likely to closely mirror the return filing process under the erstwhile VAT system. This would mean filing only one return every month compared to three every month under the current GST process. 

Apart from that, it is also expected that the GST council may clear the imposition of 5% sugar cess, which if approved by the Council will in all probability come through a new Act of Parliament in the next session since the GST Act has no provision for cess. (KNN/YV)