DNA Money Edit: Simplified GST filing is need of the hour

If people faced initial hiccups in filing goods and services tax (GST), the government's continuous efforts to make it less cumbersome have been indeed laudable. Quite a few changes brought in by the government ever since it debuted on July 1 and branded GST as 'work-in-progress', the constant interference by the government surely eased the hardships faced by many tax payers. The latest move to constitute a 10-member committee under GSTN chairman to simplify the tax-filing process is another effort in the right direction.

The committee, which counts tax commissioners from various states as members, will also suggest modifications in rules and the format. The simplified route is primarily to help nil filers, who have no sale/purchase transactions, but have taken a registration for some future use. The committee will devise ways to help them file GSTR1 and GSTR-3B by pressing just a few buttons. This will help a huge number of filers as 40% of the businesses filing returns on GSTN portal have nil tax liability.

The move to simplify the procedure comes at a time when GSTN has reported a sudden jump in people filing initial sales return of GSTR-3B. As many as 4.3 million businesses (56% of the registered taxpayers) have filed returns for the month of October making it the highest filing within the due date as the deadline for GSTR-3B filing ended on October 20.