GST council to meet, will it ease processes?

Businessmen and tax practitioners expect simplification of processes and filing of returns from the GST Council Meeting that will begin on Friday. Players say that the issue of GST portal not being functional is still a bottleneck. Tax practitioners have suggested alternative models and the Council is also coming up with new models for filings.

“The mismatch of sales and purchase invoices is the real bottleneck. It is still not happening. As a result, refunds are getting delayed. We have suggested a single return for sales and purchases,” said Varis Isani, president of Gujarat Sales Tax Bar Association. At present GSTR-1 is filed for sales while GSTR-3B is filed for the summary of sales and purchases but purchases are not getting verified.

“The process will bring to notice any mismatch and getting Input Tax Credit would be easier,” said Isani, adding that it would be wrong to deprive the buyer of tax refund if the seller has not deposited it with the government.

TAKING STOCK

The GST authorities met businessmen and tax experts to bring a simplification, as a part of which a single return for sales and purchases has been suggested.