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GST Annual Return NOT Required

The GST Council in its 37^th meeting announced that GST annual return is not required for small businesses with a turnover of less than Rs. 2 crores. The relaxation is applicable for financial years 2017-18 and 2018-19. Filing of GSTR-9 for taxpayers whose aggregate turnover does not exceed Rs. 2 crore is not mandatory for financial years 2017-2018 and 2018-19.

The latest notification is provided below:

GST Return for business less than 2 crore

 

Implications of The Waiver

The waiver on the annual return compliance will offer a form of aid to small businesses that are affected by the economic slowdown. It also offers relief to businesses that did not maintain proper financial details needed for GST filing for FY 2017-18 and 2018-19.

To encourage taxpayers to file their statements in time, restrictions have been placed on input tax credit availment if details on outgoing supplies are not furnished. All outgoing supplies need to be detailed as per the CGST Act of 2017 under section 37. All details of outward supplies need to be furnished for the period starting October 2019–March 2020 when filing GST for the financial year 2019-2020. All of the guidelines laid down to GST taxpayers are also applicable for SGST filing for the states of Ladakh and Jammu & Kashmir as well who have been added to the GST regime.

Simplification of Forms for Reconciliation Statement and Annual Returns

A committee has been set up to simplify the GST reconciliation statement and Annual Returns forms. The compliance burden on taxpayers makes filing GSTR-9 and GSTR-9A difficult. Further simplification of the forms will help reduce compliance costs.

Multiple reconciliations have proven to be difficult for businesses with each reconciliation statement being time-consuming and complex. To aid taxpayers, the GST Council is also extending the last date for the filing of appeals. With Appellate Tribunals not being functional as of now, the last date has been extended indefinitely.

Improvements to The Return System Delayed

A new returns system that was scheduled to be introduced in October 2019 has been delayed to April 2020 instead. This is to allow taxpayers more time to adapt to the new system and furnish all necessary details required in GSTR-3B.

Crackdown on Fake Invoices

Risky taxpayers will be taken action against to crack down on business owners that create fake invoices to get fraudulent refunds.

Registration of Aadhar

All GST Taxpayers are required to link their Aadhar details to claim refunds going forward. All pending refunds will be put on hold if your 12-digit Aadhar number is not registered.