Even as the GST Network, the IT support for the goods and services tax (GST), is blamed for the extension of the last date for payment of the GST for the month of July 2017 to from 20 August to 25 August, 2017, GSTN chairman Navin Kumar has said that the government collected Rs 16,000 crore revenue on 19 August alone, the same day when taxpayers reported a technical glitch in the system.
Kumar said that the technical fault was reported around 2:00 pm on Saturday, 19 August, but it was fixed in half an hour. "Some people were finding problems in logging in, however, this was not the reason due to which the date has been extended," says Navin Kumar.
He says that the main issue is that very few people have filed their returns till 20 August and that's why the date has been extended. According to Kumar, only 10 lakh out of the 60 lakh eligible taxpayers have filed returns till now. So far the government has collected Rs 42,000 crore as revenue for the month of July.
The government had on 19 August decided to extend the last day for filing of returns and payment of taxes. In the press release issued by the finance ministry, it said: "Since it is the first return to be filed under GST, the tax payers and the tax practitioners have requested for few more days to file their return. Also there have been requests from states, which are hit with floods to extend the last date for filing of GST returns. The State of Jammu & Kashmir has also requested for extension of time because of late passing of their GST ordinance. Some technical glitches are also experienced by last minute return filers."
However, tax experts said that the extension was due to problems in GSTN due to last minute rush.
Abhishek Jain, Tax Partner, EY, says "Due to the last minute GST Return filing rush, the GSTN developed some technical snag because of which the taxpayers were not able to pay tax and file their returns. The government to resolve the issue has appropriately extended the August 20 deadline to August 25."
Navin Kumar, however, says that the issue of technical glitch has been blown out of proportion.
Dipak Mondal Last Updated: August 21, 2017 | 13:34 IST 
