GST Council meet today: SMEs, small traders likely to get relief in filing tax returns

The GST Coundil meeting will take place today in which exporters are likely to be given some relief in terms of faster refunds and compliance.

In the 22nd meeting of the Goods and Services Tax Council, ways in which the GST Network's functioning can be improved will be discussed, officials said.

Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) are likely to get relief in filing GST returns in the Goods and Services Tax Council meeting. The filing of GST returns for SMEs may be on a quarterly basis. The GST rates could also come down for small traders and exporters. Announcement on relaxation of compliance rules is also likely. According to sources, compliance rules may be deferred till March, 2018.

The Finance Ministry is learnt to have held several rounds of talks with exporters and the government is likely to ease levies to boost exports. The announcement on relief for exporters is likely to be made at 6 pm.

Officials in the ministry said that the Group of Ministers under Sushil Modi, set up to look into Goods and Services Tax Network (GSTN) glitches, will also brief the Council on the portal's functioning.

With over 33 lakh businesses filing the final GSTR-1 return, the GoM has tasked GSTN to send reminder text messages to the remaining 20 lakh businesses which are yet to submit the tax forms.

The last date for filing of final sales returns for July in GSTR-1 form is October 10, while the date for uploading of purchase returns in GSTR-2 is October 31.

The final GSTR-3, matching GSTR-1 and 2, is to be filed by November 10.

In its meeting on Wednesday, the GoM had asked GSTN and Infosys to brace up for handling the rush of last-minute filers.

Besides, the committee set up under Revenue Secretary Hasmukh Adhia on issues faced by exporters is likely to submit its preliminary report to the Council today.

GST COUNCIL LIKELY TO RECOMMEND RELAXATION FOR EXPORTERS

Based on that, the Council is likely to recommend some relaxation for exporters so that their working capital, which is locked up in refunds, is released, officials said.

Moreover, the apex indirect tax body CBEC will inform the Council that it is ready to release Integrated GST (IGST) refunds to exporters from October 10.

In a meeting with the revenue secretary last month, exporters had said that an estimated Rs 65,000 crore is locked up in GST refunds.

Officials also said that easy compliance for exporters, like quarterly filing of returns instead of monthly filing, is likely to be discussed by the Council.

The government has already allowed exporters to furnish Letter of Undertaking (LUT) instead of bonds at the time of exports, which will ease the compliance burden and stop locking up of capital.

(WITH INPUTS FROM PTI)

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