The New Return System proposed under Goods and Services Tax (GST) was implemented on trial basis from 1st July, 2019 with 1st October, 2019 being date when the same would be mandated for all taxpayers in phased manner. But, the GST Council in its 37th Meeting held on 20th September, 2019 in Goa decided to extend implementation further and kick start the New Return System from the beginning of the financial year 2020-21 i.e. 1st April, 2020. But, in the 39th GST Council Meeting held on 14th March, 2020, New Delhi, it was decided to continue with the existing system of return filing till September, 2020.
Old Vs New
In the present scenario the registered persons, normally, are required to file Form GSTR-1 (Return of outward supplies) as per section 37 of the CGST Act, 2017, Form GSTR-2 (Return of inward supplies) as per section 38 of the CGST Act, 2017 and Form GSTR-3 (Consolidated/ Summary Return) as per section 39 of the CGST Act, 2017 but the returns Form GSTR-2 and Form GSTR-3 was suspended by the Government and the summary return in form of Form GSTR-3B was introduced under Rule 61(5) of the Central Goods and Services Tax Rules, 2017 (“CGST Rules”) in their place. So, currently registered persons are required to file monthly GSTR-3B by the 20th of the succeeding month and monthly/quarterly GSTR-1 depending on the turnover threshold of Rs.1.5 crore.
On the other hand, the New Return System is to be introduced through section 43A of the CGST Act, 2017 through The CGST (Amendment) Act, 2018 which was made effective from 01.02.2019 vide Notification No.02/2019-Central Tax. In the New Return System, there will be three main components: Form GST RET-1 (Main Return) and its two annexures i.e. Form GST ANX-1 (for outward supplies) and Form GST ANX-2 (for inward supplies). The main return i.e. Form GST RET-1 will be available in three forms for quarterly fillers (turnover of upto Rs. 5 crores in preceding financial year) namely: Form GST RET-1 (for Normal quarterly fillers), Form GST RET-2 (Sahaj, for suppliers having B2C transactions only) and Form GST RET-3 (Sugam, for suppliers having both B2C and B2B transactions). But, the registered persons opting to file quarterly return, are required to pay tax on monthly basis through Form GST PMT-08 for the first two months of the quarter and through Form GST RET-1/2/3 for the last month of the quarter.
New Return Forms and features
Forms |
Features |
Form GST RET-1 (Normal) |
|
Form GST ANX-1 |
|
Form GST ANX-2 |
|
Form GST RET-2 (Sahaj) |
|
Form GST RET-3 (Sugam) |
|
Points for focus:
- Filing of Form GST RET-1 shall be deemed to be filing of Form GST ANX-1 and Form GST ANX-2
- Change from Quarterly (Normal) to Sugam/ Sahaj or from Sugam to Sahaj is allowed only once in F.Y. in the beginning of any quarter
- Change from Sahaj to Sugam/ Quarterly (Normal) or from Sugam to Quarterly (Normal) is allowed more than once in F.Y. at the beginning of any quarter