Ahilya Chamber of Commerce & Industry has made a representation to Finance minister and bring to her attention Problems That Taxpayer May Face Due To Recently introduced amendment allowing credit in GSTR 3B only if the same appears in GSTR 2B and due to Visit by GST authorities and attachment of Bank Accounts/Property. Full texts of their representation are as follows:-
Smt. Nirmala Sitaraman, | 03.01.2022
Chairman,
GST COUNCIL,
New Delhi.
Respected Madam,
Recently introduced amendment allowing credit in GSTR 3B only as appears in 2B
While we welcome changes in GST to plug in holes which are used by unscrupulous elements for Tax evasion, we would at the same time, request you to please keep in view the hardships these may cause to the honest Tax payers.
The recently introduced amendment wef 01.01.22 allows credit to the Tax Payer only to the extent it appears in GSTR-2A or GSTR-2B. Although on the face of it, this appears to be a justified provision to further discipline tax payers, this may result in many practical problems.
1. There are occasions when even a well-disciplined tax payer is unable to file GSTR-1 in time.
2. Errors may creep in GSTR-1 inadvertently.
3. Portal may not pick-up proper data from GSTR-1 for reflecting in GSTR 2B and so on.
In the original scheme of things Tax Payer was allowed to make amendments in GSTR, if he was fulfilling all the four conditions for availing ITC as required in Section 16 (2). He also had recourse to pressing the supplier to make amendments.
We strongly feel that this provision should be brought in as was originally stipulated.
2. Visit by authorities and attachment of Bank Accounts/Property:
Although this provision appears to have been brought in as a deterrent and for penalising large scale evaders, we are afraid, it may be – or can we say, most probably will be – used by unscrupulous elements masquerading as officers, for extracting money from unsuspecting Tax Payers by threatening them.
We, therefore, suggest that this provision should be applicable only where the mismatch is of the order of Rs. 1 Crore or more.
Also, officers should be strictly advised to reveal their identity by ID Cards issued by the department whenever and wherever they go for inspection.
We do trust that our suggestions will merit your kind consideration and hope to be favoured with a positive action.
With anticipatory thanks,
Ramesh Khandelwal | President
Sushil Sureka | General Secretary
Nitesh Gupta | Head Taxation Committee
Author Bio
The Memorandum missed lot of other hindrances. The main hindrance is that some fraudulent suppliers are amending the invoice values in their GSTR-1 at a much later date and at sometimes on the last date to amend either to Re.1 or by simply issuing credit notes to recipients without acceptance of the recipient. Hence, there should be system that such amendments and credit notes should be accepted by recipient and then only supplier should get the credit of such excess tax paid earlier, if genuine.
Thanks for the comment Sir. You have raised a valid point. Actually, Ahilya Chamber is of the opinion that it is now time to reintroduce the original GSTR 1, 2 & 3 forms. Also, though we have written in the memorandum that the four conditions prescribed in Section 16 (4) should be applicable as they form part of the act, in view of the various court decisions, condition 3 & 4 should also be rescinded as these are against natural justice.
Regards,
Sushil Sureka,
General Secretary, Ahilya Chamber, Indore.