Understand GSTR 1 filing and added features in return utilities with Q & A

Question and answers in GSTR 1 filing in GST portal – how to understand it and what are the added features in return utilities on GST Portal that would bring relief for tax payers :

The GST Council took a slew of decisions during its 23rd meeting in Guwahati to benefit consumers and businesses alike. While consumers will stand to benefit from a number of rate cuts, including the tax on restaurants, businesses stand to benefit from a significant easing of compliance norms to do with filing returns.

So what has changed with the forms and how is it going to ease the burden of tax payers

Changes in deadlines for GST Return filing and how the GST Council has divided the Tax payers into two slots providing the tax payers the burden less smooth filing of GST Returns as they promised :

Seeing the difficulties faced by small and medium sized enterprises the council then decided to divide the tax payers into two groups based on turnover filed by the tax payers in the previous financial year. Let’s see how this has been worked out and whether this really going to benefit tax payers especially SME’s and let’s also look at the same time how these decisions are being reflected in the GST Return utilities on GST Portal.

I. Class A or Group A Tax Payers (for convenience of understanding) :

♦ Who are these tax payers : These are tax payers – Companies, Partnership firms, Limited liability Partnership companies, sole proprietorship firms with a turnover of up to ₹1.5 crore in the preceeding financial year.

So if your turnover in the preceeding financial year following the Action period (i.e., GST Period 01.07.2017) is within the said prescribed limit of 1.5 Crores then you fall in this group.

♦ What are the benefits given here for them : To file their GSTR-1 forms for each month in a quarterly manner. Since GSTR2 and GSTR3 utility filing has not been finalized the work for which is under process the manner of filing these Forms (GSTR-2 and GSTR 3) will be notified on later date in future. So overall it’s a relief for small traders whose turnover is well within the said limit requiring to file GSTR-1 Form on quarterly basis and there by not requiring to file returns on monthly basis. [Note : The Taxes have to be paid on monthly basis by filing Form GSTR 3B which has to be filed by all tax payers irrespective of the turnover till March 2018]

♦ New GST dates to remember if you have opted for Quarterly return : GSTR-1 Form for July to September are to now be filed by December 31, the October to December forms by February 15, 2018 and the January to March forms by April 30, 2018.

♦ How to choose this plan on GST Portal : Logging onto GST Portal from 10^th of this Month has been different we saw following questions that creeped up the ladder while filing the GSTR 3B return lets understand these in details. Logging onto GST Portal the new pop up page would look something like this

Finer Points here :

Please select the last month of the Quarter?? How to understand this :

• July month’s GSTR-1 return has already been filed by us during September 2017 and hence for the Quarter July – September GSTR 1 for August and September alone needs to be filed by selecting the last month of the Quarter (September in this case)
• Do we need to fill up separate GSTR-1 for each of the month of the Quarter?? No the GSTR 1 Form is one for all months of the Quarter. So you would be required to file one GSTR-1 Form for the whole Quarter.
  

♦ Is there any Changes in GSTR 1 Form then?? Yes few headings been added…

GSTR1 Form – Other Details : These are the details in excess of Original GSTR 1 Form which we used for filing July’s GSTR 1 filing and the other particulars of GSTR1 are kept intact.

II. Class A or Group A Tax Payers (for convenience of understanding) :

♦ Who are these tax payers : These are tax payers – Companies, Partnership firms, Limited liability Partnership companies, sole proprietorship firms with a turnover exceeding ₹1.5 crore in the preceeding financial year.

So if your turnover in the preceeding financial year exceeds 1.5 Crores then you fall in this group.

♦ New GST dates to remember if you have opted for Monthly return : To File their July to October forms by December 31. And from thereafter, they will have to file monthly returns, but with a delay of 40 days from the end of the taxable period. That is, the returns for November will have to be filed by January 10, those for December by February 10, and so on. The extension period of 40 days for each month’s return is given in order to match the return filing period of those who would be filing the returns on Quarterly basis because GSTs matching concept cannot be compromised and hence the delay is allowed in returns for those who will be opting for monthly returns.

♦ How to choose this plan on GST Portal : The page will open similar to the diagram above. In order to select monthly return you have to click ‘No’ instead of ‘Yes’. And there is no further change in GSTR 1 Form, the GSTR1 Form is one for all tax payers irrespective of the turnover criteria. [Note : Again the Taxes have to be paid on monthly basis by filing Form GSTR 3B which has to be filed by all tax payers irrespective of the turnover till March 2018]

Conclusion : Still we are waiting for GSTN to work to its fullest as GSTR2 filing and GSTR-3 filing utility are yet to be put up on GST Portal. It’s clear from these changes brought up by GST Council that they are clear in presenting the true picture of GST to Tax payers and they are seriously working on clearing the issues related to GSTN and its implementation. As a tax payer everyone would expect the same from the law makers to repair and re structure the GST to suit the needs of various tax payers so that GST return filing is not considered as a burden by tax payers anymore. And Tally.ERP 9 has a like mind when it comes to embrace the changes or adapting the changed environment as it states to deliver the packed GST just as it is originated from GST Network. And the experience of filing GST returns from Tally.ERP 9 is way more easier than filing with offline utility tool on GST Portal as in offline utility tool either you would be required to fill all particulars about outward supplies manually or through a automated software which are very few in the market. But with Tally.ERP 9 you can directly export the data into JSON format then into the GST portal. Thus making the process of return filing a easier task. But the transformation part of Tally.ERP 9 comes with its innovative ideas which one would have witnessed recently with its online forums which has received wide interest from Chartered accountants community as it allows them to seek to share to depart knowledge on various topics concerning GST and this is such a good initiative considering that the new India to be build in the back drop of GST and that would be possible only when people with knowledge shares what they know about GST and Tally.ERP 9 is one such medium which is educating and bridging this knowledge gap.