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Under Delhi VAT, all the registered dealers are required to file QUARTERLY returns with an obligation to pay tax on MONTHLY basis. Generally small and medium businessmen deposit their monthly tax on assumption basis and send their documents to their consultants on quarterly basis. As most of the DVAT returns are not filed by the dealers but these are filed by their consultants or tax practitioners. These tax practitioners call for documents from their clients on quarterly basis and they upload the relevant data in form of Form 2A/2B on government’s website, there is perfect matching of sales and purchases in this system and demand for any mismatch in sales and purchase is automatically raised by the department. Interest and penalty on any deficiency or shortfall in the monthly tax payments are also generated be the department and are being paid by the dealers.  So this whole exercise of sending data and uploading information is done on quarterly basis, in this way government gets their dues on monthly basis, businessmen are not under pressure to send their documents every month to their consultants, and consultants have enough time to prepare returns of their clients.

But under the GST regime every registered person (except composition registered person) is required to submit monthly returns and that too in three stages. First he has to upload online details of outward supplies, then apart from verifying details of inward supplies he is required to upload the details of inward supplies received from an unregistered person, and finally he has to verify and deposit tax dues to him. This whole process will not only keep the consultants busy throughout the year but also businessmen will be under constant pressure to compile and send all the documents every month to their consultants, also now businessmen will be busy verifying his purchases and inward supplies, calling his suppliers, asking them to make corrections on monthly basis.

Let’s assume a situation of a consultant who has about 150 clients (which is very fair number even for a small or mid-sized consulting firm) who are registered under GST in India. Now from 1st to 5th of every month he and his staff will co-ordinate his clients to send the relevant documents to his office, In next 5 days he will have prepare and upload details of outward supplies of about 150 clients i.e. approximately 30 clients in a day (forget about holidays). Next 5 days he will be downloading details of mismatch regarding inward & outward supplies, communicating the same to his clients, making corrections and also uploading details of inward supplies received from composition dealers, unregistered dealers and Supplies under Reverse Charge mechanism. Then he will calculate the tax liability and inform the client, client will then either pay the tax online or will transfer the funds to consultants account and then the tax has to be submitted till 17th so that it is available in electronic cash ledger of the registered person. In case you deposit the tax on 17th and it is available in electronic cash ledger by 20th, so in one single day you will have to upload the return GSTR-3 for all 150 clients. Then pray to the almighty GOD that all the suppliers who have shown your inward supplies in their GSTR-1, files their GST returns in time to avoid another mismatch report in form MIS-1 and MIS-2 and keeps you busy till the month end. To make life of businessmen and consultants more miserable, this whole process is never ending and will be repeated every month.

I don’t know what’s the harm in making all the returns under GST as Quarterly returns.

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49 Comments

  1. P.I. Jose says:

    I fully appreciate and agree with the suggestion of CA. Mr. Mithun Khatry about Quarterly GST Returns. In fact in Maharashtra, the erstwhile MVAT returns used to be quarterly together with payment of tax. There was no monthly payment of tax. Even if businessmen have to pay tax on monthly basis, but only quarterly returns, your suggestion will be appreciated. As you rightly pointed out, the consultants and tax practitioners are not able to deal with the work pressure as of now, and the businessmen are equally distressed with compiling tonnes of information and three filings in a month. They are also worried about the ITC getting rejected on account of wrong filings by the suppliers due to ignorance of rules and procedures, but not intentional. The amount thus lost will be a total loss to the organization. The issue needs serious rethinking on the part of government.

  2. ashok baghla says:

    i,m also agree with u sir,
    quartely return is only solution for survival of tax practioners in all ways i.e. physicaly,socialy,professionaly.

  3. Amit Modi Advocate says:

    Yes i am also agree with the view of author we have to give memorandum to Hon’ F M for this issue as well practical difficulties faces form GST Portal.

  4. Sanjay Arora Avocate says:

    yes..!! totally agree
    C.A/Advocates is human ..it is not possible to file three return in a months. moreover .. websites to much busy..

  5. dilip says:

    and server crashes/not responding as the load on it goes up every time a return is to be filed under the gst, who is to be blamed – naturally the govt may not agree but it should review the situation & make appropriate laws which suit our country.
    At least now to give relief for 3 months they should think of filing of returns quarterly basis.

  6. dilip says:

    Dear Sir,
    your are absolutely correct, every small or medium sized bussiness man who is very regular tax payer is worried with the GST & its filing procedures, first most of the small / medium traders do not have computer, they have to either buy a computer & put somebody on the job for handling this separately/ hire a consultant for this work & have to go around him explaining all the details required, which is very very tedious & is also affecting the bussiness man’s bussiness & also affecting him mentally.
    its high time govt should think well in advance about all these kind of problems & put all the things in proper place & then only it should take the final step, without any proper system in place & most of the people even now do not have the full knowledge of the procedure under the gst & most of the people have not /are not keen on the Trans 1 input credit as the same is very very cumbersome.

  7. MITHUN says:

    Th only problem i could see is that Government would loose the opportunity to levy penalty 12 times in a year ( for 12 monthly returns) on late filing of GST returns, which would otherwise be restricted to 4 times (for quarterly returns).

  8. D. Narayanan says:

    We are unable to make GST payment as the server not responding. Further we need to file monthly reports on our payment. Which is tedious and quarterly report is more appropriate to assess the due. Further
    Govt also will have time to claim the difference if any.
    We appreciate the efforts the people who are appealing the govt. to accept quarterly report.

  9. D. Narayanan says:

    We are trying to pay the GST while the govt. server not responding. Sitting in Australia we are worried as to make required payment to govt. further filing of return every month is tedious and quarterly returns are acceptable as the govt will have sufficient time to assess the amount due. We appreciate the efforts taken by the people for appealing the govt.

  10. unnikrishnan vasudevan says:

    Well explain end.
    However, now that they have come out with a simplified gst 3B for July and August, we have to wait and see whether this may be made permanent.
    Further, a totally system dependant compliance may invite unexpected situations for adhering to time schedule..
    The capacity of server and last date rush etc can not be over looked..
    Even if made quarterly, let it be evenly distributed for each month, so that smooth compliance can be ensured..

  11. Sunil Rahwani says:

    I also agreed to file the returns on quaterly basis, and payments on monthly basis
    In this system we all proffessionals become employees of government and all government officers Become proffessionals

  12. HARIOM SHARMA says:

    Dear Sirs,
    It is a very good suggestion however I have a thought that why any return (monthly/qtrly/hly or yearly) just GST Department should give a reasonable / logical time to the sellers to upload its sales bills details on GST`s system containing GSTN or PAN in the case of sales to a unregistered person and let the business do its analysis for making payment of Tax out of a float to be maintained similar to Excise PLA/RG23 before sale and there should not be any need to file Tax return, if any GSTN dealer have more credit available in his float he can request for refund online similar to online share trading and credit should come in bank. The rest exercises should be taken care by Government who ever is doing wrong than impose Financial / criminal offence and proceed to recover.
    By using a float system Government also will have more liquidity in account in advance.

    I hope this way all time will be saved for business entities. Government may appoint CA/CMAs/CS /Advocates to do audit of its system and to get assistance for imposing liabilities on wrong acting business entity.

  13. V.K.Dadoo says:

    Fully agreed. All returns should be quarterly. For Senior citizens they should be Half Yearly. There should be no Penalty in anything for Senior Citizens. The Government should realise that these people are earning for themselves and for nation.
    TDS and TCS return filing penalty is Rs. 200/- per day. Any logic?

  14. Abraham Varugis says:

    I agree its an excellent idea and apparently with no negatives. Businesses will get three times more time to apply their focus on their primary business matters which is most important if India is to gain from the benefits of GST with better economic return. I would suggest a small additional modification in that if GST returns are filed in say April, July, October & January, then other returns such as TDS Returns and Income Tax Returns should have deadlines in different months than these inorder to spread the return filing burdens into different months of the year. Such distribution of load would improve business activity and Return Filing activity, both for Businesses and also for the over burdened Professional Consultants who would be assisting these businesses with Return Filings. Accuracy and efficiency of Return filing would also improve.

  15. EVM Shereef says:

    Yea, it is really a demand of the trade and industry. Authorities are requested to consider favourably this demand of making changes in the GST Law so as to allow filing quarterly GST returnns ..

  16. T.N.JHA says:

    THIS IS ABSOLUTELY A BIG PROBLEM TO FILE MONTHLY RETURN FOR PARTY & CONSULTANT, A SMALL & MEDIUM BUSINESS MAN NOT HAVE A TIME TO THINK ABOUT BUSINESS. ONLY DOING RACE FOR FILE GST RETURN EVERY MONTH

  17. S Balasubramanian says:

    There cannot be a better suggestion. In accepting this proposal, the Government loses nothing, but reduces some work on the CPU of the receiving computer and will be user friendly.

    Government has to make GST compliance a pleasant experience and not a dreaded one!

  18. MITHUN says:

    lets share this post or atleast photo image embedded in this post on face book, instagram etc. so that it may take shape of a mass revolution. I have already posted this on change.org and facebook

  19. Naresh shuja says:

    In our small firm only my Son knows tally with GST
    He will be married soon and will not be available on
    important dates to file relevant returns. It’s very difficultt
    To upload monthly returns.

  20. Vinod Arora says:

    Sir
    I think All the Professionals (CA, CS, Cost Accountants and Advocate and other professional)
    must write to GST Council for the Quarterly Return. How ever Tax can be deposited monthly for the loss of revenue to Govt.

  21. Shanmugam Sadasivam says:

    The GST council must consider this valuable point and issue orders accordingly, atleast for small business entities having turnover of Less than 5 crores, so that both the businessmen and tax practitioners will be relieved of their pressure and work more efficiently. Anyhow the tax due is paid in time on estimation. Only rectification of mismatch and reconciliation is conducted later.

  22. Ravi says:

    Good article Sir, it must be conveyed to our government through professional bodies that it is not practical to file monthly returns , it will also increase administration cost, moreover there are other last dates also i.e. Quarterly TDS returns , income tax returns . how it is possible to file monthly return in the month of tax audit?
    The government’s motive is to collect tax and this can be collected monthly on estimated basis and difference can be paid or adjusted quarterly with interest.
    by this only smooth functioning of business and tax collection can be assured.

  23. AKHILESH KUMAR GARG says:

    Yes perfect analysis of return filing process under GST. There is no harm and Heaven will not fall if return filing process is made on quarterly basis with payment of monthly basis on the line of Income Tax section 234B (may be 75 % around ). This will be in the interest of every stakeholder like Govt., Businessmen and Professionals as well.
    There is a Golden Rule that TAX COMPLIANCE SHOULD NOT BE MORE TAXING THAN THE TAX ITSELF.

  24. ROHIT SOMANI says:

    I ALSO AGREE WITH THE AUTHOR AND ALSO APPEAL TO THE FINANCE MINISTER TO CONSIDER FILING OF RETURNS ON QUARTERLY BASIS AND PAYMENT OF TAXES ON MONTHLY BASIS. THIS WILL MAKE THE PROCESS SIMPLE AND WILL HELP SMALL AND MEDIUM BUSINESSES.

  25. Vishal says:

    I agree with this suggestion. Instead of being more business friendly, this new so called tax ‘reform’ is actually a compliance burden.

  26. Prem Aggarwal says:

    I fully endorse the suggestion raised to our Finance Minister for filing returns on quarterly basis, while monthly payment of Tax should continue on estimation basis. This will give relief to the general business (90%) class without jeopardizing FM interest and intentions.

    Should be considered.

  27. AMIT K GANAR & CO says:

    Very well said Sir
    There is no harm in it. People who do not pay tax will pay interest and rest of the provisions of GST will in tact to pass credit.
    Government must think on your proposal it is practical as well as feasible. It will work exactly as TDS return.

  28. SANTOSH KUMAR SHIVDASANI says:

    Agree With the Suggestion otherwise its not possible to do any other work except this clerical work I.E GST Return filing.

  29. आर बी श्रीवास्तव says:

    आप की बात एकदम सही है की कर सलाहकार चाहे वो किसी भी तरह का हो एकदम परेशान हो जाएगा – या तो स्टाफ रखेगा या खुद करेगा पर इस लायक फीस भी पायेगा की नहीं – व्यापारी यदि खुद भी स्टाफ रखेगा तो भी सही रिटर्न बना कर फाइल कर पाना जांचना मुश्किल होगा – पर वित्त मंत्री जी से उम्मीद – पता नहीं

  30. jhabvala says:

    quartely gst returns would be a great great relief to small and medium business houses. gst may be a good system but huge burden of compliance. life would be to live for gst only !!.
    also we expect relief of 18%IGST payment on exports. its draconian law. The Govt shd help all exporters who earn foreign exchange for the country, instead the govt overburdens the exporters. The accounting is made so complicated that a small business cant manage and neither they can afford to have full time accountant just to keep up with gst regime.

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