GST Council approves quarterly filing of tax returns

Taxpayers registered under the goods and services tax (GST) with an aggregate turnover of up to Rs1.5 crore in the previous financial year or anticipated in the current financial year can avail themselves of the option of filing quarterly returns.

The Goods and Services Tax Network (GSTN), the IT backbone of the new indirect tax regime, has put in place a new function to allow taxpayers choose the frequency of filing GSTR 1 form on a quarterly or monthly basis.

The 23rd meeting of the GST Council had decided to give an option to taxpayers to file returns on a quarterly basis also, the Council wanted the returns to be filed in the last month of each quarter.

According to a GST Council statement, taxpayers who opt for quarterly filing will have to select the last month of the quarter from the drop down menu. Further, all taxpayers who opt for monthly filing can now file GSTR 1 form from August onwards till November. Filing of returns for the previous month is mandatory.

GSTN has been set up to provide IT infrastructure and services to the central as well as state governments, taxpayers and other stakeholders for implementation of the GST, which came into force on 1 July this year.

GSTR 1 summarises all the sales of a taxpayer, for a specific period.

Meanwhile, reports quoting sources said tax authorities would use advanced data analytics and business intelligence (or BI) to analyse the existing data related to GST. This would be done with the purpose of stopping tax evasion.

GST Officials are now drafting a RFP for choosing vendors, who can develop advanced tools for this purpose.