New GST return system from October, trial run from today

New Delhi: Celebrating two years of GST implementation, the Finance Ministry will on Monday introduce further reforms in the indirect tax system, like a new return formula, rationalisation of the cash ledger system and a single refund-disbursing mechanism.

"The new GST system will introduce the new return system on a trial basis from July 1 and on mandatory basis from October 1. Sahaj & Sugam returns for small taxpayers are proposed," the ministry said in a release, adding that the government will rationalise the single cash ledger system in such a manner that the earlier 20 heads are merged into five major heads.

Minister of State for Finance and Corporate Affairs Anurag Thakur will preside over the celebration.

Appreciating the government effort, the industry said the time has come for the GST reform by bringing electricity, oil & gas, real estate and alcohol under its ambit and converging the rate structure into two-three slabs. "The GST 2.0 will take the Indian economy to the next growth level," CII President Vikram Kirloskar said.

The industry body also claimed it is generally observed that when members of the Advance Ruling Authority are officers of state tax and central tax departments, there tends to be a revenue-bias while interpreting the provisions of the GST law and pronouncing a ruling. "While we acknowledge that the teething troubles related to GST implementation may have been resolved, we now need to move forward to achieve the underlying objective of the GST framework of creating a simplified indirect taxation system," Ficci President Sandip Somany said.

It is also expected that there will be only one cash ledger for tax, interest, penalty, fee and others. "A single refund-disbursing mechanism will come into play wherein the government, which sanctions refund, disburses all four major heads of refunds, namely CGST, SGST, IGST and cess," the ministry said.

A threshold limit of Rs 40 lakh is offered for suppliers of goods as per the choice of states. Introduction of the composition scheme for small service providers up to an annual turnover of Rs 50 lakh along with a tax rate of 6 per cent and electronic invoicing system in a phased manner for B2B transactions is proposed to be introduced, and GST Appellate Tribunals are being established at various state headquarters and area benches, the ministry said.