Goods and Services Tax (hereinafter referred to as "GST") is a single tax on the supply of goods and services. It is single uniform tax process which has subsumed a number of previous multiple tax regimes including excise duty, additional excise duty, service tax, value added tax, sales tax, octroi, luxury tax, etc.

Levied at Centre (CGST) as well as State (SGST) levels, GST accrues to the taxing authority under whose jurisdiction the product is consumed or supplied.

Filing of Returns

A taxpayer is required to file a document with the administrative authority which is commonly known as a "return". Various types of returns under GST include the Monthly return, Return for Composition Scheme, TDS return, Return for Input Service Distributor Annual return.

The Government has notified new annual tax return forms under the GST, in which details of of sales, purchases and input tax credit benefits accrued can be provided in a consolidated manner. 1 The normal taxpayers will need to file GSTR-9 return form while composition taxpayers will have GSTR-9A. The last date for filing the annual return form for 2017-18 is December 31. The first annual filing will cover the period from July 1 to March 31.

Following complaints of complicated and cumbersome filing, the GST Council had allowed businesses to file the summary return form GSTR 3B.

The newly notified annual GST return forms comes after a long wait for the requirement of a simpler format for annual return. This is also believed to enhance the transparency in the accounts and prevention of tax evasion.

Footnote

1 https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/economy/policy/government-notifies-new-annual-return-form-forgst/articleshow/65679345.cms

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