Extend GST return deadline by 2 months to resolve issues: CII

New Delhi: Industry chamber CII on Sunday said that in view of certain pending issues, the deadline for filing Goods and Services Tax (GST) returns should be further extended by up to a couple of months.

"In view of the difficulties of online filing, CII suggested that the due dates for filing GSTR-1, GSTR-2 and GSTR-3 should be deferred for another month or two. This will stabilise the system," the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) said in a release here. 

"The Finance Ministry has taken cognisance of the initial glitches being faced in online filing of invoices and extended dates for GST returns. CII has now requested for further extension to resolve certain system issues," it said. 

Last month, the government announced a five-day extension for filing the GSTR-3B form till August 25, after the GSTN return filing portal was hit by a technical glitch and stopped functioning, a day ahead of the last date for filing. 

Technical issues again earlier this month forced the government to extend the deadline for filing the GST sales return -- GSTR-1 -- for another five days till September 10.

CII suggested certain changes to the return filing procedure so as to streamline the system further.

"All modules of GSTN should be activated or enabled to amend core fields in registration to amend particulars of `principal place of business` or to declare `additional place of business` or file refunds," CII said.

"Further suggested that GSTR-3B should have provision for rounding off Input Tax Credit to nearest rupee. This will match output tax liability which is rounded off, and be accepted in the system," it added. 

The industry body also suggested there should be no penal action by the authorities in the initial six months of the GST launch. 

CII also pointed to an anomaly in the Tran1 form that is filed for July, the month GST was launched, to carry forward the closing balance of credits of June 2017,

Accordingly, Tran1 calculates the liability of pending forms -- "however, in many cases, the carry forwarded amount has been calculated in negative figure", the statement said.

"CII suggests that the system response should be enhanced to allow download, preview details, and take prints for reconciliation before submission," it added