Why Government Gave GST Audit Extension and What It Means?

India’s government has extended the due dates for filing GST returns and audit reports of financial year – 19 to 30^th September 2020. The second GST audit extension was provided to e-way bills until 24^th March. The validity of the same expired from 20^th March – 15^th April.

The government also offered economic reliefs and relaxations on certain compliance disclosures in the tax audit reports. There are several reasons why the government gave a GST audit extension to file GSTR-9, GSTR-9A, GSTR-9B, and GSTR-9C.

The extension of a reasonable period aims to provide justice to the correctness of GST returns filing concerning the state-wise reconciliations. In this article, we have presented some of the valid reasons why GOI (Government of India) has provided a GST audit extension. Further, find out what it means.

GST Annual Returns Filing in India: GST Audit Extension

The implementation of the GST regime in India has been a prominent reform over the decades. Although the government has successfully executed the implications, several issues are yet to be sorted. Initially, the implementation hurt the trade and enterprises due to the GST IT structure’s capacity constraints.

Since GST implementation was not comprehensive, it gradually created a turbulent GST impact on reconciling accounts for corporate and other business entities. It has been continuously affecting the time required for GST and other compliances.

Improper reconciliation statements is one of the prominent reasons for extended litigations. If the government fails to address these issues, it might lead to corruption. Without ideal reconciliation and audit reporting structure, the country might also face revenue issues. Eventually, it can prolong the litigations.

Possible Reasons Why Government Gave GST Audit Extension

GST regime issues can only be boycotted with proper measures, appropriate chances, simplified return filing, and extensions. We have coupled some of the valid reasons why the GST audit extension is needed during the hour amid COVID-19.

Reason – 1

The allotted formats for annual GST returns filing, and GST audits are cumbersome and confusing. Not many business owners in India are familiar with digital business operations and accounting. When the GST portal doesn’t work correctly and provides multiple information from the same data source, it becomes confusing.

Reason – 2

The actual data uploaded while filing monthly GSTR 3B doesn’t match the auto-populated data of GSTR 3B in GSTR 9. There are several technical errors that taxpayers face concerning both inward and outward supplies.

Reason – 3

The portal is vulnerable. The website malfunctions often due to frequent technical glitches. One of the recent technical issues lasted for nearly ten days.

Reason – 4

As and when taxpayers try uploading the GSTR 9C, the website indicates error saying “Received but pending.”

Reason – 5

GST returns filing on the portal is a time-consuming process. It is impossible to download or upload the JSON file in a single attempt. One has to keep trying for long hours to get it done.

Reason – 6

The latest utility GSTR 9C 1.6 was only made available on 1^st August 2020. There is a very poor time availability for the taxpayers to file their GST returns and audit reports.

Reason – 7

Receiving OTP from the GST portal is another issue. Taxpayers are unable to receive their OTP’s on their domains. It takes anywhere from two to three hours to receive an OTP through email, which is of no use.

A lot of these issues create frustration and anxiety in taxpayers. The government has notified the GST audit extension to provide relaxations for the taxpayers. Meanwhile, it aims to validate the returns filing system.

GST Audit Extension: What it Means?

The issues in GST returns filing arises from the communications that professionals receive from entities, companies, administration, and other interested parties. The government is striving to fix the possible issues through the eminent office. The government is making reasonable changes to ensure an error-free GST portal with extended due dates.

Conclusion

As of the current GST accounting system in place, it takes at least two days for each filing. The complicated procedure makes it hard to file all the returns within the given deadline. The only way the government could resolve the issue is by extended the due dates to file GST returns and audit reports.

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