Ahead of GST Council meet, traders want compliance made easier, penalties waived
Traders and small business owners, in an online survey, have demanded that the GST Council should relax certain GST compliance norms when it meets tomorrow.
The GST Council will be holding a review meeting tomorrow as the sweeping indirect tax reform completes 100 days on Sunday. The first three months of the rolling out of the GST have been the period of confusion among the traders, entrepreneurs and small and medium enterprises.
The traders have been vocal about the difficulties they faced in making shift from the old tax regime to the GST regime, which requires filing of tax returns every month mandatory to avail the benefits of input tax credit. This has been a tedious job for small traders particularly in remote areas.
In a survey conducted by the citizen engagement platform LocalCircles, an overwhelming majority of over 17,000 online participants demanded relaxation in compliance norms as prescribed under the GST regime.
WHAT TRADERS WANT?
About 75 per cent of the respondents participating in the online survey said that the government (read GST Council) should change GST return filing requirement forms from monthly to quarterly. The traders have complained that filing GST returns every month is a time-consuming exercise.
The smaller businessmen complained that monthly filing of GST returns has forced them to ignore their daily business quite too often and dedicate resources towards this exercise causing loss of time and decline in revenue.
Responding to a question if the GST Council should consider proving a six-month freeze on or deferring penalties for late filing of GST returns, about 79 per cent of the participants identified as an urgent need.
About 69 per cent of the respondents demanded that the the daily exemption limit for expenses incurred with unregistered vendors should be increased from the current Rs 5,000 to Rs 10,000.
The participants of the survey also found the technical hiccups in the working of the GSTN system too annoying. About 67 per cent sought that filing of GSTR 1, 2 and 3 should be put on hold for next six months.
GOVERNMENT READY TO GIVE RELAXATION
Meanwhile, the traders have got some relief as the Department of Consumer Affairs has agreed to their demand that the date to sell old or pre-GST stock to extended to the end of this year. The government has already issued a notification in this regard.
There are also reports suggesting that the GST Council may approve some of the measures proposed by the government to relax GST compliance. At present, the business owners are required to file three monthly returns and one annual GST returns.
The government is of the view that sudden shift in the practice of doing business is a cause dissatisfaction among the traders - core constituency of the ruling BJP.
According to official data, a total of 68.2 lakh taxpayers were required to file returns for August but as of September 25, only 37.63 lakh assessees filed returns. The number was 38.38 lakh for July.
The reduced level of compliance also points to resistance among the small and medium business owners. Both the government and traders hope that the GST Council would approve announce some relaxations in the filing of GST returns.