FM Sitharaman invites suggestions on simplifying GST filing process

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Saturday invited those who are interested in providing suggestions on simplifying and easing the Goods and Services Tax (GST) filing process. Taking to Twitter, she said that on Saturday all GST offices will be ready to receive suggestions on simplifying/easing the filing process and invited them to the nearest office.

New GST returns to be introduced from April 1, 2020

The Central GST and State GST authorities have organised a nationwide GST stakeholder feedback on new GST return for getting an on-the-spot response to the new GST returns to be introduced from April 1, 2020. The focus would be on assessing the ease of compliance and uploading of these new returns so that the trade does not face any difficulty when the returns are made legally mandatory. These feedback sessions will be attended by all prominent chambers of commerce and industry and other organisations representing taxpayers and tax practitioners and compliance managers, the Finance Ministry said in a statement.

Tax officers will assist tax-payers in trying out the new returns

Now, the tax officers will assist tax-payers in trying out the new returns. This is the first time after the introduction of GST that taxpayer consultation is being done on such a large scale. On November 16, Sitharaman had invited some GST taxpayers, chartered accountants and tax practitioners to assess first-hand response to the various GST returns, especially the new returns.

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GST revenue collection crossed Rs 1 lakh crore in November

GST revenue collection crossed the Rs 1 lakh crore mark after a gap of three months in November with the revenue growing by 6 per cent to Rs 1.03 lakh crore in the month. The GST collection was Rs 95,380 crore in October while it was Rs 97,637 crore November 2018. Of gross Rs 1,03,492 crore in November, CGST is Rs 19,592 crore, SGST is Rs 27,144 crore, IGST is Rs 49,028 crore (including Rs 20,948 crore collected on imports) and Cess is Rs 7,727 crore (including Rs 869 crore collected on imports), an official statement said.

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(With agency inputs)