New Delhi: In view of the difficulties faced by taxpayers due to Covid-19 global pandemic, the finance ministry Friday extended the last date for filing annual GST Return (GSTR-9) and Reconciliation Statement (GSTR-9C) for FY 2018-19 to the month end.
“Vide central tax notification number 69/2020, the due date for furnishing of the annual return for the FY 2018-19 has been extended till October 31, 2020,” the finance ministry said in a statement.
Finance ministry also advised taxpayers to take advantage of the extension and file GST annual return for FY 2018-19 at the earliest to avoid any last minute rush.
It is mandatory for any GST registered business or entity having an aggregate annual turnover of Rs 2 crore to file the annual return in GSTR-9 form, while entities having aggregate annual turnover above Rs 5 crore are also required to file reconciliation statements in the form GSTR-9C.
No need to file 2017-18 data in 2018-19 form
The government also clarified that those taxpayers who have already filed GSTR9 annual return for FY-2017-18 need not include the same details in their annual return forms for FY 2018-19 even if it is auto populated.
The finance ministry has received certain representations that in the auto-populated GSTR-9 form for the FY 2018-19, the data for FY 2017-18 is also included, particularly the data in table number 4,5,6 and 7.
The ministry clarified that even though the information has already been furnished by the taxpayers in their annual return form GSTR9 but there is no mechanism to show the split of these two years in this year’s GSTR9 form.
“Taxpayers are required to report only the values pertaining to Financial Year 2018-19 and the values pertaining to Financial Year 2017-18 which may have already been reported or adjusted are to be ignored,” clarified the ministry.
The government also clarified that if a taxpayer has already filed his GST annual return for FY 2017-18 including the details of supplies and input tax credit availed by him then no adverse view will be taken against the taxpayer if there is a variation in the returns filed by him due to this problem.
(Article by Krishnand Tripathi)
