Miles away from one nation, one tax

Tejas Goenka

The implementation of GST has been easier said than done. It is heartening to note the government's efforts to take cognizance of the challenges being faced by businesses across the country in the transition period - and hence the extension in return filing dates, revision of tax rates and ramp up of the composition scheme limit. However, what has really made the life of the average SME business owner difficult is the gamut of technical glitches that have hit the GST portal of late. 

Technical glitches

Over 25 odd technical glitches, led to the crash of the GST portal on at least two occasions in the very first month of return filing. The reason was largely the natural trend of taxpayers flocking to the portal on the deadline date of filing returns, which took its toll on the system and forced the government to extend the last dates. 

However, that was not all. Amongst other problems were, the failure to log in - with substantial number of traders not able to log in using their provisional IDs due to network overload; returns being declined by the portal; payments not getting reflected in challans; summary in GSTR-1 showing details different from the uploaded details and so on.

In light of these disruptions, it was good to see that the government acted fast by constituting a five-member Group of Ministers (GoM), post the GST Council meet on September 12, to troubleshoot all such glitches by October- end. However, what possibly plagues the business community more than just the technical problems of GST implementation, is awareness itself. 

Lack of awareness

While a new system comes along with inherent complexities, the numerous amendments and notifications, leaves a great scope for confusion and misinterpretation. Probably one of the biggest myths regarding GST filing that make the business community wary, is the change from 13 returns to 37 returns, in a year. While the number of forms surely is 37, the reality is that GSTR 1, GSTR 2 and GSTR 3 are in essence part of one single monthly return - which involves one form to be filled by the dealer, while the other 2 are auto-populated. Several similar myths need to be squashed at the grass-root levels to allow better acceptance of the law. 

Revamp the system  

Having said that, the law in itself needs a revamp. While the government has handled the immediate concern by extending the deadline to file returns, it is yet to address a related issue of delayed input tax credit and refund backlogs. Exporters, for instance, will not be able to expect any refund before mid-November on input taxes paid in advance and the IGST levied on goods they imported, leading to a huge blockage of the working capital. 

There have been a slew of representations from all quarters, which the GST Council needs to consider. E-Way bill for instance, must be deferred by at least a year - if every movement of goods requires access to the portal for generation of a bill, we need a much more robust portal. 

Last, but not the least, in the true spirit of 'one nation, one tax', the multiple rates of taxation and the elaborate classification system needs to be relooked at. A maximum of 3 rates could be explored - one for basic, one for luxury, one for demerit, which could go a long way to simplify GST for the common man. 

— The writer is Executive Director, Tally Solutions