Page 15 - Banking Finance October 017

GST UPDATE

22 lakh GST returns filed Central Government plans Rs 20,000 crore tax refund
on GSTN portal corpus for exporters
Nearly 22 lakh GST returns for August The government is looking to create a fund with a corpus of around Rs 20,000
were filed crore to expedite refund of taxes paid or input
as of now, credit on exports, two senior government officials
as busi- told Bloomberg Quint.
nesses The idea is to shorten the refund cycle as export-
flocked ers are worried that working capital could be stuck
the GSTN after the government extended the deadline to file
portal to submit their returns on the returns under the Goods and Services Tax. A dedi-
last day for tax filing. cated fund could help if refunds through tax filings are delayed.
Over 21.83 lakh returns were filed till The suggestion was tabled by the Ministry of Commerce in a meeting of the
now, a person aware of the develop- Committee on Exports. The panel, headed by Revenue Secretary Hasmukh Adhia,
ment said. GST return filing would is looking into problems faced by exporters after GST rollout.
continue till midnight.
The corpus would only be a reallocation of funds already collected by the rev-
This is the second month of return fil- enue department under GST, PK Shah, former chairman of engineering exports
ing under the goods and services tax body EEPC India, told BloombergQuint. And he finds the amount inadequate.
(GST) regime and similar to last “When we are talking about refund claims to the tune of Rs 65,000 crore for
month, businesses thronged the GST
July and August, and refunds for September could be around Rs 35,000 crore,
Network portal on the last day to pay how would the corpus help,” PK Shah, Former Chairman, Engineering Exporters
taxes. Nearly 45 lakh businesses had Organisation of India.
filed GST returns in July fetching a
Sumit Lunker, indirect tax partner at PwC agrees. The government needs to
revenue of Rs95,000 crore to the
exchequer. stabilise the compliance so that exporters can file refund claims in time, he said.
"Otherwise, this fund will not be of much use."
Earlier of Wednesday, finance minis- The Adhia-led panel will suggest proposals and a strategy to the GST Council to
ter Arun Jaitley said that GSTN has
help resolve issued raised by exporters. Their concerns were also discussed in
the capacity to handle 1 lakh returns
the two-day meeting of ministers chaired by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley to
per hour, which translates to 24 lakh review the economy.
returns in a day, but if majority of tax-
payers decide to pay taxes on the The fund could even be one of the steps the central government could take to
put the economy back on track, the second official quoted earlier said.Such a
last day then the system would have corpus would be a temporary measure, NR Bhanumurthy, professor at National
some trouble. "Therefore, I would Institute of Public Finance and Policy, told BloombergQuint. The cost to the ex-
appeal to everybody, it is in their in-
chequer will be minimal as the refund money is already with the government. It
terest (to file GST returns early)," could help avoid disruption faced by the exports sector, he said.
Jaitley said.
To ease compliance burden, the GST Government imposes 18.9% duty on Chinese steel
Council has allowed businesses to file goods
their initial tax returns in form GSTR-
In a relief to the domestic industry, the government has imposed 18.9 %
3B in the first six months of GST countervailing duty on Chinese hot and cold
rollout till December. Accordingly, rolled stainless steel products. These products
the GSTR-3B returns would have to
were being imported from China at a
be filed by the 20th of the next subsidised rate, the Central Board of Excise
month, which means August returns and Customs said. This will help the Indian
need to be uploaded by 20 Septem- manufacturer to have parity with chinese
ber.
goods.

14 | 2017 | OCTOBER | BANKING FINANCE

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