The new GST return forms for the payment of Goods and Services Tax (GST) have been released by the Indian Government. Businesses will have to file these forms from the next financial year.
There is an option of filing one of the three quarterly returns forms-Sahaj (RET-1), Sugam (RET-2) and Normal (RET-3) for the businesses with an annual turnover up to INR 5 Crore.
According to a decision from the GST Council, these new GST return forms will be implemented in the GST tax regime on a pilot basis from April 1st and would be mandatory from July 1st.
The periodicity (monthly or quarterly returns) for GST filing will remain unchanged for the next financial year too if taxpayers won’t change before filling the first return of that year. Also, with the new returns forms, there is an option of switching to “Sugam” or “Sahaj” once in a financial year or at the beginning of any quarter. If taxpayers filling the “Normal” returns.
The taxpayers who are filing normal returns can generate sales through e-commerce operators on which tax is collected at the source. However, with the Sugam and Sahaj filing returns there not such facility.
In transactions between buyer and seller, the buyer can avail tax credit based on the details of documents uploaded by the seller up to the 10th day of the ongoing month for which the buyer is filing the return.
Difference In Between All 3 New GST Returns Forms Normal, Sahaj & Sugam:
For example, if a buyer files its return on a monthly basis for January 2019 on Feb. 20, 2019, so he/she can claim the credit on return based on documents uploaded by the seller up to Feb. 10, 2019, whether the seller file return on the monthly or quarterly basis.
If the buyer files for return on a quarterly basis like for the quarter through March 2019 on April 25, he is liable to claim the tax credit on the return based on the documents uploaded by the seller up to April 10, 2019, whether the seller file return on the monthly or quarterly basis.
What should be the disclosures and how would the functionality of new GST return forms operate, this mechanism too also be clarified with the filing from new forms. The taxpayers who have an annual turnover over INR 5 crore will have to disclose six-digit Harmonised System for Nomenclature code for items and won’t be liable to disclose their sales data between 18th to 20th of the month following the tax period.
