GST Council meet today, taxpayers may get simpler return
filing forms
The 27th GST Council meeting will take place today
through video conferencing and is likely to come up with
comprehensive changes to the return filing process in
order to make it simpler.
Other key issues in the agenda include a proposal to
bring GST Network completely in Government control by
buying the stakes of the private entities. Currently,
five private financial institutions - HDFC Ltd, HDFC
Bank Ltd, ICICI Bank Ltd, NSE Strategic Investment Co
and LIC Housing Finance Ltd, together hold 51 per cent
stake in GSTN.
There is also a proposal to introduce a Sugar cess of
5%, which if approved by the Council will in all
probability come through a new Act of Parliament in the
next session since the GST Act has no provision for
cess.
However, all eyes will be on the Council to come up with
simplified return filing process. The Group of state
finance ministers under Bihar Deputy Chief Minister
Sushil Modi and Nandan Nilekani have been going through
different iterations of the return filing process and
have zeroed in on three different models of the process.
The Council is widely expected to agree to one of them,
which is likely to closely mirror the return filing
process under the erstwhile VAT system. This would mean
filing only one return every month compared to three
every month under the current GST process. |