Why are the rest of 15-20 lakh registered taxpayers not
filing GST returns? Experts cite many reasons for the
gap in number of registrants and filers.
"Many taxpayers who migrated from the older systems to
the GST regime may not have any business at all (even
earlier), and hence they do not file returns," says
Prateek Jain, Leader, Indirect tax, PwC. However, he
admits that the number of non-filers is too big to be
accounted for by this reason, and he says that the
government would have to see the real reasons for this.
M S Mani, Senior Director, Indirect Taxes, Deloitte
India, says, "Under GST there is a concept of nil return
where even if there are no sales in a month, the
registered dealer has to file returns. Quite possibly,
many dealers and businesses who think that they may not
need to file return if they have made no sales."
And the third reason could be, say experts, the habit of
some taxpayers to file late returns. Mani of Deloitte
says that there are some dealers and traders who are
continuously on the wait and watch mode when it comes to
filing returns. "In GST, there is no concept of revised
returns, returns once filed is filed for good. So, these
traders would be thinking that even if they delay it by
a couple of month all they have to do is pay the
interest and a fine of Rs 50 a day, a price they are
ready to bear," he explains.
The GST Council, the governing body of GST, has also
relaxed the return filing rules, reduced the late
penalty from Rs 100 a day to Rs 50 a day (Rs 20 for nil
return), and extended the deadlines several times, in
the process diluting the seriousness attached with the
GST compliance. This also partly explains the continuous
fall in the number of returns filed each month.
Rajat Mohan, partner, AMRG & Associates Chartered
Accountants firm, says that in the early couple of
months there was fear among registered dealers and
businesses that if they do not file returns on time,
they may not be allowed to file returns. However, after
many extensions that fear among businesses has reduced.
Source::: Business Today,
dated 27/02/2018