PANAJI: Clarifying on lacuna in Goods and Services Tax (GST) relaxation announced last week, Commissioner for Commercial Taxes Dipak M Bandekar on Tuesday said that businesses with more than Rs 1.5 crore annual turnover would have to self-declare their inputs while filing GST return to take input-tax-credit, in case the supplier of these inputs has less than Rs 1.5 crore annual turnover.
The GST Council had announced last week that businesses with less than Rs 1.5 crore annual turnover could file GST return once in a quarter. 'The Goan Everyday' had in its October 10, 2017 edition reported that the relaxation had resulted in a lot of confusion.
Business owners with more than Rs 1.5 crore annual turnover were worried as to how they would get input-tax-credit on purchases from suppliers with less than Rs 1.5 crore annual turnover because in such cases the buyer has to file GST return once a month, but the seller has to do so only once in a quarter.
Therefore, how will the buyer take input-tax-credit if his supplier hasn't even declared his turnover? Bandekar said, "In such cases, the buyer, while filing simplified GST return once in a month, can self-declare the amount of purchases. We will match his declaration with the return, which the supplier will file once in 3 months."
But, there is a catch here, as Bandekar continued, "Suppose after 3 months, the seller doesn't file his GST return. In such a case, the buyer will have to return to the government the amount of input-tax-credit he had claimed alongwith the interest."
When asked why the buyer should worry about his seller's GST return, Bandekar replied, "This is not specific to such cases, as the entire GST system is built on this principle. If a seller doesn't pay GST, it is the buyer from whom the government claims GST. The idea is to discourage businesses to purchase inputs from suppliers not filing GST returns."
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THE CONFUSION
* How would businesses with over Rs 1.5 crore annual turnover get input-tax-credit on purchases from suppliers with less than Rs 1.5 crore turnover because in such cases the buyer has to file GST return once a month, but the seller has to do so only once a quarter
* How will the buyer take input-tax-credit if his supplier hasn't even declared his turnover?
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THE CLARIFICATION
* In such cases, the buyer, while filing simplified GST return once in a month, can self-declare the amount of purchases. The declaration will be matched with the return, which the supplier will file once in 3 months * If after 3 months, the seller doesn't file GST return, the buyer will have to return the amount of input-tax-credit he claimed along with interest
