Panaji
Earlier, the deadline for filing the maiden first GST returns was August 20, but because of GST website being down for most parts of August 19 and 20, the central government had to postpone the last date for filing of GST returns to August 25.
Sources confirmed that many returns were filed in Goa on August 24 itself, as people preferred taking a day off on Ganesh Chaturthi. Smooth functioning of the GST site came as a welcome relief to tax-payers after a number of them had failed to file the returns on August 20.
All Goa Tax Practitioners Association president Rajendra Narvekar said, "GST website is working perfectly fine. Payment challans can be easily generated now. I have filed 110 GST returns overall and of that 40 returns were filed on August 24 itself. I faced no issues at all in filing returns."
He continued, "I will be taking a day off on August 25, as it is Ganesh Chaturthi. I've finished tax filing work for my clients."
The fact that tax practitioners are able to take a day off on August 25 shows that most returns were filed by the end of August 24 in the state.
Ashish Prabhu Verlekar, chartered accountant, said, "We didn't face any problems with filing GST returns on August 24. Most of our clients were done with filing return on August 24 itself, but if some returns are remaining, we will work on August 25 to file them."
Although no major problems were reported while filing first GST return, but still certain teething issues remain.
A source on the condition of anonymity said, "The ‘Tran-1 Form', which has to be filed to get input-tax-credit, was uploaded only on August 21. A number of business-people filed GST return before August 21. They will have to file ‘Tran-1 Form' later to get tax credit. In short, there will be a lag in receiving input tax credit."
He continued, "Between August 21 and August 25 (last date of filing GST return), there wasn't much time. Due to this, people will pay GST first and apply for tax credit later. The deadline for filing ‘Tran- 1 Form' is kept at September 30. So, they still have time to file it, but it means that they will have to wait to get the input tax credit."
