The deadline for filing summary sales return GSTR-3B for the month of September has been extended five days i.e. till October 25, 2018 by Finance Ministry.
Till October 25, 2018, the businesses can claim ITC benefits for July 2017- March 2018 due to the extension.
Relating to October 20 due date for claiming ITC under GST for July 2017-March-2018, trade and industry expressed their nervousness, said the Central Board Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC), under the FiMi.
“With a view to give some more time for the same, the last date for furnishing GSTR-3B for the month of September 2018 is being extended up to 25th October 2018”, the CBIC tweeted.
The deadline for September GSTR-3B return filing was October 20, as per the rule according to which monthly GST return is to be filed by the 20th day of the following month.
“The extension of the said due date also implies that the last date for availment of ITC for the period July 2017 to March 2018 also gets extended up to October 25, 2018,” the Finance Ministry later said in a statement.
Businesses expressed their fear about 20 0ctober 2018 deadline, saying that there will be a problem in the relationship of their sales return with the purchase returns filed by their suppliers.
The deadline for ITC claims and GSTR-3B have been kept same i.e. 25 October 2018 to enable traders to avail the ITC on the basis of GSTR-3B filed or summary sales return.
Goods and Services Tax (GST) came as law on July 1, 2017. “The ministry further said that for those taxpayers who have been recently migrated from erstwhile tax regime to GST regime, the last date for availing ITC for the period July 2017 to March 2018, is December 31, 2018 or the date of filing of annual return whichever is earlier,” the statement added.
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The businesses which could not file the return by October 20, 2018 can file it till October 25, 2018 and this will not affect the large companies who filed the return by working overtime, said PwC India Partner and Leader (Indirect Tax) Pratik Jain.
“Since there is no facility for amendment of the return, these companies can not claim the credit which they might have missed,” he said.
The extension of the date is a shock for cooperative payers, whereas it can also be a bonus for non-filers, late filers, and tax evaders said AMRG & Associates Partner Rajat Mohan.
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The due date should at least be extended till November 20, so that the credit can be claimed in October return, said Jain. “This is extremely critical as the amount of credit at stake is huge in many cases,” he added.
