Central Government recently extended the deadline for the initial GST return of the form GSTR – 3B which can now be filed up until 28th August as against earlier 20th August. But the extension of the deadline has been only for those taxpaying individuals who have opted to utilise the opening balance of pre-GST credit in the current month.
And the remaining taxpayers who are not claiming opening credit in the current month or they are left with no credit will have to file the returns until August 20th. Also, the deadline extended now allows the taxpaying individuals to file TRAN -1 form by 28th September, as it is a mandatory compliance for claiming the opening credit.
KPMG India partner Priyajit Ghosh stated that “interesting, TRAN 1 filing system is not up and running yet on GST portal. the industry raised the working capital issue is without filing TRAN 1 they could not have taken the benefit of the opening credit, resulting in advance cash flow impact in the first month of GST implementation”.
Read Also: Input Tax Credit Guide Under Goods and Services Tax: Calculation & Examples
There are some important points to be taken care of:
- The GST portal will get ready by the extended deadline for the implementation of TRAN 1 filing mechanism.
- Very least time available for the taxpayer individual according to the detailed reporting compliance under TRAN 1.
- There is interest obligation if in a case of credit claims exceed the required one, which in turn slows down the taxpayers from filing TRAN 1 hastily.
PwC, Partner and Leader Indirect Tax, Pratik Jain stated that “It is a much-awaited notification for the industry as it was not clear as to whether opening input credit can be claimed while filing GSTR 3B. Now, the businesses will be able to claim opening credit by filing TRAN 1 before 28th August, which is the revised due date for filing GSTR 3B. However, since GST has to be paid by August 20th, businesses will have to determine the opening credit beforehand. It is not clear, however, as to whether TRAN 1, once filed, can be revised later.”