According to a top official, so far nearly 20 lakh businesses have paid returns online and it is expected that about 30 lakh businesses will pay first month returns before the deadline of 25th August. Chairman of GSTN portal Navin Kumar stated that IT network is being equipped to manage the rush of tax filings and payments.
Last week the Government had extended the tax filing date for 5 more days as the GSTN portal website crashed in the previous week due to last minute rush of taxpayers. Kumar told PTI, “About 48 lakh taxpayers have saved the sales data on the portal. Of this, 20 lakh have filed returns and paid taxes so far,”. From 10 lakh businesses government earned around Rs. 42000 crores in the form of taxes paid by them.
Central – GST, State – GST and IGST as well as cess on luxury cars and sport utility vehicles (SUVs) were also part of the taxes paid. Till date, the collection of taxes is estimated to be increased significantly with the number of taxpayers increasing upto 20 lakhs which is almost double the number of taxpayers who have already paid their taxes before the closure of the deadline. Kumar did not mention the tax collection figures but predicted that the remaining taxpayers will pay the taxes in coming two days.
Kumar further said,”The GSTR-3B process include uploading of data, payment of taxes and preparation of cash ledger. Uploading of data takes some time. Since another 28 lakh have already uploaded data, we expect them to pay taxes,”.
When questioned on how able is the GST portal to manage the rush of taxpayers, Kumar answered that 48 lakh taxpayers have already submitted their taxes and hence it is unlikely to lead to any rush this time.
On 19th August, the deadline for filing the returns and payment of taxes has been extended by the government from 20th August to 25th August, after receiving complaints from businesses regarding snag in the GST portal. Kumar said, “There was a minor technical glitch for an hour on that day with problem of delayed login. Still, 2.7 lakh returns were filed on August 19.”
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A total of 72 lakh taxpayers were enrolled in the previous regime and have migrated to the new Goods and Services Tax Regime (GST), out of them 50 lakh taxpayers were able to complete their migration process at GSTN portal. Apart from these, 15 lakh fresh registrations have enrolled in the Goods and Services Tax (GST) Regime, out of them 10 lakh businesses are expected to pay their taxes for the month of July. Additionally, it is expected that nearly 60 lakh businesses will file returns and pay taxes of July month before the closing deadline i.e, 25th August.