Filing GSTR 3B Gets Tougher Due to Technical Bugs in the GST System

Priya Nawani (Ex-Employee)

5 years ago

Following the reports of technical bugs encountered while filing of GST returns (summary returns GSTR 3B), Goods and Service Tax Network (GSTN) announced that the total of 65.65 lakh GST return 3B form were filed in the month of December (till 20 Jan) out of which 13.30 lakh returns were filed on the due date.

Taxpayers struggled with delays in receiving the one-time-password (OTP), maybe due to the malfunctioning of email service providers or local internet issues. As a measure, the department has come up with the solution to provide OTP to tax filers simultaneously on email as well as SMS on the registered mobile number, so that taxpayers are not stuck on account of delay in OPT arrival via email. OTP received on mobile phones can be used in case there is a lag in receiving OTP via mail, says GSTN.

Apart from that, there are complaints like payments not getting reflected on the taxpayer’s dashboard, the GSTN system is not efficient of handling last moment heavy traffic onboard, the system is taking longer to feature the payments on the dashboard, several OTPs are received for single return filing, data uploading takes longer than usual, returns when previewed are showing incorrect numbers, data uploaded using ASP/GSP takes additional time to reflect and the system frequently logs out the user, declared by Rajat Mohan (senior partner at AMRG & Associates).

The fact that the GSTN system was working up to the mark can be proved as up till January 14, a total of 24.66 lakh GSTR-3B forms GST council decided GSTR 3B filing until March 2019 in the 27th meeting. We researched and published some interesting points that why Indian government extended GSTR 3B every time?. were furnished. On January 15, another 2.66 forms were accumulated on the system, on January 16 another 4.65 lakh forms were filed. Finally, 5.93 lakh forms on 17 January were submitted. The figures for the last three days were, 8.32 lakh, 6.09 lakh, and 13.30 lakh respectively.

Adding on to the data of filed GSTR 3B forms another 2 lakhs entries were seen on the system on Tuesday, which brought the numbers to 67.70 lakhs in this month.

To be noted: For the convenience of taxpayers who are facing trouble on account of delayed OTP arrival via Email (due to technical glitches in email service provider or local internet issues), GSTN is now sending OTPs for return filing via SMS along with shooting a regular email. Either of the two channels (SMS and Email) could be used to acquire the OTP.