CBIC weighs I-T-like prefilled consolidated GST return forms

The government is working on pre-filled consolidated GST return forms on the lines of Annual Information Statement (AIS) feature used by the Income tax department, which will allow taxpayers to view all their transaction details and e-invoices to arrive at exact tax liabilities.

The consolidated pre-filled form, being readied by Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC), will also come with an e-verification feature to settle any discrepancies in data ahead of the filing of return, reducing the scope of any error.

The facility, expected to be launched by the end of this year, will reduce litigation, will further improve compliance and will enhance ease of filing GST returns without hassles of uploading so many documents, officials said.

"Automation in filing is already happening and by November we expect the launch of a consolidated AIS like feature for the GST taxpayers also," a senior official told ET.

Currently a regular business needs to file three returns - GSTR-1 and GSTR-3B on monthly and quarterly basis, depending on their turnover and an annual GSTR-9 form. While some forms already have pre filled data, it is not synchronised and the taxpayers have to match all details around purchases, sales, refund claims or demand created separately to avail input tax credit.

The official added that the facility is expected to reduce the time and cost of e filling by 60%.

Enhanced Automation
In the last six month, the department already worked on capturing more data from the taxpayers by lowering the threshold of E-Invoices, syncing their financial data from banks and NBFCs, automated scrutiny and sharing of data from the income tax department.

ET had earlier reported that GSTN will be integrated with the country's ambitious financial data sharing network - Account Aggregator - before July 1.