First meet of GoM to iron out GSTN portal glitches tomorrow

NEW DELHI: The group of ministers set up to look into the technical issues faced by GST Network, headed by Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi, will hold its first meeting tomorrow.

The GST Council, the highest decision-making body of the new Goods and Services Tax (GST) regime, had on Saturday decided to form a five-member panel to look into the technical glitches facing GST Network ( GSTN).

The GoM was constituted on September 12 and its first meeting is convened within a week as the government looks at fast ironing out the issues faced by businesses.

GSTN, the information technology (IT) backbone and portal for real-time taxpayer registration, migration, and tax return filing under GST, had run into a snag when the first deadline for filing of returns approached, forcing the government to extend the last date.

Kerala Finance Minister Thomas Isaac, Chhattisgarh Minister of Commercial Taxes Amar Agrawal, Karnataka Agriculture Minister Krishna Byre Gowda and Telangana Finance Minister Etela Rajender are other members of the GoM.

Besides, Revenue Secretary Hasmukh Adhia, GSTN Chairman Ajay Bhushan Pandey and GSTN CEO Prakash Kumar will attend tomorrow's meeting in Bengaluru.

"GSTN would make a presentation before the GoM, highlighting the issues being faced and its preparedness to handle 3 billion invoices," an official said.

GSTN will explain how a rush before the last date of filing returns leads to malfunctioning of the systems. The GoM will also monitor and resolve the IT challenges faced during implementation of GST.