Government to introduce new GST return system

The GST Council has decided that from January 2020 all taxpayers shall be filing Form GST RET-01 as Form GSTR-3B will be completely phased out. To help with the transition, a prototype offline tool has already been shared on the portal to familiar users.

There are three main parts to the new return system - one main return (Form GST RET-1) and two annexures (Form GST ANX-1 and Form GST ANX-2). The new return system (ANX-1 & ANX-2) will be available for trial between July and September 2019. From July, 2019, taxpayers would be able to upload invoices using the ANX-1 offline tool. Taxpayers would also be able to view and download the inward supply of invoices using the ANX-2 offline trial tool. From August 2019, the tool would also allow import of purchase register which can be matched with the downloaded inward supply invoices.

During the three months trial period, July to September, the new return system would have no impact at the back end to the actual returns filed by the taxpayer, who will continue to file Form GSTR-1 and GSTR-3B and non-filing of these returns shall attract penal provisions.

Large taxpayers (more than Rs. 5 crore) would upload their monthly Form GST ANX-1 from October 2019 onwards. For October and November, 2019, large taxpayers would continue to file Form GSTR-3B on monthly basis. While small taxpayers would stop filing Form GSTR-3B and file Form GST PMT-08 from October 2019 onwards.