Frequently Committed GST Return Filing Mistakes and Their Quick Solutions

Under the GST regime, the accurate and timely filing of GST Returns is extremely important for all businesses. Being technology driven and new, taxpayers face troubles while filing GST Returns. On the other hand, every taxpayer needs to be careful in choosing the right option from the drop downs and furnishing accurate details while filing GST Return because a little mistake may grab the attention of the tax department resulting in further complications.

Thus, here in this article, we will discuss the frequently committed GST Return filing mistakes and their adequate ways for their quick solutions

1.The Assumption of No Sales = No Liability for GST Return Filing 

GST has made all the registered taxpayers to file GST Returns on regular basis irrespective of whether any supply has been made or not within a particular tax month. 

But many of the taxpayers misunderstand the concept and interprets it as if there were zero sales in a particular tax month, there is no requirement of filing any GST Return. 

But, in the GST regime, there is a clear provision for ‘NIL Return’ i.e. only applicable to such cases. 

• Committing such a mistake will lead to a maximum penalty of ₹ 10,000 for a month.

Quick Solution: 

File all GST Returns properly on time, furnishing all the details clearly. If found any difficulty while filing online get the proficient CA support. An advanced, certified, user-friendly and affordable GST compliant software will help a lot.

2. Making Tax Payments Under Wrong Heading or Category

Being a new tax trend filing GST Returns online is found to be a troublesome task by a number of businesses. As there are several menu, columns, rows and drop down options people get confused and may choose the wrong one for an irrelevant topic.

The most important thing is choosing the right heading from CGST/IGST/SGST and UGST. And new users usually commit mistakes in this section. 

But, being an online and complete technology-driven method, nothing can be escaped under GST law and thus filing every Return appropriately is mandatory.

A single wrong selection and irrelevant entry cause mismatches with the counterpart, making it extremely difficult to resolve the issue. 

• In accordance with the GST laws, the excess balance under another head cannot be adjusted/utilized in any other heads. 

Quick Solution: 

To deal effectively with the new tax norms and terms either get the most suitable GST software for your business or obtain a genuine professional support at the soonest.  

3. Incorrect Payment Under Reverse Charge Mechanism

In the current GST regime, the recipient, under the reverse charge mechanism, needs to pay the tax rather than the supplier. 

As per the GST rules, in some special cases only, if an unregistered dealer has made supplies to a registered person, the recipient is required to pay the GST here. However, a number of suppliers also commits mistakes in GST payment on such kind of RCM Transactions. 

• Under the ambit of GST, there are some specific mechanisms where the recipient needs to pay GST to the government and the payable amount should be done through cash only instead against compensating any available Input Tax credit.

Quick Solution: 

There is no specific rule for adjusting the additional tax paid under Reverse Charge Mechanism. The recipient still has to pay GST even if the supplier has done the payment. However, the supplier is eligible to claim the excess tax paid in the form of Input Tax Credit (i.e. ITC). 

4. Treating Zero-rated (Export) Supplies as NIL – Rated and Vice-versa

All the exports made under GST is considered as zero-rated supplies. But it doesn’t mean that tax rate on such items will be 0% (zero percent). It implies that the tax paid on imports and exports are completely refundable in form of ITC (Input Tax Credit).

As a large number of people are still unaware of this difference, they list their exports under NIL-Rated supplies. But it must be noted seriously that when this happens, the taxpayers would not be able to claim ITC further on such supplies and there will be no refund of the tax paid that seems to be a major concern for all exporters.

• Nil-rated supplies are the specific ones which are taxed at 0% (zero percent) or NIL Rate, but ITC is not applicable to them.

Quick Solution:

The most assured solution to remove this complication is to be careful while filing GST Returns online and provide the right information pertaining to exports in the appropriate column only. All exports are zero-rated, not NIL Rated or completely exempted from GST.

Conclusion: 

Goods and Services Tax is completely a transparent and advanced tax structure that does not allow any kind of tax evasion at any level. While on the other hand even a slight mistake or just ignoring a little thing may cause a big difficulty in the new tax regime. Doing so may cause penalties and further complications.