Govt. Allows Taxpayers to File GSTR-3B Returns in a Staggered Manner

Shubham Chauhan

31 Aug, 2021

As per the Ministry of Finance from now on there will be three last dates -20th, 22nd and 24th of every month to file GSTR-3B Returns.

The three dates that have been provided are based on different categories of taxpayers.

The Ministry of Finance^[1] on Wednesday staggered last dates of filing GSTR-3B, a monthly return form and gave three dates for different categories of taxpayers. This decision of the Government aims at de-stressing the system and avoid the last-minute rush of return filers.

Before allowing three different dates to file GSTR-3B, the last date for filing the form was 20th of every month. However, from now onwards, there will be three dates- 20th, 22nd and 24th of every month based on different categories of taxpayers.

This decision of allowing three different dates to file a monthly return form came out of the difficulties faced by trade and industry in the filing of returns. It is to be noted that most of the taxpayers were filing their returns on the last date, i.e. January 20 which reported in glitches in return filing system of GST Network. To overcome these glitches in the return filing system of GST Network, Government came up with this decision of allowing three dates to file GSTR-3B.

As per the Ministry of Finance from now on the last date for filing of GSTR-3B for the taxpayers with an annual turnover of Rs 5 crore and above in previous financial year will be 20th of every month. There are around 8 lakh taxpayers with an annual turnover of Rs 5 crore and above. Therefore, these 8 lakh taxpayers will have to file their GSTR-3B returns before 20th of every month.

The category of taxpayers having an annual turnover below Rs. 5 crore in the previous financial year is further divided into 2 categories based on their State/UT. Tax filers from 15 States/UTs that includes Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Daman and Diu, Dadra and Nagar Haveli, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Goa, Lakshadweep, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Puducherry, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Telangana and Andhra Pradesh will have to file their GSTR-3B returns before 22nd of every month. This category has around 49 lakh taxpayers and all these 49 lakh GSTR-3B filers will have 22nd of every month as their last date for filing GSTR-3B returns.

The taxpayers from remaining 22 States/UTs including Jammu and Kashmir, Laddakh, Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, Chandigarh, Uttarakhand, Haryana, Delhi, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Sikkim, Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram, Tripura, Meghalaya, Assam, West Bengal, Jharkhand and Odisha will have to file their GSTR-3B returns before 24th of every month. There are around 46 lakh taxpayers in this category.

Government of India is committed to further improve the performance of the return filing portal of the GST Network. The Government is working with leading tech giant Infosys to enhance the performance of GSTN filing portal. Several technological measures are being worked out with Infosys and shall be brought in place by April 2020.