Govt likely to extend deadline of GST retun filing date, audit report for FY19; tax body to meet on 20 September

In a major relief for businesses, the government is expected to extend the deadline for filing GST annual return and audit report for the fiscal year 2019, said media reports. The Goods and Sercices Tax (GST) Council, may extend the last date for filing the return and audit report beyond 31 December 2019 because companies are busy meeting the deadline for FY18, the first year of GST roll-out, said a report in _Min_t quoting a source in the know of the development. [caption id=“attachment_4799391” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Representational image. News18.[/caption] However, the extension of the due date for FY19, the first full year of the new tax regime, is likely to be announced around the deadline as the government is not keen to pre-empt the preparations undertaken by the businesses to meet the last date, said the report. The high-powered GST Council, which is to meet on 20 September, is expected to decide about the deadline exension soon though there is no clarity about the date, said a report in Business Today. The government extended the due date of the GST return filing date for the FY18 as many as three times due to a slew of reasons including technical problems in furnishing returns. On 26 August, the government had extended the last date for filing annual GST returns by three months to 30 November as taxpayers were facing technical problems in furnishing returns. Earlier, the deadline for the GST filing returns was fixed at 31 August. While extending the date, the Central Board of Indirect Taxes & Customs (CBIC) said, “Certain technical problems are being faced by the taxpayers as a result annual return for the period 1 July, 2017 to 31 March, 2018 could not be furnished by persons registered under GST.” — With inputs from agencies