GSTN Reforms GSTR-3B Filing

· Tax Liability will be Shown on Site before Filing

· Input Tax Credit (ITC) available will be Visible – Taxpayer can Decide ITC Utilisation

· Draft Return can be Downloaded to Verify Details Offline

· Auto Fill of Taxes Introduced

GSTR-3B is now the standard form for paying GST. It is a substitute for GSTR 1, 2, and 3. The form is short and simple. Originally devised as a stop gap measure to avoid invoice matching, it is now very popular and may well replace the other cumbersome forms.

The GST Network on 21 February said it has simplified filing of sales return form 3B whereby businesses will now be able to see input tax credit balance on the return forms.

"One area where a few taxpayers were making errors frequently was utilisation of input tax credit (ITC) and computation of balance payment in cash. By improving the user interface and redesigning the process, filing of GSTR-3B has been made considerably convenient," GSTN CEO Prakash Kumar said.

In a statement, the GSTN said that all information required have been placed at one place for the taxpayer filing the return.

The current balance of ITC and Cash registers are shown on the top of the screen, below which tax head-wise liability, suggested best way to utilize ITC and the balance amount to be paid in cash are shown in a single view of a table.

The suggested ITC utilisation can be edited by the taxpayer. Once ITC utilisation is changed, the amount required to be paid automatically gets changed," it said.

Besides, changes have been made in the way challan is to be prepared for making payment in cash. Earlier, the challan had to be manually filled with the amount to be paid in cash. "Now the challan gets prepared with cash amount required to be paid after taking into account the balance available in cash ledger and suggested utilisation of ITC in the table, with a click of a button," GSTN said.

Earlier some taxpayers used to put tax amount under wrong head while filling up challan manually. The possibility of that error will be completely eliminated with the new system as there are no chances of the payment of tax appearing under the wrong head, it added.