The Central GST and State GST authorities organized a nationwide GST Stakeholder Feedback Diwas on New GST Returns for getting an on-the-spot response to the new GST Returns in 125 cities across the country where 7500+ trade associations/stakeholders participated in the programme. The new return form is to be made mandatory from 1st April 2020.

CBIC said that the Feedback Diwas programmes are still going on at various places. The preliminary reports received with the CGST authorities are very encouraging. There has been an overwhelming response from GST stakeholders and several useful suggestions have been received. The programme was widely welcomed by GST stakeholders and tax professional/fraternity. It was significant that besides a large number of taxpayers, all prominent chambers of commerce and industry, tax practitioners & compliance managers also participated in the programmes.

CBIC said that the CGST officers explained the new GST Returns and encouraged the participants to themselves upload these Returns (ANX-1 and ANX-2) and give feedback in regard to the ease of compliance, uploading, deficiencies and improvements, if any. The focus was on assessing the ease of compliance and uploading of these new returns so that the taxpayers and trader do not face any difficulty when the returns are made mandatory.

CBIC further said that the detailed feedback would be available by Monday, 9th Dec and we will further work on it to facilitate ease of compliance and convenience to taxpayers. CBIC said that programme is hailed as a step in the right direction for greater transparency in tax administration.

It may be noted that the Finance Minister Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman had directed the CGST and SGST authorities to organize a nationwide interaction with stakeholders on 7th Dec 2019 in order to get a first-hand feedback on the new GST Returns that are proposed to be rolled out from 01.04.2020. This was a follow up of the Finance Minister’s meeting held on 16.11.2019 with select taxpayers, Chartered Accountants and Tax practitioners on the same subject.

Further, during the 1st National Conference on GST held on 25.11.2019, Revenue Secretary had also urged the States GST authorities to hold similar stakeholder consultations in their .

New GST Returns rollout: stakeholder feedback process to refine compliance and uploading mechanisms before mandatory implementation. Nationwide Feedback Diwas gathered on the spot stakeholder input on the New GST Returns, with taxpayers and practitioners testing ANX 1 and ANX 2 to assess ease of compliance and uploading; preliminary strong participation produced operational suggestions to be compiled and used to refine return formats and procedures prior to mandatory rollout.