| Mar-19-2021

What are your views about the current status of GST implementation in India?

What are your views about the current status of GST implementation in India?

It is daunting task to replace multiple taxes and synchronizing various state and central bodies in a single tax system. GST is going to be an evolving tax system. It has been over 10 months since GST has been implemented in India. We can say that the law has come to a certain stability. To a certain extent, technology has also been tested at GSTN portal, practitioners, service providers and client end. Everyone has adopted to changes.

Best part is that government is listening to trade associations and their representatives. Many concerns are addressed by government like changes in rates, changes in return filing process etc.

Are business getting accustomed to changes in Taxation?

It is difficult to comment on this. Most of the business are prepared for Invoicing. They are aware about their tax rates. But many are not geared up for return filing. Companies with sound systems and trained man power are able to file return with the help of their consultants. But small or micro businesses are struggling with returns.

Recent article given in ET shows that 34 percent of businesses paid Rs 34,400 crore less tax between July-December while filing initial summary return (GSTR-3B). All these could be small business who are not prepared for GST.

Luckily Government has made changes in return filing and ITC has not been denied as it was defined in GST law.

How successful and comfortable are CA/Tax practitioners in GST return filing?

We must say that we have managed to file return for clients. GSTN portal is not fully functional. We could manage returns because of relaxation in return filing frequency and increase in composition limit. It might not be same post implementation of 27th GST council recommendations.

You have been very proactive in helping your clients getting prepared for GST by automating their Accounting. Are you happy with your decision?

I am extremely happy with my decision to computerise my clients so that they enjoy benefits of GST and do not suffer due to complex returns. Our team was relaxed during return filing process because we got timely readymade data from my clients. There were very less mistakes in data, and as a result delivering satisfactory services are possible.

As a CA, what are the benefits of automating accounting at your client’s place?

I get data prepared and because of that my staff need not to do lot of work before filing returns. Clients know their parties and items very well hence I get correct data which is basic requirement of GST returns. Any mistake in data increases work in subsequent returns which is waste of time. Client can take care of their purchase and sales. If they make any mistake in sales then their client will complain them about mismatch in return and they can correct it at their site. Or else it becomes a chain of communication between our clients, their clients and supplier and CA.

We are facing challenges where clients are not computerised. These clients give our contact numbers to their debtors and creditors for any mismatch.

Are you happy with changes introduced in GST returns as per 27th GST council meeting?

Those changes are really very good for businesses and tax practitioners. It will reduce our work load and GSTN will do most of the work. In first instance ITC will not denied for buyer and seller will be responsible. But going forward, Provisional credit will get withdrawn totally, and ITC will be limited only to the invoices uploaded by the sellers from whom the dealer has purchased goods.

As a result, businesses should filter their supplier and avoid dealing with non-compliant suppliers.

What probable threats do you foresee if businesses are not computerised?

As I mentioned earlier about 27th GST council changes, provisional credit will get withdrawn totally, and ITC will be limited only to the invoices uploaded by the sellers. As a result, we can expect change in behaviour of every businesses. Buyer will make sure that his inward supply invoices are reported to GSTN. If supplier fails to upload bill, it will hamper his cash flow.

Accounting is outsourced, business will have to ask his consultants to upload invoices in frequent basis. For CA / tax practitioners it will not be feasible if they are supporting over 100 clients. Hence it is recommended that every business should take care of their own accounting and take help of CA for auditing and verifying data for ensuring correctness of returns.

Can you say Tally is good for GST?

Software is very easy to use and because of that our first-time computer user learned to generate Invoicing in no time. Due to single tax ledger and tax definition at Item level, users are not making mistake in tax selection. All returns are available as per the GSTN format which we can directly upload to portal. E-way bill is also very easy, it saves clients time.

What would you say about Vision Solution’s after sales service?

Vision Solution’s services has been very prompt, they have provided regular update. Based on these updates we are able to conduct campaign for our clients.