Last date for GST enrollment by service providers today

Last date for GST enrollment by service providers today

Today is the last date for service providers for enrolling with the GST Network. Every registered service tax assessee has to file service tax return in form ST-3 on a half-yearly basis before the due date to avoid penalty.

For filing returns for the period April to September, the due date is October 25th, while for October-March it is April 25th. The Central Board of Excise and Customs had extended the due date till today as the assessees faced intermittent difficulties in accessing the Automation of Central Excise and Service Tax website. As per norms, the returns have to be filed online on www.aces.gov.in.

The government is asking existing excise, service tax and VAT assessees to shift to the GST Network portal for payment of tax and filing returns. GST, which will unify local taxes, is expected to kick in from 1st July. There are more than 80 lakh VAT, excise and service tax assessees who are expected to register under the unified GSTN, which provides IT infrastructure and services for implementation of GST.

While over 75 per cent of VAT and 73 per cent of the central excise assesses have switched to the GST Network, the figure for service tax is a meagre 34 per cent of the existing assessees. Duty or tax credits under the existing laws cannot be carried forward in GST unless businesses enrol in the GST portal.

Today is also the last date for commensurate deposits by people who have declared their unaccounted income under the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Deposit Scheme.

The scheme which opened on December 17th last year provided last chance to holders of undisclosed income to come clean by paying tax and penalty. The scheme closed on March 31st. It is also the last day for banks to upload details into the RBI’s E-Kuber system.