GST registration set to re-open on June 1

With one-fourth of taxpayers yet to enrol for the Goods and Services Tax (GST), the government has decided to reopen the I-T?window from June 1 for 15 days, so as to help firms switch over to the new regime from July, said Revenue Secretary Hasmukh Adhia.

GST is set to roll out from July 1, and 60.5 lakh entities have already enrolled with the GSTN system. However, the process to enrol taxpayers on the Goods and Services Tax Network (GSTN) portal was suspended on April 30.

"As on April 30, 2017, when the first phase of enrolment was closed, 60.5 lakh taxpayers of 84 lakh had enrolled. The enrollment window will re-open for 15 days from June 1 to give taxpayers another chance to enrol," said the finance ministry.

Adhia expressed satisfaction with the preparation for the roll-out of GST on Wednesday. He reviewed the progress on enrolment of existing taxpayers. He also briefed about the software system being developed for GST, training of tax officials and outreach programme being put in place by tax departments across the country.

The training is being conducted on registration, returns and payment modules developed by GSTN, it said, adding GSTN is also conducting a pilot on GST System Software from May 2 to May 16 where 3,200 taxpayers drawn from each state and Union Territory will be participating. The pilot covers all three modules, and is being run to give taxpayers first-hand opportunity to work on the live system as the creation of returns has become an interactive process, an official statement said.

This will also open up the opportunity to test all modules by a large set of users in a live scenario so that all possible scenarios get tested. All stakeholders involved in the GST system — from the taxpayer, accounting authorities, and banks to RBI — will participate in this exercise.