Ministerial Panel For GST Network To Meet On Saturday

A ministerial panel headed by Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Modi will take stock of the GST Network and the new software that is proposed to be used for return filing once the new forms are introduced next year.

The meeting of the Group of Ministers, set up in September 2017 to look into the technical issues faced by the goods and service tax network, will be held in Bengaluru on Saturday.

Most of the technical issues flagged by the panel so far have been resolved, an official said. With the stabilisation of the current return filing format under GST, the focus of the meeting will be on preparedness to shift to a new format.

The revenue department in July-end put up the draft GST returns forms -- Sahaj and Sugam -- in public domain for seeking comments from stakeholders. The law committee is now reading into the comments to see whether any modification is required in the draft form.

Meanwhile, the GSTN is also readying the software for the new return filing format. The new returns form was cleared by the GST council in its last meeting on July 21 and a pilot with the new format is expected to begin on Jan. 1, 2019.

Kerala Finance Minister Thomas Isaac, Chhattisgarh Minister of Commercial Taxes Amar Agrawal, Karnataka Agriculture Minister Krishna Byre Gowda and Telangana Finance Minister Etela Rajender are other members of the panel on GSTN.