Over 65 lakh GST returns filed till January 20: GST Network

Source: Economic Times

On Tuesday, the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) said that a total of 65.65 lakh GSTR-3B returns have been filed for the month of December 2019 till January 20, 2020. CBIC issued a press release saying, “A total of 65.65 lakh GSTR-3B for the tax month of December were filed till 20^th January 2020 out of which 13.30 lakh GSTR-3B returns were filed on the last day itself, i.e. on 20^th January 2020.”

The indirect tax body added that a total of 24.66 lakh GSTR-3B returns were filed till January 14. It further added that “on 15^th January 2.66 lakh, on 16^th January 4.65 lakh and on 17^th January 5.93 lakh GSTR-3B returns were filed. In the last three days 8.32 lakh, 6.09 lakh and 13.30 lakh GSTR-3B returns were filed on 18^th, 19^th and 20^th January respectively.”

CBIC further said in its statement that, for the tax month of December, more than 2 lakh GSTR-3B returns were filed by January 21. Hence, the total GSTR-3B returns filed in the month of January add up to 67.70 lakh. The indirect tax authority acknowledged the issue of some time lag in receiving OTPs by the taxpayers in the past due to the delay in the email service provider or local internet issues.

OTPs sent to both email and registered contact number

However, CBIC noted that in order to tackle this issue, OTPs are now being set simultaneously to the taxpayers’ email address as well as to their registered contact numbers. The agency further said in its press release, “In order to ensure that no inconvenience is faced by the taxpayer on this account, the OTPs are sent simultaneously on email as well as on registered mobile number so that in case there is a delay in receiving OTP on email, OTP received on mobile phone or vice versa can be used. The taxpayer can use OTP received on any channel for filing their returns.”