No relief for traders: Govt denies extension of GSTR-3B deadline

Traders said they were unable to file returns due to GST Network (GSTN) server issues. It's not the first time that the taxpayers have voiced this grievance.

The IT wing refuted this accusation and said that the system is performing as required.

These incompetency charges came on a day when UIDAI CEO A.B. Pandey got appointed as the interim chairman of GSTN.

Here's more.

The industry claimed that it was the collapse of GSTN's "hired" servers that led to the filing problems, as they was not capable of handling a large volume of traffic.

In response to this accusation, GSTN took to Twitter to state, "45+ lakhs GSTR-3B, 17 lakhs GSTR-1 and 13+ crores invoices filed. GST System is working fine."

Both sides are currently engaged in the blame game. The industry now wants the filing deadline to be relaxed for a few months, so that they are able to file their returns properly.

Government sources blamed the tax consultants and firms for dilly-dallying with their returns and waiting for the very last day to file it.

Despite mass complaints by traders about server issues in the GST Network which had delayed their returns filing, the Finance Ministry has refused to extend the deadline of September 20.

Earlier, it had been extended to August 28 due to technical glitches.

Revenue Secretary Dr Hasmukh Adhia has urged traders to not wait for last day to avoid possible glitches due to heavy traffic.