Traders in Gujarat to ask officials to file GST returns for them in unique protest

In order to deal with the difficulty in filing the GST returns (GSTR), the traders of Gujarat have decided to take a unique step. The Gujarat Commercial Tax Bar Association (SGCTBA), Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) and power loom weavers are going to the Goods and Service Tax Suvidha Kendra (GSTSK) in Surat and ask the officials present there to upload the returns for them.

The technical snag in the GST portal and the cumbersome process of giving detailed information about the traded goods has forced hundreds of commercial tax consultants from South Gujarat to boycott the filing of GSTR-2.

As a result, on Friday, traders and tax consultants have decided to visit GSK with their business transaction details in a flash drive, reported The Times of India. The traders and tax consultants will hand over the drives to the officials present and ask them to upload and file the returns so that they can experience the nature of difficulties traders are facing.

“During his last visit to the Diamond City, revenue secretary Hasmukh Adhia had stated at a public event that tax consultants and traders would have to press just one key and their returns will be uploaded and filed on the GST portal,” the report quoted SGCTBA president Prashant Shah.

“Ironically, we have been pressing the keys for 10 to 15 times, yet not able to file the returns. Thus, we have boycotted the filing of GSTR-2 returns. We will visit the GSK and ask the officials there to file the returns for us on the portal."

CAIT's Gujarat president Pramod Bhagat echoed that the traders are worried as they have not been able to file the returns for the months of August and September as the portals are not working properly. He added that they will be able to file the returns only if the portals were working properly at GSK.