Business Desk, New Delhi. GST taxpayers will now get the option to amend the sales return form GSTR-1 before paying taxes for a month or quarter. The GST Council in its meeting on Saturday recommended a new optional facility through Form GSTR-1A to facilitate taxpayers to amend details in GSTR-1 or add additional details.

However, GSTR-1A has to be filed before filing return in GSTR-3B for the said tax period. Currently, GST taxpayers file sales return form GSTR-1 by the 11th day of the next month. At the same time, taxpayers with annual turnover up to Rs 5 crore can file GSTR-1 13 days before the end of the quarter.

Rajat Bose, partner, Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas & Co, said that from the compliance point of view, the recommendation made by the council is a positive change and will make it easier to do business. At the same time, Abhishek Jain, head and partner, indirect tax, KPMG, said that providing the facility of amendment in the filing done in GSTR-1 is a good step to correct the clerical and inadvertent errors before paying taxes.

The GST Council has also recommended that taxpayers with a total annual turnover of up to Rs 2 crore should be exempted from filing annual returns in GSTR-9/9A form for the financial year 2023-24. Along with this, the Council has made many such recommendations which will reduce the difficulties of businessmen. These include reducing government litigation and simplifying GST.