Difficulties in filing GST online, Tax practitioner's plea to Govt

Chennai, Dec 14: The Federation of Tax Practitioners Associations of Tamil Nadu on Thursday demanded that that the GST portal should be made available in regional languages to enable small and retail traders to pay their taxes and returns, which in turn would lead to increase in revenue to the government.

In a memorandum submitted to Commissioner of Commercial Tax here, Federation President P R Mohan, Vice-President Sundaram and Secretary R Ravichandran said at present the GST website was available only in English and several small traders, like grocery shop owners were finding it difficult to file their taxes online, which results in government losing revenue.
'If the website was made available in regional language, it will benefit several small traders, who will be be able file their taxes in a hassle-free manner. This will also help the government earn more revenue', they added.
They also wanted the government to simplify the tax filing procedures online, besides making available toll free numbers in regional languages as many of the traders were not familiar with the hindi language. Stating that the tax practitioners were facing hardships in the new WW form introduced by the Centre, they wanted restoration of the old WW form for the assessment year 2016-17 and extend the last date for filing till December 31 this year for the benefit of the trading community.
Apart from including their federation as member in GST council, they also wanted the government to hold the next GST council meet in Tamil Nadu and permit their representative to participate in it to putforth their grievances to the authorities and get them redressed. UNI