The Goods and Services Tax Council on Saturday failed to come up with a simplified system of filing returns. The Ministry of Finance tweeted after the council’s 26th meeting on Saturday that the existing system would continue for three more months.
However, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said that the e-way bill for interstate goods transport would be rolled out from April 1, Moneycontrol reported.
Jaitley said that the tax bureaucracy wanted a mechanism to file returns which would leave no room for tax evasion. “The council had in mind that the system, in which the return would be processed once a month, would be easy and there will not be any chances of evasion,” the finance minister said. “That is why we could not come on a conclusion and extended the existing system by 3 months.”
Jaitley added that the council would form a Group of Ministers to deliberate the matter and meet with information technology experts to come up with a solution, The Economic Times reported.
The finance minister also announced that tax exemptions for exporters had been extended by six months.
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