In an effort to ease the GST filing process, Infosys has been tasked to design a more friendly user interface for the portal.

Earlier this month, Infosys, which is managing the infrastructure for GSTN, was asked by the GST Council to send more technically qualified people to resolve GSTN glitches.

Addressing the media, the council, headed by Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi said the Council has suggested a number of new steps to make the GSTN more accessible and user-friendly.

The Council said out of the 27 technical glitches on GSTN, that were to be fixed by Infosys by this month end, only 18 of them have been operationalised (fixed) so far.

"Infosys is doing its best and that some of the glitches can be attributed to changes made by the GST Council," he said. He added that at every meeting of the GST Council, newer functionalities are getting created, making Infosys look into all these aspects.

The GST network has been coming under fire from filers. Many of them have complained of the server not being available to process their complaints and the design of the portal being complex, making filings time consuming.

Modi, however, stated that considering the large-scale changes, issues will continually crop up and will need to be resolved.

The Council expects invoice matching to be the next challenge. Based on the invoice matchings, businesses will get their tax credits. "It is a new challenge and matching of GSTN 1 (outward) invoices with GSTN 2 (purchases) filings is a big task and a new issue," said Modi.

The GST Council will meet in Guwahati on November 10, where it would identify new glitches that are expected to come up.

Due to glitches and other issues, a section of small businessmen has not filed tax returns and the government is looking at ways to improve compliance. "There is a gap of 10 lakh small traders who have not filed returns after they filed the summary tax return or 3B forms, after which they are supposed to file GSTN 1," said Modi.

 30 Oct 2017, 07:04 AM