When the Goods and Services Tax Act was introduced in 2017, the whole country was a little sceptical about its implementation. Not only was this Act set to revolutionize the concept of indirect taxes in the country, but it also gave a digital transformation to the process of tax filing.
With such a significant change, it is understandable that you will have several doubts and questions on its functioning. Luckily for you, the GST portal is exclusive and contains answers to most of the questions that you can think of. Given below are a few queries with their possible solutions.
Query 1
I am a business operator, and the scope of my business is such that I need to pay SGST, IGST, and CGST. Do I need to file these separately or can I pay it at once? Also, is there any way by which I can check the status of my payment of taxes?
You will have to file your CGST, SGST, and IGST separately. For that, you first need to go to the gst portal and click on the ‘Payments’ option. There, the first subsection will be that of ‘Create Challan’. Select the appropriate heading (CGST, SGST, or IGST) and generate your challan after combining all your procurement and purchase details.
With the above method, you will have all that you need for the payment of taxes. Once your payment is made, you can again come back to the ‘Payments’ section. This time go for the other subsection ‘Track payment status’ to find details of payment made against all your GSTIN and dues that you have at the moment.
Query 2
In the last financial year, I have paid more Goods and Service tax than what is ideal. Is there any way I can claim a refund on that?
If you are eligible for a refund on your GST, claiming the same is a simple process in the portal. Login to the site by entering your details. Then select the ‘Refund’ tab and go to the ‘Track Application Status’.
You will see a screen where you need to type in your ARN number to see the status of your GST refunds.
Query 3
I am a first-time taxpayer, and I am unsure of the documents that I need to have in place before filing the returns. Where can I get these details?
Irrespective of whether this is the first time or not, clicking on the ‘Popular Help Topics’ option in the portal will answer all your filing related queries. This section also has solutions to your questions on the GSTN portal.
For the first time filing, the step-by-step guide for payment of taxes that you will find here will be handy.
Query 4
GST has undergone several amendments since it first came into place in 2017. Where can I know about the history of GST and the changes that were made to it?
To learn about the history and timeline of goods and services tax in India, you do not need to log in to the portal. Just go to the portal and click on the ‘About Goods and Services Tax’ section.
This will have the most recent information on GST along with details of the GST Council, its history, and implementation and is as efficient as the best essay on gst that you will get over the internet.
Query 5
I am a business owner registered under GST. I want to verify the GSTIN of my suppliers before I enter details of the same in my filing. How do I go about with that?
As a business owner, it is a good practice to verify the GSTIN details of all your suppliers. For this, you have to go to the portal and select the ‘Search Taxpayer’ option under the main header. There, you will have the option of searching a taxpayer by either their GSTIN or their PAN number.
The ‘Search Taxpayer’ tab also has a third option called the ‘Search Composition taxpayer’. Here, you can check if a business unit is registered under the Composition Scheme of GST.
Remember, if a business is registered under the Composition Scheme, they need to pay the tax out of their pocket and must not collect it from their customers.
Conclusion
Thus, the official portal for GST has a comprehensive and straightforward navigation through which it can answer all your GST related questions. These queries listed above, along with their answers, will help you understand the basics of the portal. Do thorough research of all details before getting ahead with your GST registration.
