Question

Any differences noticed between these returns will lead to scrutiny notices being issued to the taxpayers.

Answer 1

Answer:

♠ There can be several causes for mismatches. Popular ones are:

♦ The vendor has declared liability but credit is not availed in GST returns: Such credits should be availed at the earlier of due date of September returns or Annual returns.

♦ The vendor has not declared liability on supplies made but businesses have availed credit on such procurements in the GST returns: Businesses should follow up with the vendor to ensure that the liability is declared. Else, risks of such credits being disallowed may arise.

♦ Mismatch between liability declared by the vendor and credit availed: The reasons for differences should be identified and reconciled appropriately (e.g. by issuing debit notes/credit notes etc) at the earlier of, filing the return under section 39 for the month of September* following the end of the financial year to which a particular invoice pertains, or the furnishing of the relevant annual return.

♦ Mistakes in the details furnished: There can be mismatch in the fields such as GSTIN of the supplier/recipient, number and date of the invoice/debit note etc. Make amendments in the GST returns of the month following the relevant month when mistakes were committed.

Answer 2

Answer:

Explanation:

GST Reconciliation and Matching are not new to any taxpayer. This has been prevalent in earlier VAT and excise regime too. Then, the matching of data between the books of accounts and tax returns was an easy task for many business organisations. If the tax department on processing returns found some discrepancy, communications would be sent to the taxpayer and accordingly further scrutiny and audits would be carried out by the authorities.

But under GST, this process has gained significance as the sanity of the Input tax credit utilised by businesses is monitored by the GST authorities regularly. Also, the taxpayers must on regular basis reconcile their data every month with the data declared by its vendors too. The return filing and processing are semantically automated and the GST returns are inter-linked.