TMI BlogGSTN and Frontend Business Process on GST PortalX X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... e entire indirect tax ecosystem so as to bring all the tax administrations (Centre, State and Union Territories) to the same level of IT maturity with uniform formats and interfaces for taxpayers and other external stakeholders. Besides, GST being a destination based tax, the inter-state trade of goods and services (IGST) would need a robust settlement mechanism amongst the States and the Centre. This is possible only when there is a strong IT Infrastructure and Service back bone which enables capture, processing and exchange of information amongst the stakeholders (including taxpayers, States and Central Government, Bank and RBI). To achieve these objectives GSTN was created. Q 3. What is the genesis of GSTN? Requirements of strong IT Infrastructure was discussed in the 4th meeting of 2010 of the Empowered Committee of State Finance Ministers held on 21/7/2010. In the said meeting the EC approved creation of an Empowered Group on IT Infrastructure for GST (referred to as EG) under the chairmanship of Dr. Nandan Nilekani with Additional Secretary (Rev), Member (B C) CBEC, DG (Systems), CBEC, FA Ministry of Finance, Member Secretary EC and five state commissioners of T ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ss knowledge resides with the officials of Government of India and States. However, professionals with sophisticated technology knowledge will be required to run this company independently, similar to NSDL which is working professionally and independently. EG also recommended a non-government company as that will have operational freedom. These recommendations were presented before the Empowered Committee of State Finance Ministers in its 3 rd meeting of 2011 held on 19 th August 2011 and in the 4 th meeting of 2011 of the EC held on 14 th Oct 2011. The proposal of the EG on IT infrastructure for GST regarding GSTN and formation of a not-for-profit section 25 company with the strategic control of the Government were approved by the Empowered Committee of State Finance Ministers (EC) in its meeting held on14.10.11. The note of Department of Revenue for setting up a Special Purpose Vehicle to be called Goods and Services Tax Network (GSTN-SPV) on the lines mentioned above was considered by the Union Cabinet on 12th April 2012 and approved. The Union cabinet also approved the following: i. Suitable and willing non-government institutions will be identifie ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... The GSTN in its current form was created after taking approval of the Empowered Committee of State Finance Ministers and Union Government after due deliberations over a long period of time. (b) Revenue Model : An amount of 315 Cr. was approved by the Govt. of India as Grants-in-Aid for initial setting up of the GSTN-SPV in 2013. During the period 31.03.2013 to 31.03.2016, an amount of ₹ 143.96 Crores was released as Grant-In-Aid to GSTN out of ₹ 315 Crores approved by Govt of India. Out of the grant-in-aid received, only Rs . 62.11 Cr was spent during this period in setting of the Company and making it functional. The balance grant was returned to Govt. of India. During FY 2016-17, GSTN has got loan sanctioned from a commercial bank to meet expenditure over setting up the IT Platform to provide services to the Center and States through GST portal and developing the backend for 27 States and Union Territories. The Revenue model for GSTN has been approved by the Empowered Committee of State Finance Ministers under which user charges will be paid by the Centre and States/UTs equally on behalf of taxpayers and other stakeholders for availing services fr ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... tration will be made Online on GST Portal. Some of the key data like PAN, Business Constitution, Aadhaar, CIN/DIN etc. (as applicable) will be validated by the GST Portal online with the respective agency i.e. CBDT, UID, MCA etc., thereby ensuring minimum need for submission of documentation. The application data along with supporting scanned documents shall be sent by GSTN to states/ Centre, which in turn shall send the query, if any, or approval or rejection intimation and digitally signed registration to GSTN for eventual download by the taxpayer. Q 8. What is the role of Infosys in GSTN? Ans. GSTN has engaged M/S Infosys as a single Managed Service Provider (MSP) for the design, development and deployment of GST system, including all application software, tools and Infrastructure and for operating maintaining the system for a period of 5 years from the Go-Live date. Q 9. What are the basic features of GST common portal? Ans. The GST portal (www.gst.gov.in ) is accessible over Internet (by Taxpayers and their CAs/Tax Advocates etc.) and Intranet by Tax Officials etc. The portal is going to be one single common portal for all GST related serv ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ns having features like return filing, reconciliation of purchase register data with auto populated data for acceptance/rejection/Modification, dashboards for taxpayers for quick monitoring of GST compliance activities. they may also provide role based access to divide various GST related activities like uploading invoice, filing returns etc., among different set of users inside a company (medium or large companies will need it), Applications for Tax Professional to manage their client s GST compliance activities, Integration of existing accounting packages/ERP with GST System, etc. Q 13. What are the benefits to taxpayers in using the GSPs? Ans. At the outset it is clarified that all required functions under GST can be performed by a taxpayer at the GST portal. GSP is an additional channel being made available for performing some of the functions and use of their services is optional. Some of the specific solution(s) which could be offered by the GSPs to meet specific requirements of Taxpayers for GST compliance are given below: 1. Conversion of their current invoice format generated by their existing accounting software, which could be in csv, pdf, excel, word f ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... / Audit /Refund / Appeal/ Investigation etc.); Business Analytics, MIS and other statutory functions. Q 16. Will GSTN generate a unique identification for each invoice line in GSTN system? Ans. No, GSTN will not generate any new identification. The combination of Supplier s GSTIN, Invoice no and Financial year will make each Invoice unique. Q 17. Can invoice data be uploaded on day to day basis? Ans. Yes, GST Portal will have functionality for taxpayers to upload invoice data on any time basis. Early upload of invoices by supplier taxpayer will help receiver taxpayer in early reconciliation of data in Invoices as well as help supplier taxpayer in avoiding last minute rush of uploading returns on the last day. Q 18. Will GSTN provide tools for uploading invoice data on GST portal? Ans. Yes, GSTN will provide spreadsheet like tools (such as Microsoft Excel), free of cost, to taxpayers to enable them to compile invoice data in the same and generate files which can then be uploaded on GST portal. This will be an offline tool which can be used to input/capture invoice data without being online and then generate final files in compatible forma ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... GST portal, for the benefit of taxpayers? Ans. GSTN is preparing Computer Based Training materials (CBT s) which have videos embedded into them for each process to be performed on the GST portal. These will be put on the GST portal as well as on the website of all tax authorities. Apart from CBT s, Various User Manuals, FAQ s etc., will also be placed on GST Portal for education of the taxpayers. Apart from it, a helpdesk has been set up for the taxpayers for logging of their tickets via mail (helpdesk@gst.gov.in) or phone (0124-4688999). CBT, FAQ and User Manual for enrolment process are available at https://www.gst.gov.in/help. Q 24. Will the return and registration data furnished by the taxpayers on the GST Common Portal will remain Confidential? Ans. Yes, all steps are being taken by GSTN to ensure the confidentiality of personal and business information furnished by the taxpayers on GST Common Portal. This will be done by ensuring Role Based Access Control (RBAC) and encryption of critical data of taxpayers both during transit and in storage. Only the authorized tax authorities will be able to see and read the data. Q 25. What are the security measures ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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