Gujarat Chamber urges to remove penalty till filing hitches are cleared

Gujarat Chamber of Commerce and Industry office bearers held a meeting in the wake of the problem being faced by traders in complying with provisions of the goods and services tax. They said that unless the provisions regarding filing of GST return were smoothed, there should be no penalty on late filing of returns.

GCCI president Shailesh Patwari said that “Genuine traders are willing to file returns in time but the online system is faulty and it take at least four hours to file one return which delays in uploading the return but penalty is imposed for not filing,” he said. He said the amnesty scheme for removal of VAT should be extended till December 2017.

GCCI senior vice-president Jaymin Vasa said: “We are opposed to word ‘penalty’, because it is paid but not allowed as ‘expenditure’”. he said. He said the GST Council meeting invites should also be sent to trade representatives so that traders views should also be heard and considered. Waris Isani, VP of GCCI committee on GST/VAT said: “It is important to solve all procedural issues because of which genuine traders felt harassed.”