New Functionalities for Taxpayers on the GST Portal - January 2022

The Goods and Service Tax Network (GSTN) has issued an update to provide details of new functionalities implemented on the GST Portal for taxpayers in January 2022. In this regard, a document has been issued. These functionalities pertain to different modules such as GST Registration, GST Returns, Advance Ruling, GST Payment, Refund, and other miscellaneous topics. The present article briefs all the New Functionalities Deployed on the GST Portal for Taxpayers.

New Functionalities for GST Registration

New Functionalities for GST Registration implemented on GST Portal for taxpayers in January 2022 is explained below:

Aadhaar Authentication Mandatory for filing Form REG-21

Aadhaar authentication made mandatory for filing of Revocation application in Form REG-21 by Normal Taxpayers. Normal taxpayers will not be able to file a Revocation application in Form REG-21 if they have not got their Aadhaar authentication done/e-KYC verified with Aadhaar enrolment ID.

Aadhaar Enrolment ID Mandatory for New GST Registration

Submission of the Aadhaar enrolment ID for e- KYC verification for Existing and New registrations is mandatory.
Existing taxpayers, as well as persons/entities applying for new registration, are now mandatorily required to provide Aadhaar enrolment ID no. for e-KYC verification

Triggering of alerts to Returns Module

New functionality has been introduced which will Trigger alerts to Returns Module in case of change in status/ category of Taxpayer. An appropriate alert will be displayed in the Returns Module to the taxpayers whenever the status of the taxpayer or taxpayer category is changed due to the following actions by the tax officer at BO in Registration Module:

Registration restoration happens through Restoration of Registration functionality in the back-office portal for registration applications, revocation applications, and cancellation applications
Compulsory withdrawal from composition Levy

New Form REG-21 - Revocation of Cancellation of GST Registration

A new form REG-21 has been introduced for Filing of application for revocation of cancellation of registration. The taxpayers can apply for revocation of cancellation of registration done by the Tax Official, within 30 days from the date on which the Cancellation Order was passed.

Amendment in Rule 23 of the CGST Act, 2017

Rule 23 of the CGST Act, 2017, was amended to provide for the extension of the time limit for applying for revocation of cancellation of registration on sufficient cause being shown.

Prescribed Date to File Form REG-21

The taxpayers will now be able to file a revocation application even after 30 from the date on which Cancellation Order was passed but the revocation application should be filed within 90 days.

Processing of Application Form REG-21

The taxpayer will be required to fill in additional information such as the Reason for Condonation for the delay and also required to upload supporting documents. The application will be forwarded to the Competent Authority for Condonation of the delay and post-approval of the competent authority will get assigned to the respective Jurisdictional Authority for processing after the condonation of the delay in the Form REG-21 by the Taxpayer.

New Functionalities for GST Returns

New Functionalities for GST Returns implemented on GST Portal for taxpayers in January 2022 is explained below:

Reduction in the frequency of filing Form ITC-04

Earlier, the taxpayers sending the goods for job work were required to file details of goods, sent and received back or disposed of from the business place of the job worker, in Form GST ITC-04 every quarter.

The GST Committee has decided to make the frequency of filing Form GST ITC-04 half-yearly or annual, based on the aggregated turnover of the preceding financial year.
Now the taxpayers having aggregate turnover exceeding Rs. 5 Cr in the preceding year will be required to file Form ITC04 on a half-yearly basis whereas all other taxpayers would be required to file it on annual basis.

Enhancements in Search HSN functionality

To help taxpayers search for HSN codes for Goods or Services, the Search HSN facility has now been enhanced where the taxpayer can search the HSN code and the applicable Technical description through common parlance, trade description of the goods/ services as they are known in the Trade. For more details on Revamped Search HSN Code Functionality, click here

Blocking of Form GSTR1 in case of non-filing of Form GSTR-3B

GSTR-1/IFF filing for a particular period will now be allowed for normal taxpayers (including monthly and quarterly filers) only if the taxpayers have filed the return in FORM GSTR-3B for the preceding tax period. Click here to Know more about the GSTR-1 Filing Facility will be Blocked for Non-filing of GSTR-3B Returns

New Functionalities for GST Refund

New Functionalities for GST Refund has been implemented on GST Portal for taxpayers in January 2022 is explained below:

Changes in the messages displayed after filing Form RFD-01

Several messages displayed to the taxpayer in the “Track Application Status” utility for Refund applications have been modified. The important changes are summarized below:

For NIL refund filers, the new message reads “No Further processing is required since as it is a NIL refund application”
Once a taxpayer has updated bank account details, the Update Bank account button is disabled. If the user tries to click on update bank account again, he/she receives an error message, “The bank account has already been updated by you. Kindly wait till it is validated
Now, under basic details, the tax period is also shown in pre-login (after Category row), depending on the category of refund
Under basic details, the GSTIN will also be displayed in both pre and post-login (just before ARN).
The transmission date on the track page will now show along with a timestamp, both in pre-login and post-login

The status of the refund order issued in Form RFD-06 will also be given below statuses, both in pre-login and post-login.

Refund Sanctioned in RFD-06
Refund Partially Sanctioned in RFD-06
RFD-06 issued, Refund rejected

Aadhaar Authentication is mandatory for filing of Form RFD-01

Aadhaar authentication made mandatory for filing of refund of IGST paid on export of goods and filing of refund application in Form RFD-01 in other cases. GST System will transmit the export invoice details of the taxpayer to ICEGATE for processing the IGST refund only if the Aadhaar authentication or uploading of e-KYC documents have been successfully done.

New Functionalities for GST Payments

The new functionality for GST Payments is the Removal of names of merged Banks from the GST Portal. Out of the erstwhile 25 banks authorized for GST payments, 08 banks i. e. Allahabad Bank, Andhra Bank, Corporation Bank, Dena Bank, Oriental Bank of Commerce, Syndicate Bank, Vijaya Bank, and United Bank of India have merged with other banks, and, therefore, deleted from the payment gateway of the GST portal. Only the remaining 17 Agency banks are now available to the taxpayers for making GST related payments