Internet Blockade: Kashmir Traders Likely to Miss Another GST Deadline

Srinagar: As internet services remain blocked in Kashmir since August 5, businesspersons and traders continue to face challenges in filing Goods and Services Tax (GST) returns despite government-designated facilitation centres being set up.

Internet services in the region were snapped on August 5 after the Narendra Modi-led Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government unilaterally abrogated Article 370 and bifurcated Jammu and Kashmir into two Union territories. The communication blockade has caused a major crisis for people in the newly created UT, with businesspersons and traders failing to file their GST returns for over three months.

Since businesspersons have not been able to file their GST returns since July, regional districts administration had facilitated the process by providing internet facilitation kiosks. The civil administration had to extend the date of filing returns several times and earlier this month, the deadline was again extended from November 18 till December 20. But, the problems still persist.

At the sales and tax department office in Srinagar, there are about 60 computers designated for the use of traders to file their returns. “On an average as many as 100 traders have filed their returns since the past week,” an official of the department said.

At the facility, the traders can only use the internet for filing GST. All other surfing has been banned in these centres.

“It takes anywhere between half an hour to an hour-and-a-half for traders to file five returns. We have not kept a deadline for timing,” the official added.

The sales department has divided the region into 31 circles, 16 of them in the city and the rest in rural areas. According to a senior sales and tax department official, there are around 48,000 businesspersons who had to submit their GST returns across Kashmir region. Since the establishment of facilitation centres on December 5, as many as 1,200 traders per day have been successful in filing their returns. A majority of traders and businesspersons, however, are yet to file their returns.

With only 40% traders so far able to file their returns, it is unlikely that they will be able to meet the filing deadline marked by the government, say some traders.

Sheikh Ashiq, President of Kashmir Chamber of Commerce and Industries (KCCI), too, is apprehensive about the December 20 deadline, citing lack of adequate time and expertise.

“The inconvenience is massive and unless broadband services are restored, the problem cannot be solved. Filing returns is not a one-time process and businessmen have to submit a fine for failing to meet the deadline,” he says.

Ashiq says earlier, not all traders used to file their GST returns on their own. “Traders would involve experts to file returns but most of them have left the Valley. Now, many traders are being forced to file it on their own. So, there is a possibility of filing returns wrongly,” he adds.

Earlier, the GSTIN numbers of scores of businessmen in the Valley were blocked due to their failure to meet the deadlines set since July. The GSTINs were blocked from generating e-way bills, created after details of a transaction are entered into the GST portal account of a taxpayer. Without the bill, the record of a transaction cannot be maintained.

In a November, communique authorities in the region admitted that the percentage of the returns filed this year was very low leading to considerable dip in the revenue collections since the past four months.