The Centre extended the last date for filing GSTR-2 returns, required to claim input tax credit under the Goods and Services Tax (GST) regime, for July, till November 30. The earlier deadline was October 31.

At the same time, the last date for filing GSTR-3 returns for July, 2017 was extended to December 11 as opposed to the November 10 deadline, the Finance Ministry said.

“A notification in this regard is being issued very shortly. This will facilitate about 30.81 lakh taxpayers filing GSTR-2 for the month of July, 2017,” the Ministry said on Monday.

This is the latest in a series of steps by the government to facilitate the transition of businesses into the new indirect tax system. Last week, the Ministry decided to waive the late fee on filing returns for the months of August and September in view of the difficulties faced by taxpayers during the process of filing returns.

‘Less anxiety’

“This would aid in subsiding the anxiety among various industry players caused on account of various challenges being faced in filing GSTR 2 and the fact that government utility for filing the same was released only a few days back,” said Abhishek Jain, tax partner at EY India.

Deloitte India partner M.S. Mani said the additional time for filing returns could boost GST compliance.