A poorly worded GST message freaked people out yesterday – but there’s nothing to worry about

• The Indian government freaked out small taxpayers yesterday, all thanks to a poorly worded text message.
  
• The message sent out created confusion and panic, as taxpayers thought that they had defaulted on their GST returns.
  
• While the government has not issued a clarification yet, there is nothing to worry about.
  
• If you have received a similar message, read on to find out what the government actually intends to say.
  

It’s extremely important to word your messages carefully – especially when you’re a government agency. This couldn’t have been more evident when the government sent out text messages yesterday to GST taxpayers.

The messages sent out yesterday read something like this:


“Dear xxx as per QRMP scheme you are defaulted to file your GSTR-1 and 3B on quarterly basis from Jan-Mar 21. To change pls visit services.gst.gov.in”

This caused widespread confusion among GST taxpayers.

While the government intended to inform these users that they have been transferred to the Quarterly Returns Monthly Payment (QRMP) scheme, the wording confused people, suggesting that they had defaulted on their GST returns.

Many took to Twitter expressing confusion and panic.

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Some chartered accountants and tax consultants came to the rescue to clear the confusion.



Others pointed out that the Finance Ministry should have been careful in drafting the message.



The Finance Ministry and the Central Board of Indirect Taxes & Customs, the agency responsible for this, are yet to issue a clarification.

There’s nothing to worry about

As others have already clarified, if you have received this message, there is nothing to worry about. The message does not state that you have defaulted on your GST returns.

However, if you want to continue to file your GST returns on a monthly basis, you will have to login to the GSTN portal and change your settings.

Ideally, the government should have made this an opt-in facility instead of opt-out.

To recap, the government announced a QRMP scheme for small taxpayers with turnover of up to ₹5 crore. This scheme comes into effect from January 1, 2021.

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