The Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) on May 26, 2023, issued a notification regarding the Standard Operating Procedure for Scrutiny of Returns for FY 2019-20 onwards.
This has a reference to Instruction No. 02/2022-GST dated March 22, 2022, wherein Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) was provided for the scrutiny of returns, wherein it was mentioned that the said SOP was issued as an interim measure till the time a Scrutiny Module for online scrutiny of returns are made available on the ACES-GST application.
The following has been stated namely: -
• It states that DG Systems has developed the functionality “Scrutiny of Returns”, containing the online workflow for scrutiny of returns in the CBIC ACES-GST application, Advisory No. 22/2023- Returns dated May 16, 2023, has also been issued by DG Systems in this regard, along with a User Manual provided for the detailed workflow of the said functionality.
• The GSTINs selected for scrutiny for the Financial Year 2019-20 have also been made available on the scrutiny dashboard of the proper officers on the ACES-GST application.
• The functionality provides the detailed workflow for communication of discrepancies noticed, in relation to the details furnished in the returns, by the proper officer in FORM GST ASMT-10 to the registered person, receipt of reply from the registered person in FORM GST ASMT-11, issuance of order in FORM GST ASMT-12 or taking further action for issuance of show cause notice under Section 73 or 74 of CGST Act, 2017 or for referring the matter for Audit or investigation.
• It states that Once the details of GSTINs selected for scrutiny for a financial year are made available on the scrutiny dashboard of the concerned proper officer of Central Tax on ACES-GST application, the proper officer, with the approval of the divisional Assistant/ Deputy Commissioner shall finalize a scrutiny schedule in the format specified in Annexure A of Instruction 02/2022- GST
• It states that the Proper Officer shall scrutinize the returns and related particulars furnished by the registered persons to verify the correctness of the returns and The information available with the proper officer on the system in the form of various returns and statements furnished by the registered person and the data/ details made available through various sources like DGARM, ADVAIT, GSTN, E-Way Bill Portal, etc. may be relied upon for this purpose.
• It has stated the Timelines for scrutiny of returns
• It has clarified that since the scrutiny functionality has been provided on the ACES-GST application only for the Financial Year 2019-20 onwards, the procedure specified in Instruction No. 02/2022 shall continue to be followed for the scrutiny of returns for the financial years 2017-18 and 2018-19.
• It states that the online scrutiny functionality on the ACES-GST application will further boost the efforts of leverage technology and risk-based tools to encourage self-compliance and to conduct scrutiny of returns with minimal interaction with the registered person.
• In case of Difficulties in the implementation of these instructions it may be informed to the Board ([email protected]).
[Notification No. F. No. CBIC- 20006/04/2022-GST]
