The Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) late on Friday night extended the due date for furnishing GST Annual Return and Reconciliation Statement (GSTR-9 / 9A and GSTR-9C) for FY 2017-18 in a staggered manner. The last date to file the Returns was January 31, 2020.

This came after thousands of taxpayers took to social media complaining about the GST portal not working. “Considering the difficulties being faced by taxpayers in filing GSTR-9 and GSTR-9C forFY 2017-18 it has been decided to extend the due dates in a staggered manner for different groups of States to 3rd, 5th and 7th February 2020 as under,” CBIC said in a Tweet.

Accordingly under Group 1, the states of Maharashtra, Karnataka, Goa, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Puducherry, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Other Territory has been placed and they will need to file their returns by 3rd February 2020.

Group 2 includes Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, Chandigarh, Uttarakhand, Haryana, Delhi, Rajasthan and Gujarat that have to file by 5th February 2020.

Lastly group 3 includes the states of Bihar, Sikkim, Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram, Tripura, Meghalaya, Assam, West Bengal, Andaman & Nicobar Islands, Jharkhand, Odisha, Chhattisgarh, Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu, Lakshadweep, Madhya Pradesh, and Uttar Pradesh, which now have to file by 7th February 2020.

On a day when the Economic Survey acknowledged the fact that both GST system is complex, taxpayers found it impossible to file their returns. By evening of January 31, #gstnfailed was the top trend on Twitter. At 10 30 pm CBIC tweeted the extension dates, but early reports suggest the portal is still not working.

Under GST, annual return is to be furnished in GSTR-9. In addition, as per Section 35 of CGST Act, 2017, every tax payer whose turnover exceeds Rs 2 crore during a financial year, is required to submit audited annual accounts and a reconciliation statement in GSTR-9C. The late fee for not filing the GSTR 9 within the due date is Rs 200 per day.