Indore (GST Portal Failure) The troubles with the GST portal, which have persisted for eight years, were still evident on the last day of the year. The year 2024 ended with the GST network being down. Starting Tuesday afternoon, the GST network stopped generating e-way bills and e-invoices. By around 2:30 PM, the sluggish online system completely crashed. This situation remained unchanged until the calendar flipped to the new year. As the month and year came to a close, traders were left frustrated while trying to finalize accounts and complete orders. In 2024, the government had made it mandatory for traders with a turnover of over five crores to use e-invoices. This means they can’t create bills for the sale and supply of goods manually; they must use the GST portal and network instead. Additionally, e-way bills for transporting goods are also mandatory for GST-registered traders, and these too are generated through the portal.
On December 31, the system for e-invoices and e-way bills went down. Traders reached out to tax professionals for help, and soon, both traders and tax consultants began filing complaints online to the GST network and the GST council through emails and social media. An Alternative Link Was Released Meanwhile, business hours were running out. Without the ability to generate bills, trucks and vehicles ready for transporting goods couldn’t set off. That night, the GST department posted an alternative link on social media, but even that didn’t resolve the issues with bill generation.
Offices Open All Night for Returns
At the same time, there were also problems filing the annual GST returns. This year, there was a month less to file the annual return GSTR-9C. Due to changes in the format, there were mismatches in the data as well. With the deadline of December 31 approaching, the Tax Bar Association and the Commercial Tax Practitioners Association in Indore sent a memorandum to the finance minister, requesting an extension of the return filing deadline to January 31. However, no relief was announced. As a result, chartered accountants and tax consultants kept their offices open throughout the night of the 30th and into the midnight of December 31, working hard to file returns despite the unchanged format.
