In order to ease transition to the new return system, a transition plan has been worked out as decided in 31st GST Council meeting.
In May, 2019 a prototype of the offline tool has alreadybeen shared on the common portal to give the look and feel of the tool to theusers, a PIB release said. The look and feel of the offline tool would be sameas that of the online portal. Taxpayers may be aware that there are three maincomponents to the new return – one main return (FORM GST RET-1) and twoannexures (FORM GST ANX-1 and FORM GST ANX-2).
From July, 2019, users would be able to upload invoicesusing the FORM GST ANX-1 offline tool on trial basis for familiarisation.Further, users would also be able to view and download, the inward supply ofinvoices using the FORM GST ANX-2 offline tool under the trial program. Thesummary of inward supply invoices would also be available for view on thecommon portal online. They would also be able to import their purchase registerin the Offline Tool and match it with the downloaded inward supply invoices tofind mismatches from August 2019.
The statement said separate instructions shall be issued forfiling and processing of refund applications between October to December, 2019.