The last date for filing GST (Goods and Service Tax) returns in form GSTR-3B for the month of April 2018 has been extended by the ministry of finance by two days to 22 May on account of technical issues with the filing system.

Through its twitter handle, GST Tech (twitter account for GST's IT related queries) had tweeted on Friday informing taxpayers about an emergency maintenance activity on the portal. It tweeted, "Due to emergency maintenance activity, GST Portal will be unavailable on 18th May 2018, from 2:45 PM to 3:15 PM."

Following which the ministry of finance informed taxpayers of the same issue and that a notification regarding it would follow.

The GST Council had approved the proposal to simplify returns filing system for taxpayers in its 27th meeting held on 4 May. The result is expected to take approximately a year to come through. It will include changes like one return per month for taxpayers excluding composition dealers and nil taxpayers.

Additionally, it was decided that GST Network would be wholly acquired by the government. Currently, the state and central governments collectively hold 49 percent of the entity, divided equally between the two. The remaining 51 percent is held by HDFC, HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, NSE Strategic Investment Co and LIC Housing Finance Ltd.

After the acquisition, 50 percent will be acquired by the central government, while the remainder will be collectively held by the state governments.

GST collected for the first month (April) of the fiscal year 2018-19 came up to Rs 1.03 lakh crore. From this financial year, the GST system has been shifted to a cash basis of accounting. It accounts revenues accrued during the month to be taken on record immediately at the end of the month.