India’s complex and multi-layered tax structure came to an end with GST implementation on 1^st of July 2017. GST gets the credit to make business owners aware of the applicable tax rate they would be paying, to whom and where. This increases work for the Government of India as well when approximately 260-300 crore invoices will pass through the GSTN (GST Network) and returns will be filed thrice a month!

Having said the above, the way any new process has hiccups initially, so is the case with GST. While it overall simplifies the taxation process, the challenge is to know and follow each step while filing GST. Small and medium business owners face bigger challenges in the entire process with a lack of a comprehensive GST software that they can rely on and is easy on their pockets as well.

Hence, the last few months have been busy for small and medium businesses mainly because of 2 reasons – to organize their business in process of getting GST ready and to search for the right tool to support their business through this process.

What is required is a comprehensive software that can help businesses in following GST with just a few clicks and which makes minimal changes to their existing processes.

Deskera’s Readiness

Deskera with the immense experience it has in managing GST for multiple countries, is well-versed with the nitty-gritties of GST. The basic platform to support GST was with Deskera anyway since 2015, the year of GST launch in Malaysia. What we required was to make changes as per the Indian GST norms. Soon after the GST bill was passed in August 2016, Deskera’s GST expert’s team started analyzing the possible changes the business will encounter. With every GST council meeting, our understanding got refined.

Deskera GST experts worked with the best CAs across India to create a 3 step process to make businesses GST compliant –

1. Defining of state-wise tax rate.

2. Updation of tax-rate for SGST, CGST, IGST and UGST.

3. Based on goods category setting up the tax rate for products a business is selling.

And that is it!
Now let’s look at some business requirements and how Deskera takes care of them.

Managing Multi-Entity (multiple offices)

Multiple offices that you could manage earlier with one head office now changes with GST implementation. As per the GST rule, businesses cannot run multiple offices with one GST registration. Now the common concern businesses have, is to be able to still look at one balance sheet, access same customer and vendor database etc.

Deskera solution’s feature – ‘Multi-Entity’ allows management of this to take off a little burden away from businesses. What you need is only to create records of all your offices and assign the head office to these. Rest, leave it to Deskera ERP! Once this one-time effort is taken care of Deskera’s GST ready ERP lets you view a common database for customer and vendor and lets you see a complied P&L sheet and other financial transactions of all locations – via one application.

GST Rate Setup

With the 4 structured GST rate (28% being the highest and 0% being the lowest), goods and services are categorized by the GST council in these structures. The GST rate further has to be split equally between the State and the Centre, due to GST’s dual components.

Deskera’s GST Rate Setup feature allows you to define the different GST rates based on the product and services you offer and then calculates the tax for each sale and updates it to your invoice in real-time, thus reducing the chance of error.

Invoices as per GST format

The GST council and the Finance Ministry has rolled out the invoice formats and the list of details it should include. If you are exporting the invoice should include HSN, tax code and the GST rate and generally all invoices should include details such as GST Identification Number (GSTIN) of both the seller and the customer, name, address, and the place of supply.

Deskera’s GST software enables capturing of all details of both – the seller and the customer. When an invoice is generated, along with the basic details, HSN code, and the corresponding GST rates get filled automatically.

GST Filling

The GST includes 11 types of returns that the Government expects to be submitted by taxpayers. All businesses are expected to file GSTR1, GSTR2, and GSTR3 on a monthly basis.

Filing of GSTR1, 2 and 3 with Deskera ERP is a one-click task. You can also set reminders to be notified a few days in advance when you are nearing the deadline of GSTR1, 2 and 3 filing. Once the details are submitted in Deskera ERP, we have enabled filing of the same to the GSTN.

Reports and Process Streamlining

Deskera helps you streamline your taxation and automate tax filing by defining rules as per GST. Even the invoice formatting and customization can be done as per GST defined formats. You can manage multi-entities and their GST filing all from a single application.

The benefits Deskera’s GST ready software provides is immense and the businesses also get access to one-click reports. These GST reports can be viewed along with the details such as Particulars, Transaction ID, Remark, Journal Entry, Document Date, Name, Exchange Rate, Amount in Transaction and much more.

Way head…

With the immense benefits that GST gets for multiple industries, India is looking forward to a GST approved software. While there are many GST Business Software, Deskera ERP is the one that has catered to the GST needs of businesses across the globe and is the first GST ready ERP software in India. As the GST technologies and rules mature, Deskera will continue to stand by you and provide software updates to make compliance faster and easier.