The new simplified GST return forms will be rolled out on April 1, 2019, revenue secretary Ajay Bhushan Pandey said on Tuesday.

The current GST forms had been criticised for being extremely complex and riddled with problems.

For example, in the current GST return forms, buyers have to mention HSN codes that classify the good or service they bought. But the enterprise response systems of most firms are not geared for this.

In July, the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) had put up in public domain draft GST return forms Sahaj and Sugam and sought public comments. These forms would replace GSTR-3B (summary sales return form) and GSTR-1 (final sales returns form).

Officials said the new return forms will contain two main tables — one to report outward supplies and one to garner input tax credit. The input credit would be based on invoices uploaded by the seller.

Pandey claimed the government will achieve the budgeted target for the goods and services tax (GST) collection and said the revenue department is getting inputs about entities that are evading taxes. However, most analysts and revenue department officials feel there could be a shortfall of around Rs 90,000 crore in GST collections.

In the first eight months (April-November) of the current fiscal, the government has mopped up over Rs 7.76 lakh crore from the GST. The 2018-19 budget had estimated annual GST collection at Rs 13.48 lakh crore.

The average monthly target to get to this figure stands at about Rs 1.12 lakh crore. However, the government has managed to average less than Rs 1 lakh crore in GST collections till now.

In November, the government had collected Rs 97,637 crore as the GST.