After BSNL, Jio now Airtel rolls out GST Advantage in partnership with ClearTax

Airtel has rolled out its GST Advantage initiative to offer tax return filing services by the company.

Key Highlights

Airtel's B2B arm - Airtel Business in partnership with ClearTax will help small businesses and startups file taxes.

Businesses will get free data up to 18GB over three months.

Ministry of Finance on Monday extended the return filing dates for three forms which was scheduled for submission in this week.

India’s largest telecom operator, Airtel on Thursday announced the launch of its new initiative ‘GST Advantage,’ by its business to business arm. The company has tied up with ClearTax, an online income tax filing portal, for this initiative.

“Airtel Business, the B2B arm of India’s largest telecommunications service provider Bharti Airtel, today launched Airtel GST Advantage – a solution specifically designed to enable small businesses and start-ups to file their GST returns accurately, securely and seamlessly,” the company said.

Airtel GST Advantage is being offered free to all existing Airtel Business customers, who need to register on the site. Click HERE.

“The new GST regime is a landmark reform for the Indian economy and with Airtel GST Advantage, we would like to enable small businesses with free filing of returns, and free and secure data access. Airtel is also the data hosting and connectivity partner for the Goods and Services Network (GSTN),” Ashok Ganapathy, Director & CEO – Airtel Business said.

Ministry of Finance on Monday extended the return filing dates for three forms which was scheduled for submission in this week.

ClearTax offers customers cloud-based tools that help businesses with all their GST needs - right from creating invoices to filing returns and performing reconciliation. The Airtel GST Advantage will use ClearTax’s technology to offer ‘hassle-free’ GST utilities to all its customers.

Airtel GST Advantage – a three-pronged offering for customers as listed by the company.

Get free and secure access to the GST Network via ClearTax: Airtel has partnered with ClearTax, India's largest tax filing platform, to enable easy digital submission of returns by companies. With Airtel GST Advantage, customers can access ClearTax’s services free of charge. In other words, ClearTax’s GST software and platform will be available to Airtel customers without the subscription fee. This access to ClearTax is available till March 31st, 2018.

Get the best on-demand professional advice about GST: All Airtel customers will have access to Airtel’s newly launched GST Advantage Helpdesk between 8.00 am and 8.00 pm on all weekdays. The Helpdesk will be managed by GST experts who will be available to advise Airtel customers on any query relating to GST. Airtel has also published a GST knowledge bank – developed by renowned tax experts. This knowledge bank will empower all Airtel Business customers with an in-depth information about GST.

Additionally, preserve bandwidth while filing GST returns: Airtel GST Advantage will also enable customers to upload their returns without worrying about bandwidth charges. With GST Advantage, businesses will get free additional data with any Airtel corporate connection or device, to help them file returns.

The free data offered by the company will be up to 18GB spread over the course of three months. The company will offer 2GB per month per connection on a maximum of three devices.

BSNL and Reliance Jio had also rolled out similar GST starter kits to help businesses with filing returns under GST.

Archit Gupta, CEO - ClearTax added, “We are excited to partner with Airtel. Since the launch of GST, we have been working hard to help businesses and Tax Professionals become GST-ready and make compliance easier in the new tax regime. Together, we are sure to add many more milestones in our journey to getting India GST-ready.”