What is the Responsibility of Auditor under GST ?

Section 2(13) of CGST Act 2017 : “audit” means the

• examination of records, returns and other documents maintained or furnished by the registered person under this Act or the rules made thereunder or under any other law for the time being in force
• to verify the correctness of
  • turnover declared,
  • taxes paid,
  • refund claimed and
  • input tax credit availed, and
• to assess his compliance with the provisions of this Act or the rules made thereunder;

Note :

1. Auditor has to certify correctness and not “true and fair view” of Books of Account.
2. Words “Records”  has not been defined under CGST Act

Section 2(97) of CGST Act 2017 “Return” means any return prescribed or otherwise required to be furnished by or under this Act or the rules made thereunder;

Section 2(41) of CGST Act 2017  “document” includes written or printed record of any sort and electronic record as defined in clause (t)of sub-section (1) of section 2 of the Information Technology Act, 2000 (21 of 2000)

Section – 2(1)(t) Information Technology Act, 2000 :-

“electronic record” means data, record or data generated, image or sound stored, received or sent in an electronic form or microfilm or computer generated micro fiche;

Responsibility of Auditor under GST

Thus Auditor has to decide whether he will give

• Observation or
• Qualification

Observations may be to provide comments on non compliance, short comings and deficiency of GST return filed etc

Qualification means some reservations i.e. adverse comments on the accounts. The value (amount) is also reported to what extent these are adverse