<p> Late-night diners were caught unawares on Friday as popular restaurants closed early. <br />Usually open beyond midnight, the restaurants wound up by 11 pm to avoid Goods and Services Tax (GST) implementation glitches.<br /><br />Restaurants on M G Road, Church Street, St Marks’ Road, Double Road, Malleswaram and Jayanagar are not fully ready to raise invoices under the new GST regime, ushered in at the stroke of midnight.<br /><br />Indian Kitchen, Cafe Coffee Day Lounge, Mainland China and The White Room are usually open well past midnight on all days. They downed shutters at 11 pm. Popular southern-cuisine restaurants such as Maiyas, MTR and New Krishna Bhavan also closed early.<br /><br />“We have to file Friday’s returns under the existing service tax norms, but post-midnight, if we keep open, we will have to file returns under the GST regime,” the manager of a swanky restaurant on MG Road told DH.<br /><br />He said the restaurant’s systems were not equipped to raise revised bills at midnight. “So we preferred to close early,” he said.</p>
<p> Late-night diners were caught unawares on Friday as popular restaurants closed early. <br />Usually open beyond midnight, the restaurants wound up by 11 pm to avoid Goods and Services Tax (GST) implementation glitches.<br /><br />Restaurants on M G Road, Church Street, St Marks’ Road, Double Road, Malleswaram and Jayanagar are not fully ready to raise invoices under the new GST regime, ushered in at the stroke of midnight.<br /><br />Indian Kitchen, Cafe Coffee Day Lounge, Mainland China and The White Room are usually open well past midnight on all days. They downed shutters at 11 pm. Popular southern-cuisine restaurants such as Maiyas, MTR and New Krishna Bhavan also closed early.<br /><br />“We have to file Friday’s returns under the existing service tax norms, but post-midnight, if we keep open, we will have to file returns under the GST regime,” the manager of a swanky restaurant on MG Road told DH.<br /><br />He said the restaurant’s systems were not equipped to raise revised bills at midnight. “So we preferred to close early,” he said.</p>