GST Council Meet: Amnesty Scheme to Reduce GST Late Fee for Small Taxpayers

GST Council Meet - Amnesty Scheme - GST Late Fee - Taxscan

The Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman chaired the Goods and Services Tax (GST) Council meeting on Friday, has recommended the Amnesty Scheme to Reduce GST Late Fee.

In order to provide relief to small and medium taxpayers amid the second wave of coronavirus pandemic, the Finance Minister announced a special amnesty scheme.

The Finance minister in order to provide relief to the taxpayers, a late fee for non-furnishing FORM GSTR-3B for the tax periods from July 2017 to April 2021 has been reduced/waived.

The late fee capped to a maximum of Rs 500/- (Rs. 250/- each for CGST & SGST) per return for taxpayers, who did not have any tax liability for the said tax periods.

The late fee capped to a maximum of Rs 1000/- (Rs. 500/- each for CGST & SGST) per return for other taxpayers.

The reduced rate of the late fee would apply if GSTR-3B returns for these tax periods are furnished between June 1, 2021, to August 31, 2021.

To reduce burden of late fee on smaller taxpayers, the upper cap of late fee is being rationalized to align late fee with tax liability/ turnover of the taxpayers, as follows:

A. The late fee for delay in furnishing of FORM GSTR-3B and FORM GSTR-1 to be capped, per return, as below:

(i) For taxpayers having nil tax liability in GSTR-3B or nil outward supplies in GSTR-1, the late fee to be capped at Rs 500 (Rs 250 CGST + Rs 250 SGST)

(ii)       For other taxpayers:

  1. For taxpayers having Annual Aggregate Turnover (AATO) in preceding year upto Rs 1.5 crore, late fee to be capped to a maximum of Rs 2000 (1000 CGST+1000 SGST);
  2. For taxpayers having AATO in preceding year between Rs 1.5 crore to Rs 5 crore, late fee to be capped to a maximum of Rs 5000 (2500 CGST+2500 SGST);
  3. For taxpayers having AATO in preceding year above Rs 5 crores, late fee to be capped to a maximum of Rs 10000 (5000 CGST+5000 SGST).

The late fee for delay in furnishing of FORM GSTR-4 by composition taxpayers to be capped to Rs 500 (Rs 250 CGST + Rs 250 SGST) per return, if tax liability is nil in the return, and Rs 2000 (Rs 1000 CGST + Rs 1000 SGST) per return for others.

Late fee payable for delayed furnishing of FORM GSTR-7 to be reduced to Rs.50/- per day (Rs. 25 CGST + Rs 25 SGST) and to be capped to a maximum of Rs 2000/- (Rs. 1,000 CGST + Rs 1,000 SGST) per return.

Support our journalism by subscribing to Taxscan AdFree. We welcome your comments at info@taxscan.in

taxscan-loader