MM TAX CLUB

On recommendation of 49^th GST council meeting, CBIC notified late fees waiver for filing GST annual return GSTR-9 vide notification number 07/2023 – central tax. The notification will be applicable from FY 2022-23 onwards.

Late fees waiver has been given on the basis of turnover of the taxpayer, earlier Rs.100 each per day under CGST and SGST or UTGST is  applicable as late fees for filing annual GST return. Now by this notification relaxation in late fees has been given to the taxpayer having aggregate turnover in relevant financial year upto 5 crore and above 5 crore to 20 crore. Reduced late fees has been summarized as under;

Official Notification can be read as under;

In exercise of the powers conferred by section 128 of the Central Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017 (12 of 2017) (hereinafter referred to as the said Act), the Central Government, on the recommendations of the Council, hereby waives the amount of late fee referred to in section 47 of the said Act in respect of the return to be furnished under section 44 of the said Act for the financial year 2022-23 onwards, which is in excess of amount as specified in Column (3) of the Table below, for the classes of registered persons mentioned in the corresponding entry in Column (2) of the Table below, who fails to furnish the return by the due date, namely:—

Provided that for the registered persons who fail to furnish the return under section 44 of the said Act by the due date for any of the financial years 2017-18, 2018-19, 2019-20, 2020-21 or 2021-22, but furnish the said return between the period from the 1st day of April, 2023 to the 30th day of June, 2023, the total amount of late fee under section 47 of the said Act payable in respect of the said return, shall stand waived which is in excess of ten thousand rupees.

On recommendation of GST council, CBIC notified Amnesty scheme 2023 for Non filer of GST Return vide notification number 06/2023 – Central Tax dated 31^st March 2023.

This is one time relaxation for those who have not file their valid return and assessment order have been issued in this regard on or before 28^th February 2023. The taxpayer has a chance to file their return after payment of applicable tax and late fees on or before 30^th June 2023.           

Full Notification can be read as under;

In exercise of the powers conferred by section 148 of the Central Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017 (12 of 2017) (hereinafter referred to as the said Act), the Central Government, on the recommendations of the Council, hereby notifies that the registered persons who failed to furnish a valid return within a period of thirty days from the service of the assessment order issued on or before the 28th day of February, 2023 under sub-section (1) of section 62 of the said Act, as the classes of registered persons, in respect of whom said assessment order shall be deemed to have been withdrawn, if such registered persons follow the special procedures as specified below, namely,-

1. the registered persons shall furnish the said return on or before the 30th day of June 2023;
2. the return shall be accompanied by payment of interest due under sub-section (1) of section 50 of the said Act and the late fee payable under section 47 of the said Act,

Irrespective of whether or not an appeal had been filed against such assessment order under section 107 of the said Act or whether or not the appeal, if any, filed against the said assessment order has been decided.

GST council was recommended in its recent council meeting to make it mandatory of biometric authentication for registration under GST. However currently this provision applicable only to the state of Gujarat. CBIC has notified the recommendation of council vide Notification number 04/2023 – Central Tax & 05/2023 – Central Tax dated 31^st March 2023.

Full Notification can be read as under;

                In exercise of the powers conferred by section 164 of the Central Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017 (12 of 2017), the Central Government, on the recommendations of the Council, hereby makes the following rules further to amend the Central Goods and Services Tax Rules, 2017, namely:—

Short title and commencement.— (1) These rules may be called the Central Goods and Services Tax (Amendment) Rules, 2023.

(2) They shall be deemed to have come into force from the 26th day of December, 2022.

2. In the Central Goods and Services Tax Rules, 2017 in rule 8,-

(i) for sub-rule (4A), the following sub-rule shall be substituted, namely:-

“(4A) Where an applicant, other than a person notified under sub-section (6D) of section 25, opts for authentication of Aadhaar number, he shall, while submitting the application under sub-rule (4), undergo authentication of Aadhaar number and the date of submission of the application in such cases shall be the date of authentication of the Aadhaar number, or fifteen days from the submission of the application in Part B of FORM GST REG-01 under sub-rule (4), whichever is earlier. Provided that every application made under sub-rule (4) by a person, other than a person notified under sub-section (6D) of section 25, who has opted for authentication of Aadhaar number and is identified on the common portal, based on data analysis and risk parameters, shall be followed by biometric-based Aadhaar authentication and taking photograph of the applicant where the applicant is an individual or of such individuals in relation to the applicant as notified under sub-section (6C) of section 25 where the applicant is not an individual, along with the verification of the original copy of the documents uploaded with the application in FORM GST REG-01 at one of the Facilitation Centres notified by the Commissioner for the purpose of this sub-rule and the application shall be deemed to be complete only after completion of the process laid down under this proviso.”;

(ii) in sub-rule (4B), for and words, “provisions of”, the words “proviso to”, shall be substituted.

In 49^th GST council meeting, the council was recommended for one time amnesty scheme for revocation of old GST registration. Same has been notified by the CBIC vide notification number 03/2023 – central tax dated 31^st March, 2023.

Extract of the notification can be read as under;

—In exercise of the powers conferred by section 148 of the Central Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017 (12 of 2017) (hereinafter referred to as the said Act), the Central Government, on the recommendations of the Council, hereby notifies that the registered person, whose registration has been cancelled under clause (b) or clause (c) of subsection (2) of section 29 of the said Act on or before the 31st day of December, 2022, and who has failed to apply for revocation of cancellation of such registration within the time period specified in section 30 of the said Act as the class of registered persons who shall follow the following special procedure in respect of revocation of cancellation of such registration, namely:–

(a) the registered person may apply for revocation of cancellation of such registration upto the 30th day of June, 2023;

(b) the application for revocation shall be filed only after furnishing the returns due upto the effective date of cancellation of registration and after payment of any amount due as tax, in terms of such returns, along with any amount payable towards interest, penalty and late fee in respect of the such returns;

(c) no further extension of time period for filing application for revocation of cancellation of registration shall be available in such cases.

Explanation: For the purposes of this notification, the person who has failed to apply for revocation of cancellation of registration within the time period specified in section 30 of the said Act includes a person whose appeal against the order of cancellation of registration or the order rejecting application for revocation of cancellation of registration under section 107 of the said Act has been rejected on the ground of failure to adhere to the time limit specified under sub-section (1) of section 30 of the said Act.

As per GST council recommendation, CBIC notified late fees waiver vide notification number 02/2023 – Central Tax for filing annual return GSTR-4 by the composition dealer.

Late fees have been waived for the period 2017 to 2022, from July 2017 to March 2019 frequency of filing GSTR-4 for the composition dealer was on quarterly basis and from FY 2019-20 it becomes annual return.  So taxpayer whose GSTR-4 filing is pending from 2017 to FY 2021-22 can avail the benefit of this waiver if they file these return on or before 30^th June, 2023.

Waiver of the late fees is as follows;

The extract of notification can be read as under;

                In exercise of the powers conferred by section 128 of the Central Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017 (12 of 2017) (hereinafter referred to as the said Act), the Central Government, on the recommendations of the Council, hereby makes the following further amendments in the notification of the Government of India, the Ministry of Finance (Department of Revenue), No. 73/2017– Central Tax, dated the 29th December, 2017 published in the Gazette of India, Extraordinary, Part II, Section 3, Sub-section (i), vide number G.S.R. 1600(E), dated the 29th December, 2017, namely:—

In the said notification, after the sixth proviso, the following proviso shall be inserted, namely: —

“Provided also that the amount of late fee payable under section 47 of the said Act shall stand waived which is in excess of two hundred and fifty rupees and shall stand fully waived where the total amount of central tax payable in the said return is nil, for the registered persons who fail to furnish the return in FORM GSTR-4 for the quarters from July, 2017 to March 2019 or for the Financial years from 2019-20 to 2021-22 by the due date but furnish the said return between the period from the 1^st day of April, 2023 to the 30^th day of June, 2023.”.