If the taxpayer misses out on the GST returns filing deadline, he/she is liable to pay Rs. 100 per day under the CGST Act, and Rs. 100 per day under the SGST Act, taking the total GST late fees per day to Rs. 200.
The maximum late fee that the Income-tax department can charge for each return under the GST Act is Rs. 5000.
As per the latest amendments of the GST Act, GST late filing penalty has been reduced to Rs. 25 per day under the CGST law and Rs. 25 per day under the SGST law, making it a total of Rs. 50 per day for both intra and interstate supplies.
The penalty for the late filing of GST annual returns is very much like that of non-annual returns.
A late fee of Rs. 200 per day is levied upon the taxpayer, i.e., Rs. 100 per day under the CGST Act and Rs. 100 per day under the SGST act.
The total GST late fees cannot exceed 0.25 percent of the taxpayer’s total turnover for a given financial year.
Filing a NIL return is mandatory even if no GST payments were made to the Income Tax department.
In case of a delayed filing of NIL returns, a late fee of Rs. 50 per day under the CSGT act and Rs. 50 per day under the SGST act, i.e., a total amount of Rs. 100 per day was levied on the taxpayer.
However, this penalty has been reduced to Rs. 20 per day, i.e., Rs. 10 per day under CGST and Rs. 10 per day under SGST, by the recent GST amendments.
However, keeping in view the business woes of small taxpayers amidst the continued lockdowns, it was decided in the recently held 43rd GST Council meeting to provide temporary relief to these taxpayers for a limited period in terms of late fees for pending returns. Here’s a detailed list of late fee relaxations provided to the taxpayers on their pending returns:
GSTR Form | Tax period | The period in which Returns shall be Furnished | Late Fee Applicable |
Form GSTR-3B | July 2017 to April 2021 | Between 1 June 2021 and 31 August 2021 | Capped to Rs. 500 (Rs. 250 under CGST and Rs. 250 under SGST) per return for taxpayers without any tax liability during the said tax period |
Capped to Rs. 1000 (Rs. 500 each under CGST and SGST) per return for other taxpayers | |||
Form GSTR-3B (Taxpayers with AATO upto Rs. 1.5 Crores) | Preceding year | Prospective Taxation period | Capped to a maximum of Rs. 2000 (Rs. 1000 each under CGST and SGST) |
Form GSTR-3B (Taxpayers with AATO between Rs. 1.5 Crores and Rs. 5 Crores) | Preceding year | Prospective Taxation period | Capped to a maximum of Rs. 5000 (Rs. 2500 each under CGST and SGST) |
Form GSTR-3B (Taxpayers with AATO more than Rs. 5 Crores) | Preceding year | Prospective Taxation period | Capped to a maximum of Rs. 10000 (Rs. 5000 each under CGST and SGST) |
Form GSTR-4 (For Composite Taxpayers) | Preceding year | Prospective Taxation period | Capped to Rs. 500 (Rs. 250 under CGST and Rs. 250 under SGST) per return for taxpayers with NIL tax liability |
Capped to a maximum of Rs. 2000 (Rs. 1000 each under CGST and SGST) per return for others | |||
Form GSTR-7 | Preceding year | Prospective Taxation period | Reduced to Rs. 50 per day (Rs. 25 SGST and Rs. CGST) and capped to a maximum of Rs. 2000 (Rs. 1000 each under CGST and SGST) per return |
Interest is levied upon GST payments beyond a given due date. Interest is usually paid by taxpayers in the following scenarios:
In case of a delayed GST payment after the due date – an interest of 18 percent per annum is applicable from the next day of the due date.
When the taxpayer avails excess input tax credit or diminishes excess output tax liability – an interest of 24 percent per annum is levied.
In addition to the recent relief measures granted to the taxpayers regarding GST late fees, further relaxations have been granted to the taxpayers for interest on GST late payment. Here’s a table encapsulating the renewed interest on late payment of GST for the March and April 2021 period:
Taxpayer and Return Type | Tax Period | Taxpayer Class based on AATO | Filing Due Date | Reduced Rate of Interest | Waiver of Fee till | |||
First 15 days from Due Date | Next 15 days | From 31st day onwards |
| |||||
Normal taxpayers filing monthly returns in Form GSTR 3B | March 2022 | Upto Rs. 5 Crores | 20 April 2022 | Nil | 9 percent | 18 percent | 20 May 2022 | |
More than Rs. 5 Crores | 20 April 2022 | 9 percent | 18 percent | 18 percent | 5 May 2022 | |||
April 2022 | Upto Rs. 5 Crores | 20 May 2022 | Nil | 9 percent | 18 percent | 19 June 2022 | ||
More than Rs. 5 Crores | 20 May 2022 | 9 percent | 18 percent | 18 percent | 4 June 2022 | |||
Taxpayers under QRMP scheme filing quarterly returns | March 2022 | Form GSTR-3B (quarterly) | 22/24 April 2022 | Nil | 9 percent | 18 percent | 22/24 May 2022 | |
April 2022 | Form GST PM-06 Challan | 25 May 2022 | Nil | 9 percent | 18 percent | Not Applicable | ||