12.06.2020: The 40th GST Council meeting held today through video conferencing. The chair of the meeting was headed by the Union Finance & Corporate Affairs Minister Smt Nirmala Sitharaman. Similarly, the meeting was also attended by the Union Minister of State for Finance & Corporate Affairs Shri Anurag Thakur.
Here are the top decisions that are taken today in the GST Council meeting to facilitate the taxpayers.
1. Past Late Fees Relaxation
As a major decision, the government has decided to clean up pendency in return filing and late fee for non-filing of GSTR-3B. Thus, the late fee has been waived/reduced for the tax period from July, 2017 to January, 2020 as below:
- ‘NIL’ late fee if there is no tax liability;
- A maximum late fee of Rs. 500/- per return is applicable if there is any tax liability.
This will be applicable for all the GSTR-3B returns filed between 01.07.2020 to 30.09.2020.
2. Relaxation of Interest for February, March & April 2020
The taxpayers with aggregate turnover uptoRs. 5 crore needs to pay 9% rate of interest instead of 18% if the GSTR 3B is filed beyond the due date. The previous last date for this relaxation was 06th July 2020. The relaxation is applicable only for the tax period for the month of February, March and April, 2020.
In other words, there will be nil rate of interest, if the GSTR 3B filed by 06th July 2020 for the above months. Thereafter, 9% interest will be applicable, if filed till 30th September 2020.
3. Relaxation for May, June & July 2020
The taxpayers having aggregate turnover up to Rs. 5 crores will get a benefit of late fee and interest waiver scheme for the month of May, June, and July 2020. Similarly, the waiver will be applicable, if the GSTR 3B is filed by September 2020. However, the actual due dates of GSTR 3B filing for these months will be notified by the government shortly.
4. Revocation of Cancellation of Registration
The Government has decided to give an additional period of extension till 30.09.2020 to revoke the canceled GST registration. Thus, this extension is applicable in all cases where the GST registrations were canceled till 12th June 2020.
5. Amendment of CGST & IGST ACT 2017
The GST council has recommended bringing into force Certain clauses of the Finance Act, 2020 from 30.06.2020. This is to amend the existing CGST Act 2017 and IGST Act, 2017.
These are the recommendations of the GST council, in today’s 40th meeting. However, these are the only recommendations and not the final decisions. In order, to bring these recommendations in to force, the Central Board of Indirect Taxes & Customs will issue the official notifications/Circulars in due course of time.
