GST: Centre waives off late-filing penalty

The central government, on recommendation of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) Council, has waived off the late-filing penalty for all registered taxpayers who failed to file GST-3B return by the due date.

“In exercise of the powers conferred by section 128 of the Central Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017 (12 of 2017), the Central Government, on the recommendations of the Council, hereby waives the late fee payable under section 47 of the said Act, for all registered persons who failed to furnish the return in FORM GSTR-3B for the month of July, 2017 by the due date,” Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC) said in a notification.

The last date for filing GST returns for July was August 25 for taxpayers who did not want to claim transitional input tax credit, while it was August 28 for those who wanted to avail transitional credit. On Tuesday, finance minister Arun Jaitley, while announcing the figures for GST collections for July, had said that a nominal late filing penalty of Rs 100 per day for CGST and SGST each will be levied for those who haven’t yet paid the GST.

The Centre and states have collected Rs 92,283 crore as GST for the month of July, the first month of the implementation of the indirect tax regime, marginally higher than the projected target of Rs 91,000 crore. Jaitley had said on Tuesday that 64.42 per cent of the total registered taxpayers, excluding composition dealers and registrants in August, had filed GST returns for July and that the tax collection number was expected to “somewhat increase” with more compliance.