Know new scheme of late fee waiver under GST

Due to COVID-19 pandemic and challenges faced by taxpayers, Government has extended dates for GST filings and provided relief to tax payers which includes Relief in late fee to Taxpayers filing Form GSTR-3B, Relief in late fee to Taxpayers filing, waiver of interest on net tax liability. This article contains relief provided by government with respect to late fee wavier

What is the relief provided by government with respect to late fee?

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:

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

B. 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.

C. 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.

The above information can be summarised as follows:

Category of Taxpayer	Annual Aggregate Turnover	Relief provided w.r.t late fees
Normal Taxpayer having Nil tax liability	Up to Rs. 1.5 Crore	Capped to Rs. 500 (Rs 250 CGST + Rs 250 SGST)
Normal Taxpayer having Nil tax liability	More than	Capped to Rs. 500 (Rs 250 CGST + Rs 250 SGST)
Normal Taxpayer having Nil tax liability	More than Rs. 5 Crore	Capped to Rs. 500 (Rs 250 CGST + Rs 250 SGST)
Normal Taxpayer having tax liability	Up to Rs. 1.5 Crore	Capped to Rs. 2000 (1000 CGST+1000 SGST
Normal Taxpayer having tax liability	More than	Capped to Rs. 5000 (2500 CGST + 2500 SGST)
Normal Taxpayer having tax liability	More than Rs. 5 Crore	Capped to Rs. 10000 (5000 CGST + 5000 SGST).
Composition Taxpayer filing GSTR4 having tax liability	NA	Capped to 500 (Rs 250 CGST + Rs 250 SGST)
Composition Taxpayer filing GSTR4 Nil tax liability	NA	Capped to Rs. 2000 (Rs 1000 CGST + Rs 1000 SGST)
Peron liable for TDS deduction and filing GSTR7	NA	Capped to Rs. 2000 (Rs 1000 CGST + Rs 1000 SGST)

What are the relief provided by government with respect to Interest on Net Tax Liability?

Below are the relief with respect to Interest on net tax liability:

Period	Turnover of More than Rs. 5 Crores	Turnover up to Rs. 5 Crores Monthly and Quarterly filers)
March 2021	9% up to 15 days (Up to 5th May) and @ 18% thereafter	No interest for 15 days from original due date of payment, Interest @ 9% for next 45 days and 18% thereafter
April 2021	9% up to 15 days (Up to 4th June) and @ 18% thereafter	No interest for 15 days from original due date of payment, Interest @ 9% for next 30 days and 18% thereafter
May 2021	9% up to 15 days (Up to 5th July) and @ 18% thereafter	No interest for 15 days from original due date of payment, Interest @ 9% for next 15 days and 18% thereafter