Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, as part of the GST Council's decisions on Friday, said small tax-payers whose aggregate turnover is up to Rs 5 crore will be provided a waiver of late fees and interest if they file by September the form GSTR-3B for supplies affected in the months of May, June and July 2020.
Small tax-payers will have to pay no interest for late furnishing of GST returns till July 6; after that, the interest rate was reduced to 9% and this will be valid till September 30.
For small tax-payers whose aggregate turnover is up to Rs 5 crore, the rate of interest for late furnishing of GST returns for February, March and April 2020, beyond July 6, 2020, the rate of interest was reduced from 18% to 9%.
For those with tax liability, maximum late fee for non-filing of GSTR-3B returns for July 2017 to January 2020 has been capped to Rs 500. This will apply to all returns submitted between July 1, 2020, and September 30, 2020.
The GST Council's first meeting after the imposition of the lockdown did not make any changes in tax slabs.
"The issue of inverted duty structure hitting GST collections was discussed. The GST Council also discussed inverted duty structure in textile," said Sitharaman. "While the principle regarding correction of inversion of duties has been agreed upon by everybody, the question of the right time to make the correction remained, hence this decision has been postponed."
While briefing the media post meeting, she said discussions on taxing pan masala will hopefully be taken up at the next regular meeting.
On the issue of the compensation requirements of states, Sitharaman said a special one-agenda meeting will happen in July.
"For the period July 2017 to January 2020, which is prior to COVID period, a lot of return filing has been pending. For all those who have no tax liabilities but who have not filed their returns between July 2017 and January 2020, there will be zero late fees," she added.
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