GST due date extension for the F.Y. 2020-21 – (COVID-19) pandemic.

The economy of the Country has been halted due the Coronavirus (COVID-19) spread and the human life is in danger and no one can perform their regular business activities. And in this regard the CBIC has issued 4 important Notifications to reduce the burden on taxpayers by amending the Interest payable under section 50 of the CGST Act, 2017 and waiving the Late Fee payable under section 47 on delayed payment of tax liability after the due date of filing the returns.

Due to the spread of Novel Corona Virus; across many Countries in the World, including India, has caused immense loss to the lives of people and resultantly impacted the trade and industry. In this emergency situation it is a challenging task for taxpayers to meet the tax compliance under various provisions of the CGST Act, 2017, Therefore, Finance Ministry has announced various relief measures relating to statutory and regulatory compliance in the country.

Due date extension for Composition Tax Payers

Any person registered as per the provisions of Section 22 or Section 24 of the CGST Act, 2017 and liable to pay tax under Section 10 has to file FORM GST CMP-08 and GSTR-4 with in due dates.

And any registered person is liable to pay tax under Section 9 and wants to avail off the option of composition levy as per section 10 has to satisfy the conditions specified in Rule 5 of CGST Rules, 2017 and they need to submit an intimation in FORM GST CMP-02 prior to the commencement of the financial year for which the option to pay tax under section 10 as per Rule 3(3) as well need to submit a declaration for intimation of ITC reversal/payment of tax on inputs held in stock, inputs contained in semi-finished and finished goods held in FORM GST ITC-03 as per Rule 44(4).

The due dates for the said GST FORMs are amended by 2 notifications due to the COVID-19 virus pandemic as follows.

Due date extension for FORM GST CMP-02 and GST ITC-03 thru Notification No. 30/2020-Central Tax

The normal due date for submitting the FORM GST CMP-02 is extended upto 30-06-2020 through Notification No. 30/2020-Central Tax Dt. 03-04-2020 instead of 31-03-2020 as per Rule 3(3). As well FORM GST ITC-03 in accordance with the provisions of Rule 44(4) it has to be submitted within a period of ninety (90) days but it is extended upto 31-07-2020. And the notification is read as follow.

2. In the Central Goods and Services Tax Rules, 2017 (hereinafter referred to as the said rules), with effect from the 31st March, 2020, in sub-rule (3) of rule 3, the following proviso shall be inserted, namely:-

“Provided that any registered person who opts to pay tax under section 10 for the financial year 2020-21 shall electronically file an intimation in FORM GST CMP-02, duly signed or verified through electronic verification code, on the common portal, either directly or through a Facilitation Centre notified by the Commissioner, on or before 30th day of June, 2020 and shall furnish the statement in FORM GST ITC-03 in accordance with the provisions of sub-rule (4) of rule 44 upto the 31st day of July, 2020.”.

Due date extension for FORM GST CMP-08 thru Notification No. 34/2020-Central Tax.

The due date for submitting the FORM GST CMP-08 for the quarter ending 31^st March, 2020 is extended upto 07-07-2020 through Notification No. 34/2020-Central Tax Dt. 03-04-2020 instead of 18-04-2020 as per the Principal Notification No. 21/2019-Central Tax Dt. 23-04-2019 and the amended notification is read as follow.

“Provided that the said persons shall furnish a statement, containing the details of payment of self-assessed tax in FORM GST CMP-08 of the Central Goods and Services Tax Rules, 2017, for the quarter ending 31st March, 2020, till the 7th day of July, 2020.”;

Due date extension for FORM GSTR-4 thru Notification No. 34/2020-Central Tax.

The due date for submitting the FORM GSTR-4 for the year ending 31^st March, 2020 (F.Y. 2019-20) is extended upto 15-06-2020 through Notification No. 34/2020-Central Tax Dt. 03-04-2020 instead of 30-04-2020 as per the principal Notification No. 21/2019-Central Tax Dt. 23-04-2019 and the amended notification is read as follow.

(ii) in the third paragraph, the following proviso shall be inserted, namely: –
“Provided that the said persons shall furnish the return in FORM GSTR-4 of the Central Goods and Services Tax Rules, 2017, for the financial year ending 31st March, 2020, till the 15th day of July, 2020.”.

Due date extension for Regular Tax Payer

Every Registered Person, other than an Input Service Distributor, a Non-Resident Taxable Person and a person paying tax under the provisions of Section 10 of the CGST Act, 2017, Section 51 or Section 52 and other than a person referred to in Section 14 of the IGST Act, 2017, required to furnish the details of Outward Supplies under Section 37 of the CGST Act, shall furnish the such details in FORM GSTR-1.

The said persons have to abide by Rule 36(4) of the CGST Rules, 2017 in order to avail the ITC mentioned in FORM GSTR-3B in the respective tax periods. In simple words the rule says that taxpayer is allowed only an additional of 20% excess of ITC for the tax period on which ITC found in FORM GSTR-2A.

Cumulative ITC condition as per Rule36(4) from February,2020 to August, 2020 thru Notification No. 30/2020-Central Tax.

Taxpayer is allowed to take credit of Input Tax as per condition in Rule 36(4). The rule says that the taxpayer is restricted to the total ITC found in his GSTR-2A and an addition of 20% on it for each tax period.

But As per Notification No. 30/2020-Central Tax Dt. 03-04-2020 this restriction is amended to as a cumulative figure for all of the tax periods from February, 2020 to August, 2020 which is allowed upto in September, 2020 GSTR-3B return instead of each tax period wise restriction. Therefore, taxpayer is allowed to take the credit of Input Tax of February, 2020 period which is not found in FORM GSTR-2A upto late due of FORM GSTR-3B return for the tax period of September, 2020 and the notification is read as follow.

3. In the said rules, in sub-rule (4) of rule 36, the following proviso shall be inserted, namely:-
“Provided that the said condition shall apply cumulatively for the period February, March, April, May, June, July and August, 2020 and the return in FORM GSTR-3B for the
tax period September, 2020 shall be furnished with the cumulative adjustment of input tax credit for the said months in accordance with the condition above.”.

Interest and Late Fee waived off for GSTR-3B thru Notification No. 31/2020 and 32/2020-Central Tax

As per Notification No. 31/2020 and 32/2020-Central Tax Dt. 03-04-2020 the Rate of Interest and Late Fee to be payable on delayed payment of tax after the due date for the Tax Periods February, 2020 to April,2020 has been amended as follows.

Tax Payers having aggregate turnover having more than 5 Crore.

For this category of persons, the Board has given the following tax rate and waived late fee for the tax periods from February, 2020 to April, 2020 if the FORM GSTR-3B is furnished on or before 24-06-2020.

• 0% Interest and Late Fee waived for first 15 days from the due date.
• 9% Interest and Late Fee waived after 15 days from the due date.

The normal due date for filing the return from February, 2020 to April, 2020 are 20-03-2020, 20-04-2020, and 20-05-2020 respectively. In the notification it clearly says that Interest is levied for the first 15 days from the due dates and therefore the interest will not be levied as per Section 50(1) of the CGST Act, 2017 if tax liability is paid after the following dates for the said tax periods, which is clearly explained in the Circular No. 136/06/2020-GST Dt. 03-04-2020.

• For tax period February, 2020 : 04-04-2020
• For tax period March, 2020 : 05-05-2020
• For tax period April, 2020 : 04-06-2020

If the returns are filed after the above dates Interest @ 9% p.a. and late fee shall be waived. And another condition specified for the 0% interest slab that the return must be filed before 24-06-2020 otherwise the above deductions are not applicable and normal Interest rate @ 18% as per section 50(1) and late fee as per section 47 has to be levied.

How to calculate Interest for late payment of tax

As explained above, the rate of interest has been notified as Nil for first 15 days from the due date, and 9 per cent per annum thereafter, for the said months. The same can be explained through an illustration.

Illustration:- Calculation of interest for delayed filing of return for the month of March, 2020 (due date of filing being 20.04.2020) may be illustrated as per the below Table for tax liability of 50,000/-

Tax Payers having aggregate turnover of more than 1.5 Crore and upto 5 Crore.

For this category of persons, the Board has completely waived interest and late fees, if the FORM GSTR-3B filed before the following dates for the corresponding tax periods which are mentioned in the notification.

• For tax period February, 2020 : 29-06-2020
• For tax period March, 2020 : 29-06-2020
• For tax period April, 2020 : 30-06-2020

As per the circular cited above there is no due date but interest and late fee is levied if FORM GSTR-3B filed on or before the above dates respectively. If the Return is filed after the given dates the normal Interest @ 18% p.a. and late fee shall be levied as usual.

Tax Payers having aggregate turnover of upto 1.5 Crore.

For this category of persons, the Board has completely waived interest and late fees payable if the FORM GSTR-3B filed before the following dates for the corresponding tax periods which is mentioned in the notification.

• For tax period February, 2020 : 30-06-2020
• For tax period March, 2020 : 03-07-2020
• For tax period April, 2020 : 06-07-2020

As per the circular cited above there is no due date but interest and late fees leviable if FORM GSTR-3B filed on or before the above dates respectively. If the return is filed after the given dates the normal Interest @ 9% p.a. and Late Fee shall be levied as usual.

Late Fee waived for FORM GSTR-1 thru Notification No. 33/2020-Central Tax

Late Fee leviable on delayed filing of FORM GSTR-1 for the tax periods of March, 2020 to May, 2020 after the due date as per Section 47 of the CGST Act, 2017 shall be waived as per the Notification No. 33/2020-Central Tax Dt. 03-04-2020 but the form have to be filed on or before 30-06-2020, otherwise late fee shall be levied as per Section 47. And the said notification read as follow.

In the notification no. 4/2018-Central Tax, Dt. 23-01-2018, after the third proviso, the following proviso shall be inserted, namely: –
“Provided also that the amount of late fee payable under section 47 of the said Act shall stand waived for the months of March, 2020, April, 2020 and May, 2020, and for the quarter ending 31st March, 2020, for the registered persons who fail to furnish the details of outward supplies for the said periods in FORM GSTR-1 by the due date, but furnishes the said details in FORM GSTR-1, on or before the 30th day of June, 2020.”.

Effective dates of the Notifications specified in this article.

• Notification No. 30/2020-Central Tax – w.e.f. 31-03-2020 For FORM GST CMP-02 and FORM GST ITC-03
• Notification No. 31/2020-Central Tax – w.e.f. 20-03-2020
• Notification No. 32/2020-Central Tax – w.e.f. 20-03-2020