GST amnesty scheme: Government extends last date of late fee amnesty scheme till November 30- Details here

The Ministry of Finance on Sunday, August 29 extended the last date to avail the GST amnesty scheme, under which taxpayers have to pay a reduced fee for delayed filing of monthly returns, by three months till November 30.

"The Government, vide Notification No. 19/2021- Central Tax, dated 01.06.2021, had provided relief to the taxpayers by reducing / waiving late fee for non-furnishing FORM GSTR-3B for the tax periods from July, 2017 to April, 2021, if the returns for these tax periods are furnished between 01.06.2021 to 31.08.2021," the Ministry said in a statement.

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The last date to avail benefit of the late fee amnesty scheme, has now been extended from existing 31.08.2021 to 30.11.2021," the statement further said.

The late fee for non-furnishing of GSTR-3B for July 2017 to April 2021 has been capped at Rs 500 per return for those taxpayers who did not have any tax liability. For those with tax liability, a maximum Rs 1,000 per return late fees would be charged, provided such returns are filed by August 31, 2021, according to a report by PTI.

The government has also extended the timelines for filing of application for revocation of cancellation of registration to September 30, 2021, where the due date of filing of application for revocation of cancellation of registration falls between 01.03.2020 to 31.08.2021.

However, it can be noted that the extension would be applicable only in those cases where registrations have been cancelled under clause (b) or clause (c) of sub-section (2) of section 29 of the CGST Act.

Also, as per the information provided by the Finance Ministry, the filing of FORM GSTR-3B and FORM GSTR-1/ IFF by companies using electronic verification code (EVC), instead of Digital Signature certificate (DSC) has already been enabled for the period from 27.04.2021 to 31.08.2021. This has been further extended to October 31, 2021.

The extension of the closing date of late fee amnesty scheme and extension of time limit for filing of application for revocation of cancellation of registration will benefit a large number of taxpayers, specially small taxpayers, who could not file their returns in time due to various reasons, mainly because of difficulties caused by COVID-19 pandemic, and whose registrations were cancelled due to the same, the ministry said.