The GST Amnesty Scheme was introduced to encourage non-filers to voluntarily come forward and file their GST returns by providing a one-time relief from late fees.
49th GST Council Meeting:
The roots for announcing the Amnesty Scheme 2023 were planted in the 49th GST Council Meeting which was held on 18th February 2023.
GST Amnesty Schemes:
As part of its latest Budget announcements, the Maharashtra government on March 9, 2023 announced an ‘Amnesty Scheme’ called as ‘Maharashtra Settlement of Arrears of Tax, Interest, Penalty or Late Fee Act, 2023’.
The Finance Department, Govt. of Rajasthan on February 10, 2023, published the Rajasthan Amnesty Scheme-2023. This scheme shall come into force on February 10, 2023, and shall remain in force up to September 30, 2023.
The government has notified amnesty scheme for small businesses, non-filers of final returns, and taxpayers whose Goods and Services Tax (GST) registration has been cancelled.
According to the Central Board of Indirect Taxes & Customs (CBIC) notification, they can apply for revocation of cancelled registration by June 30, after paying due taxes, interest and penalty, CBIC said in a notification.
The apex body has made amendments to the Central GST Act, specifying that businesses whose registration have been cancelled on or before December 31, 2022, and who have failed to apply for revocation of cancellation within the specified period can do so by June 30. Effective date: The notification to this effect was issued on April 1, 2023.
Key Highlights:
- GST returns from 2017-18 to 2021-22 can be filed with a maximum late fee of Rs 20,000
- For this, all old returns have to be filed by 30th June 2023.
- After that full penalty will be payable on filing the return.
- CBIC has capped the late fee at Rs 1,000 for registered persons who fail to furnish the final return in Form GSTR-10 by the due date, provided they furnish the said returns by June 30.
- GSTR-10 is a final return that needs to be filed by taxpayers who have decided to cancel their GST registration.
- Besides, in a separate notification, the CBIC has also rationalized late fee for delayed filing of annual return in (Form GSTR-9) for FY 2022-23 onwards, for small businesses with turnover up to Rs 20 crore.
- Those with an aggregate turnover of up to Rs 5 crore in the said financial year would be charged late fee of Rs 50 per day, subject to a maximum of an amount calculated at 0.04 per cent of his turnover.
- Registered persons having an aggregate turnover of between Rs 5-20 crore in the said fiscal would be liable to pay late fee of Rs 100 per day, subject to a maximum of an amount calculated at 0.04 per cent of his turnover.
- Late fees for filing old returns have also been waived for composition taxpayers. Such taxpayers can now file all returns from July 2017 to March 2022 with a late fee of only Rs 500. The entire late fee has been waived if there is no tax liability.
- This scheme is also valid till June 30, 2023.
The Government extended the time limit for issuance of order u/s 73 of the Act for recovery of tax not paid or short paid or of ITC wrongly availed or utilized. The extended due dates are as follows: For F.Y. 2017-18, it’s up to 31-12-2023, For 201819 it’s 31-03-2024 & For F.Y.2019-20 it’s 30- 06-2024.
However, the revocation can be applied for only after the assessee furnishes the returns due up to the effective date of cancellation of registration and after paying due taxes in terms of such returns, along with interest, penalty and late fees, the notification said.
No further extension for filing application for revocation of cancellation of registration shall be available in such cases, according to the finance ministry notification, it noted.
Maharashtra Settlement of Arrears of Tax, Interest, Penalty or Late Fee Act, 2023
The amnesty scheme for settlement of arrears of tax, interest, penalty or late fee prior to the implementation of the Goods and Services Tax introduced by the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government has been extended by state finance minister Devendra Fadnavis.
The new scheme will be in force from May 1 to October 31, 2023. It will be applicable for the arrears pending as on May 1, 2023.
The government will grant a full waiver of arrears, if the arrears for any year are Rs 2 lakh or less as per the statutory order. He said this would benefit small traders in nearly one lakh cases.
Dealers having arrears up to Rs 50 lakh or less as per the statutory order will pay only 20% of the total arrears and the remaining 80% will be waived. This would benefit around 80,000 cases.
Arrears of more than INR 50,00,000 (Indian Rupees fifty lakh):
Options available for settlement of arrears more than INR 50,00,000 (Indian Rupees fifty lakh):
- One time payment/ lumpsum payment.
- Payment in instalments.
No waiver will be granted in respect of undisputed tax. Refund matters will not be eligible for benefits under the Amnesty Scheme. Any payment made on any account on or before April 30, 2023 will not be considered as payment towards the requisite amount. In case less than the requisite amount is paid, proportionate adjustment will be permitted.
Source: Various notifications issued
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The CBIC has notified fresh Central Tax notifications on 31st March 2023 to implement 2023 GST amnesty scheme.
GST amnesty scheme 2023 notification are issued in notification / circular numbers 02/2023, 03/2023, 06/2023, 07/2023, and 08/2023.
