In a major relief to the taxpayers, the government has capped that maximum late fee on GSTR-3B returns at Rs 500. CBIC said that the government has decided to cap the maximum late fee for filing GSTR-3B returns for the tax period of July 2017 to July 2020, given that such returns are filed before 30 September 2020. Earlier, in the 40th GST Council meet, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had announced a cap of Rs 500 to be imposed as the late fee for filing GSTR-3B returns for the period of July 2017 to January 2020. Also, it was announced that there will be zero late fees for those with no tax liability.
In the 40th GST Council meeting, FM Sitharaman made important announcements on GST return late fee waiver and reduced interest rate further being extended on account of the coronavirus crisis but refrained from bringing changes in the inverted duty structure. The Council also deferred the decision of raising rates on textiles, fertilisers, and footwear to correct the inverted duty structure. States unanimously agreed on correcting the inverted duty structure but said that now is not the right time to raise rates when the idea is to revive demand in the economy.
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Meanwhile, in an effort to ease the filing process of GST returns, the government has allowed traders to file their NIL GST monthly returns via mobile SMS facility. The decision taken by the Ministry of Finance is expected to benefit more than 22 lakh registered traders across the country. The taxpayers who owe no GST tax to the government till now had to log onto the GST tax portal and file the tax returns but now the same facility could be availed by sending a simple text message. The status of the returns so filed can be tracked on the GST Portal by logging in to GSTIN account and navigating to Services>Returns>Track Return Status.