Key Updates in Goods & Services Tax – April 2020

Extension for due date of GST Audit for FY 2018-19 Central Government vide Notification No. 15/ 2020-Central Tax dated 23.03.2020 has extended the due date for furnishing of Annual return (GSTR 9) and reconciliation statement (GSTR 9C) for the FY 2018-19 from 31.03.2020 to 30.06.2020. Exemption to foreign airlines from furnishing GSTR-9C Central Government vide Notification No. 9/ 2020-Central Tax has exempted the foreign airlines companies from furnishing FORM GSTR-9C, provided that a statement of receipts and payments for the financial year in respect of its Indian Business operations, duly authenticated by a practicing Chartered Accountant in India is submitted for each GSTIN by the 30^th September of the year succeeding the financial year. Extension for mechanism of E-Invoicing & QR Code Central Government vide Notification No. 13/ 2020 and 14/ 2020-Central Tax has extended date of implementation of mechanism for e-invoicing & dynamic QR code for registered persons from 01.04.2020 to 01.10.2020. However this notification exempts certain class of registered persons like Insurance, Banking, FI, NBFC, GTA, Passenger Transport and Multiplex. Aadhaar Authentication in GST Central Government vide Notification No. 17/ 2020, 18/ 2020 & 19/ 2020-Central Tax has exempted those persons who are not an Indian Citizen, persons other than Individual, Authorized Signatory, Partners and Karta from Aadhaar authentication for new GST registrations. The Aadhaar authentication process shall be effective from 01.04.2020; Due dates for GSTR-3B & GSTR-1 Central Government vide Notification No. 27/ 2020 to 29/ 2020-Central Tax has notified the due dates of GSTR-3B & GSTR-1 for the period April to September 2020 as under:

Particulars	Period / Month	Due Date	Remarks / Note
GSTR 1 (Monthly)	April to September 2020	11th of succeeding month	Due dates mentioned herein for the month of April & May are subject to the announcements under relief measure in view of COVID-19 outbreak. These amendments are listed below with respective notification / circular.
GSTR 3B	April to September 2020	20th, 22nd and 24th of succeeding month (Basis the present staggering method)
GSTR 1 (Quarterly)	April to June 2020	31st July 2020
	July to September 2020	31st October 2020

Conditional lowering of interest rate for Feb to Apr, 2020 Central Government vide Notification No. 31/ 2020-Central Tax seeks to provide relief by conditional lowering of interest rate for tax periods of February, 2020 to April, 2020:  

Sl. No.	Particulars	Tax Period	Rate of Interest	Condition for filling GSTR-3B
1	Taxpayers with aggregate turnover > Rs. 5 crores in the preceding FY	Feb, Mar and Apr 20	Nil for first 15 days from due date and 9 % p.a. there after	On or before 24.06.2020
2	Taxpayers with aggregate turnover > Rs 1.5 crore < Rs. 5 crores in the preceding FY	Feb & Mar 20	Nil	On or before 29.06.2020
		Apr-20		On or before 30.06.2020
3	Taxpayers with aggregate turnover of <= Rs 1.5 crores in the preceding FY	Feb-20	Nil	On or before 30.06.2020
		Mar-20		On or before 03.07.2020
		Apr-20		On or before 06.07.2020

Late fees waiver on delayed filing of GSTR 3B for Feb to Apr, 2020 Central Government vide Notification No. 32/ 2020-Central Tax seeks to provide relief by conditional waiver of late fee for delay in furnishing returns in FORM GSTR-3B for Feb to Apr 2020:  

Sl. No.	Particulars	Tax Period	Condition for filling GSTR-3B
1	Taxpayers with aggregate turnover > Rs. 5 crores in the preceding FY	Feb, Mar and Apr 20	On or before 24.06.2020
2	Taxpayers with aggregate turnover > Rs 1.5 crore < Rs. 5 crores in the preceding FY	Feb & Mar 20	On or before 29.06.2020
		Apr-20
3	Taxpayers with aggregate turnover of <= Rs 1.5 crores in the preceding FY	Feb-20	On or before 30.06.2020
		Mar-20	On or before 03.07.2020
		Apr-20	On or before 06.07.2020

Extension in due date for filing of GSTR 3B for May 2020 Central Government vide Notification No. 36/ 2020-Central Tax has extended the due date for fling of GSTR 3B for the month of May, 2020 below:

Particulars	States	Due Date
Taxpayers with an aggregate turnover > Rs. 5 crore in the previous FY	Any State	27.06.2020
Taxpayers having an aggregate turnover up to Rs 5 crore in the previous FY	Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh,  Gujarat, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Goa, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, the Union territories of Daman and Diu and Dadra and Nagar Haveli, Puducherry, Andaman and Nicobar Islands or Lakshadweep	12.07.2020
	Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, Uttarakhand, Haryana, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Sikkim, Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram, Tripura, Meghalaya, Assam, West Bengal, Jharkhand or Odisha, the Union territories of Jammu and Kashmir, Ladakh, Chandigarh or Delhi	14.07.2020

  Late fees waived on delayed filing of GSTR 1 Central Government vide Notification No. 33/ 2020-Central Tax has waived the late fees for filing of GSTR 1 (return for outward supply) for the month of March 2020, April 2020 and May 2020, if the same has been on or before filed on or before 30.06.2020. Note1: For GSTR-1, late fees has been waived off subject to condition that GSTR-1 for such tax periods filed before 30.06.2020. For taxpayer having aggregate turnover more than 5 crore, in case of GSTR 3B, the late fees has been waived off if GSTR 3B for such tax periods filed up to 24.06.2020. However on delay furnishing of GSTR 3B, interest shall be payable @ 9% p.a. after 15 days from due date i.e. no interest is payable for first 15 days from due date and 9% thereafter. Note2: In light of the above amendments, in case of taxpayers having aggregate turnover more than 5 crore, ideally GSTR-3B should be filed within 15 days from due date along with GSTR-1 to avoid late payment interest, as in case GSTR-3B is filed without filing or finalization of GSTR-1, it may result in Penal Interest, if in case, the amount of liability as per GSTR-3B differs with GSTR-1 filed.  

Tag: GST