Relief for the Taxpayers – CBIC enabled Form PMT-09 for Transfer of Amount from One Account Head Wrongly Selected During Payment to the Correct Account Head
Ever since the GST rollout, there have always been certain technical glitches on the portal, or the people were not fully aware of all the functionalities of the GSTN and had deposited tax or fees or interest or penalty under the wrong head which leads to blockage of funds.
In the earlier scenario, once the taxpayer pays the challan in one account head, then the same can be utilized for that account head only. Thus, if challan is paid under the incorrect head by mistake or oversight, it can’t be used against the liabilities of the correct head due to which the taxpayers need to pay the amount again in the new challan. Although in such a scenario, the taxpayer can apply for the refund of excess tax paid, however obtaining such refunds from the government was used to be a tedious task which certainly takes significant time due to which the working capital of the taxpayers gets blocked.
In order to resolve such issues, the Government has made amendments in the Finance Act, 2019 under the provisions of The CGST Act, 2017 which were applicable w.e.f. 01st Jan 2020. As per the said amendment, a registered person may, on the common portal, transfer any amount of tax, interest, penalty, fee, etc. available in the electronic cash ledger to other account heads through FORM GST PMT-09.
The above-said Form PMT-09 has now been enabled for shifting the wrongly deposited GST into correct heads. This will help a registered taxpayer to transfer any amount of tax, interest, penalty, etc. that is available in the electronic cash ledger, to the appropriate tax heads in the electronic cash ledger.
Form PMT-09 enables the taxpayer to transfer amount from one minor head*/ major head** to another minor head*/major head**. For instance, the taxpayer has paid INR 5,000 under the interest of CGST. Now by filing PMT-09, he can shift that amount to late fees of SGST also. Similarly, if a taxpayer has wrongly paid CGST instead of SGST, he can now rectify the same using Form PMT-09 by reallocating the amount from the CGST head to the SGST head.
This challan only allows shifting of the amounts that are available in the electronic cash ledger. The amount once utilized and removed from the cash ledger cannot be re-allocated.
Further, no parallel adjustment is allowed from one head to another head in single application e.g. transfer of amounts from CGST head to SGST head and SGST head to CGST head in a single application is not allowed.
(Note * – Major head refers to- Integrated tax, Central tax, State/UT Tax, and Cess.
Note **- Minor head refers to- Tax, Interest, Penalty, Fee, and Others.)
Last Updated: 24th April 2020
This article is contributed by:
Vaibhav Matta
Senior Manager, Legal
Tag: Goods & Services Tax, GST