Introduction
The Goods and Services Tax (‘GST’) Council in its 31st Meeting held on 22 December 2018 has made several taxpayer-friendly decisions.
Some of the decisions include providing an extension in the due dates for filing GST returns and waiver of late fees for those taxpayers who could not complete the GST registration process after obtaining provisional registration.
In order to give effect to the decisions of the GST Council, the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs has issued several notifications on 31 December 2018.
The gist of the notifications along with the revised due dates/ compliance required and the links to the notification have been summarised below for ease of reference.
1. Special procedure for taxpayers who have not completed the migration process
| S.no | Subject | Revised due date/ compliance required | Notification |
| 1 | Special procedure for completing migration of taxpayers who received provisional IDs but could not complete the GST migration process a. Submission of requisite details in Form GST REG – 26 to the jurisdictional GST nodal officer b. Sending the registration details along with new and old GSTIN and ARN to GSTN | a. On or before 31 January 2019 b. On or before 28 February 2019 | Notification No. 67/2018 – Central Tax |
2. Extension of due dates for filing GSTR – 3B
| S.no | Subject | Revised due date | Notification |
| 1 | Extension of due date for filing return in Form GSTR – 3B for the months of July 2017 to February 2019 for newly migrated taxpayers following special procedure for migration | Return in Form GSTR – 3B is filed on or before 31 March 2019 for all months | 1. Notification No. 68/2018 – Central Tax 2. Notification No. 69/2018 – Central Tax 3. Notification No. 70/2018 – Central Tax 4. Notification No. 71/2018 – Central Tax 5. Notification No. 72/2018 – Central Tax |
3. Waiver of Late Fees for non filling of GSTR-3B, GSTR-1, GSTR-, ITC-04
| S NO | Subject | Notification no |
| 1 | Waiver of late fees for registered taxpayers in following cases for the months of July 2017 to September 2018 a. FORM GSTR – 1 not filed within respective due dates; and b. FORM GSTR – 1 is filed between 22 December 2018 to 31 March 2019 | Notification No. 75/2018 – Central Tax |
| 2 | Waiver of late fees for registered taxpayers in following cases for the months of July 2017 to September 2018 a. FORM GSTR – 3B not filed within respective due dates; and b. FORM GSTR – 3B is filed between 22 December 2018 to 31 March 2019 | Notification No. 76/2018 – Central Tax |
| 3 | Waiver of late fees for taxpayers opting to file returns under composition scheme in the following cases for the months of July 2017 to December 2018 a. FORM GSTR – 4 not filed within respective due dates; and b. FORM GSTR – 4 is filed between 22 December 2018 to 31 March 2019 | Notification No. 77/2018 – Central Tax |
| 4 | Waiver of late fees for taxpayers required to file returns in respect of goods dispatched to a job worker or received from a job worker in the following cases for the months of July 2017 to December 2018 a. FORM GST ITC – 04 not filed within respective due dates; and b. FORM GST ITC – 04 is filed between 22 December 2018 to 31 March 2019 | Notification No. 78/2018- Central Tax |
| 5 | Supplies of goods or services or both taking place between the following shall be exempted from the provisions of tax deduction at source under the GST law: a. Department/ establishment of Central Government or State Government; or b. Local authority; or c. Governmental agencies; or d. Persons/ category of persons notified by the Government on the recommendations of the GST Council | Notification No. 73/2018 – Central Tax |
