GST Council halves interest on delayed filing of returns

New Delhi: In a relief to small taxpayers with turnover up to Rs 5 crore, the GST Council on Friday halved the interest on delayed filing of GST returns for February, March and April to 9 per cent, provided the returns are filed by September 2020.

Also, the deadline for filing returns for May, June and July has been extended till September, without any interest or late fee, finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman said after a meeting of the council.

Sitharaman said no late fee will be levied for delayed filing of GST returns by registered entities with nil liability between July 2017 to January 2020.

Briefing reporters after GST Council meeting, she said late fee for non-filing of monthly sales return for others has been reduced to a maximum of Rs 500 for July 2017 to January 2020 period.

The GST Council – the apex decision making body of the indirect tax regime – discussed the impact of COVID-19, she said.

Inverted duty structure hitting GST collections was discussed, she said, adding the panel was looking at correction of duty inversion in footwear, fertiliser and textiles.

Sitharaman said discussion on taxing pan masala will hopefully be taken up at GST Council’s next regular meeting.

A special one-agenda meeting will happen in July to discuss compensation requirements of state, she added.