GST Penalties you should remember
There are 21 offences under GST. For easy understanding, these have been grouped into heads as given below:
Fake or wrong invoices:
- A taxable person supplies any goods/services without any invoice or issues a false invoice.
- He issues any invoice or bill without supply of goods/services in violation of the provisions of GST
- He issues invoices using the identification number of another bonafide taxable person
Fraud:
- He submits false information while registering under GST
- He submits fake financial records/documents or files fake returns to evade tax
- Does not provide information/gives false information during proceedings.
Tax Evasion:
- He collects any GST but does not submit it to the government within 3 months
- Even if he collects any GST in contravention of provisions, he still has to deposit it to the government within 3 months. Failure to do so will be an offence under GST.
- He obtains a refund of any CGST/SGST by fraud.
- He takes and/or utilizes input tax credit without actual receipt of goods and/or services
- He deliberately suppresses his sales to evade tax
Supply/transport of goods:
- He transports goods without proper documents
- Supplies/transports goods that he knows will be confiscated
- Destroys/tampers goods that have been seized
Others:
- He has not registered under GST although he is required to by law
- He does not deduct TDS or deducts less amount where applicable.
- He does not collect TCS or collects less amount where applicable.
- Being an Input Service Distributor, he takes or distributes input tax credit in violation of the rules
- He obstructs the proper officer during his duty (for example, he hinders the officer during the audit by tax authorities)
- He does not maintain all the books that he required to maintain by law
- He destroys any evidence
For the 21 offences above, for fraud cases, penalty will be 100% (minimum Rs. 10,000)
For cases mentioned in 1, 2 under fake invoicing and 4th under both tax evasion and others heads, the penalty is equal to the tax evaded or ITC availed or passed on.
Penalties
As per the outcome of 43rd GST Council meeting and CBIC notification, following are the latest updates:
- Amendment to Section 50 vide Finance Act 2021 has been notified by the CBIC which came into effect from 1st July 2017. As per the amendment, interest shall be computed on the net tax liability to be debited from electronic cash ledger after ITC is utilised.
- The much- awaited GST amnesty scheme was given a go ahead. As per the announcement, those taxpayers who haven’t filed GSTR-3B for any earlier tax periods between July 2017 to April 2021 can file now between 1st June 2021 up to 31st August 2021 with reduced maximum late fee as follows:
(a) Maximum late fee has been capped at a maximum of Rs 500 per return ( i.e Rs. 250/- each for CGST & SGST) in case of nil GSTR-1 and GSTR-3B filing
(b) Maximum late fee is Rs 1000 per return ( i.e. Rs. 500/- each for CGST & SGST) for other taxpayers. - Late fee has been rationalised for future tax periods in case of GSTR-3B, as follows:
(a) In case of nil GSTR-3B filing, the maximum late fee charged shall be capped at Rs.500 per return (i.e Rs. 250/- each for CGST & SGST).
(b) In GSTR-1 and GSTR-3B other than nil filing, maximum late fee is fixed based on annual turnover slab, as follows:
(i) If the annual turnover in the previous financial year is upto Rs.1.5 crore then the late fee of maximum Rs 2,000 per return can only be charged (i.e. Rs.1000 each for CGST and SGST).
(ii) If the turnover ranges between Rs.1.5 crore and Rs.5 crore then the maximum late fee of Rs.5,000 per return can only be charged (i.e Rs. 2500 each for CGST and SGST).
(iii) If the turnover is more than Rs.5 crore then late fee of maximum Rs.10,000 (i.e Rs. 5000 per CGST and SGST) can be charged. - For any delayed submission of PMT-06 by QRMP taxpayers for April 2021 and May 2021, interest relief has been provided as follows:
(a) For April 2021, No interest is charged for delayed submission up to 9th June, whereas 9% of reduced interest is charged between 10th June and 9th July, and 18% of interest is charged thereafter.
(b) For May 2021, No interest is charged for delayed submission up to 10th July, whereas 9% of reduced interest is charged between 11th and 25th July, and 18% of interest is charged thereafter. - The late fee and interest relief has been extended for a further period for filing GSTR-3B for March, April and May 2021.
Jail Punishment
GST has corporal punishments (jail) for high value fraud cases as mentioned below:
Tax amount involved |
100-200 lakhs |
200-500 lakhs |
Above 500 lakhs |
Jail term |
Upto 1 year |
Upto 3 years |
Upto 5 year |
Fine |
In all three cases |
Cases of fraud also face penalties, prosecution and arrest.
Inspection under GST
The Joint Commissioner of SGST/CGST (or a higher officer) may have reasons to believe that in order to evade tax; a person has suppressed any transaction or claimed excess input tax credit etc. Then the Joint Commissioner can authorize any other officer of CGST/SGST (in writing) to inspect places of business of the suspected evader.
Search & Seizure under GST
The Joint Commissioner of SGST/CGST can order for a search. He will order a search on the basis of results of inspection (or other reason) if he has reasons to believe –
- There are goods which might be confiscated
- Any documents or books or other things which are hidden somewhere. Such items can be useful during proceedings
Such incriminating goods and documents can be seized.