The government has waived penalty on the delayed filing of initial GST returns for the months of August and September. Finance Minister Arun Jaitley tweeted, “To facilitate taxpayers, late fee on filing of GSTR-3B for August and September has been waived.” He said the late fee which has been already charged to businesses will be credited back to taxpayers' accounts. The Modi government had earlier waived late fee for delayed filing of the maiden returns for the month of July.
Preliminary returns GSTR-3B for a month is filed on the 20th day of the next month after paying due taxes. Data reveals 55.87 Lakh GSTR-3B returns were filed for July, 51.37 Lakh for August and over 42 Lakh for September. Businesses have for some time, been demanding that the government waives penalty for delayed filing of 3B returns. GST Network showed majority of businesses file their returns after the expiry of the due date. While only 33.98 Lakh July returns were filed till the due date, the number has now gone up to 55.87 Lakh. Similarly for August 28.46 Lakh returns were filed till the last date, but the figure went up to 51.37 Lakh later.
