Highlights of 40th GST Council Meeting dated 12th June 2020

Looking for the updates of the 40th GST Council Meeting? Here are the most important ones-

The 40th GST Council meeting was held on 12th of June, 2020 under the chairmanship of Finance minister Smt Nirmala Sitharaman through video conferencing to phase out all the pending issues of before and after corona lock down and to discuss certain industry aspects that have come to a heating point due to the pandemic calamities across the country. The meeting was attended by the Minister of State Finance Anurag Thakur and Finance Ministers of states and UTs and senior officers of Finance Ministry of state and UTs.

In the 40th GST Council meeting FM Nirmala Sitharaman announced some major decisions, including the reduction in late fee for past returns, easing compliance burden for small taxpayers and deciding on the issue of raising funds to meet the liability towards states on account of compensation. Let us have a look at the Key highlights of the 40th GST Council meeting.

1. Reduction in the late fees for past Returns:

The taxpayers who have failed to file the GSTR-3B for the period July 2017 to January 2020. As a measure to clean up pendency in return filing, the late fee for non-furnishing FORM GSTR 3B for the period from July to 2017 to Juanuary 2020 has been reduced / waived as under:

• No tax fee would be levied for taxpayers with NIL tax liability
• In case of the taxpayers with tax liability, the Maximum late fee would be Rs 500 per return
• The reduced rate of late fee would apply for all the GSTR-3B returns furnished between July 1, 2020 to September 30, 2020

2. Relief for small taxpayers for late filing of returns for February, March & April 2020 Tax periods as follows:

• For small taxpayers whose aggregate turnover is up to Rs. 5 Crore, for the supplies effected in the month of February, March and April, 2020, the rate of interest for late furnishing of return for the said months beyond specified dates (staggered up to 6th July 2020) is reduced from 18% per annum to 9% per annum till 30.09.2020.
• For these months, small taxpayers whose aggregate turnover is less than 1.5 crores will not be charged any interest till the notified dates for relief (staggered up to 6th July 2020) and thereafter 9% interest will be charged till 30.09.2020.

3. Relief for small taxpayers for subsequent tax periods (May, June &July 2020) as follows:

• Further relief provided the taxpayers having aggregate turnover up to Rs. 5 crore, by waiver of late fees and interest if the returns in FORM GSTR-3B for the supplies effected in the months of May, June and July, 2020 are furnished by September, 2020 (staggered dates to be notified).

4. One time extension in period for seeking revocation of cancellation of registration:

• To facilitate taxpayers who could not get their canceled GST registrations restored in time, an opportunity is being provided for filing of application for revocation of cancellation of registration up to 30.09.2020, in all cases where registrations have been canceled till 12.06.2020.

Hope this article was helpful. Refer to the topics discussed in the 39th GST Council meeting

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