With an aim to provide relief to small taxpayers having aggregate turnover of less than Rs 5 crore, the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) has announced deferment of Goods and Service Tax (GST) returns, during the lockdown period.
CBIC stated for the period February-April, 2020, the taxpayer can file GST returns in July, 2020 and for the period of May-July, 2020, it can be filed in September, 2020. CBIC ensured that there will be no interest and late fee charged till the specified dates.
The tax authorities also added that date of payment of tax and filing of return have been extended for Composition dealers. It also stated that the date to opt for the Composition scheme has also been extended. This scheme is for small taxpayers who can opt for GST at a fixed rate of turnover. As the ambiguity around Composition scheme in the latest announcement prevails, professionals and businesses took to Twitter to seek clarification in this.
While, there were some who already paid the tax and had to incur the penalty. So, now the requested the CBIC to return that penalty levied.
According to the last amendment on Composition scheme, this is basically for taxpayers whose turnover is below Rs 1.5 crore except for the North-Eastern states and Himachal Pradesh.
As per the CGST (Amendment) Act, 2018, a composition dealer can also supply services to an extent of ten percent of turnover, or Rs 5 lakh, whichever is higher. This amendment will be applicable from the 1st of Feb, 2019.
