GST Dues Tips: The opportunity to clear all old GST dues, interest and penalty will also be waived..

Like income tax, the government is constantly trying to end GST-related disputes so that businessmen can get relief. Under this effort, recently the government has decided to end all the old demands related to GST. Businessmen will have to pay only the outstanding tax. Time till 31st March next year has been given to pay all the old outstanding taxes. On paying the outstanding GST, they will get a complete exemption from interest and penalties related to the tax.

How will one get an exemption from interest and penalty?

GST expert and chartered accountant (CA) Praveen Sharma said that under this scheme of the government, if any GST-related demand is visible to a businessman on his portal, then he can get an exemption from both penalty and interest by just depositing the amount of tax.

Suppose a businessman has tax dues from the year 2018-19 and he has not paid it, then in general, businessmen will also have to pay interest on that outstanding tax. There will also be a penalty for late payment. But no additional amount will have to be paid if the outstanding tax is paid by March 31 next year. But if the businessman has challenged that outstanding tax in any court, then that challenge will have to be withdrawn.

This decision was approved in the GST Council meeting last December. Its notification has also been issued this month. To end old disputes related to income tax, the government has introduced the Vivaad se Vishwas scheme. According to GST experts, last year the government also gave a big relief to the businessmen regarding GST-related input tax credit (ITC).

Delay in filing GST returns leads to the ITC of businessmen getting stuck. Last year, the government allowed businessmen to file old GST returns together for ITC claims from the financial year 2017-18 to 2020-21.

The soft stance of the government

GST dispute lawyer PC Agarwal said that the government's stance is now becoming increasingly flexible. If a businessman has GST dues, then on request of the government, they easily get time to deposit the tax. A facility has been provided to correct and refile wrong returns. When the GST system was implemented in July 2017, such a facility was not available.

However, if a businessman does not respond to the government's dues or does not communicate, there is a provision of punishment for the businessman according to the amount of tax. Apart from this, the GST Appellate Tribunal will also start functioning this year. Delays in the appointment of tribunal members by the states is causing delays in the functioning of the tribunal. 44 tribunals are to be set up across the country. One tribunal will have four members.

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