Finance Ministry extends last date to avail benefit of late fee amnesty scheme till November 30

Finance Ministry has extended the last date to avail benefit of the late fee amnesty scheme from existing August 31, 2021, to November 30, 2021.

Earlier, the government had provided relief to the taxpayers by reducing or waiving the late fee for non-furnishing FORM GSTR-3B for the tax periods from July 2017 to April 2021, if the returns for these tax periods are furnished between June 1, 2021, to August 31, 2021.

The Ministry said, based on the multiple representations received, the government has also extended the timelines for filing of the application for revocation of cancellation of registration to 30th September this year. The due date of filing of an application for revocation of cancellation of registration falls between March 1, 2021, to August 31, 2021. The extension would be applicable only in those cases where registrations have been cancelled under clause (b) or clause (c) of sub-section (2) of section 29 of the CGST Act.

The filing of FORM GSTR-3B and FORM GSTR-1/ IFF by companies using electronic verification code (EVC), instead of Digital Signature Certificate (DSC) has already been enabled for the period from April 27, 2021, to August 31, 2021. This has been further extended to October 31, 2021.

The Ministry said, the extension of the closing date of the late fee amnesty scheme and extension of time limit for filing of an application for revocation of cancellation of registration will benefit a large number of taxpayers, especially small taxpayers, who could not file their returns in time due to various reasons, mainly because of difficulties caused by COVID-19 pandemic, and whose registrations were cancelled due to the same. Taxpayers are requested to avail the benefit of these extensions at the earliest to avoid the last-minute rush.