Govt waives off penalty on delayed filing of GST returns for Aug, Sept

Mumbai: The government on Tuesday waived off penalty on delayed filing of initial GST returns for the months of August and September. Finance Minister Arun Jaitley confirmed the crucial decision in a tweet.

"To facilitate taxpayers, late fee on filing of GSTR-3B for Aug&Sept has been waived. Late fee paid will be credited back to taxpayer ledger," Jaitley informed.

The recent step has been taken keeping in view the convenience for traders and GST filers. In the initial rollout phase of GST, complaints of technical glitch have cropped up which the government has already worked upon to fix them.

On October 20, Ajay Bhushan Pandey who is Chairman of GST Network had said by noon that day as many as 33 lakh GST returns for September were filed. He had also informed back then that 75,000 sales data were being uploaded on the GSTN portal on an hourly basis.

The deadline for filing the initial returns in GSTR-3B for September under the Goods and Services Tax regime was October 20 midnight, news agency PTI had reported back then.

In an interview to PTI, Pandey had said the GSTN system was stable and was handling data at just 30 per cent of its capacity with 20 lakh returns being uploaded in past two days.

"As many as 33 lakh returns have been filed till noon. The pace of filing is picking up with an average 75,000 returns being uploaded on an hourly basis. GSTN system is stable. We hope more people are able to file return within the due date," Pandey explained.