CBIC has notified an extension of two months to various GST compliance

The government of India has notified yet another extension for the completion of various compliance under GST that would be due tomorrow. The tax authority has extended the due date from 30th June 2020 to 31st August 2020. 

Notification number 55/2020 was issued on 27th June 2020 replacing the dates in the earlier notification number 35/2020 dated 3rd April 2020. With the new notification, most of the GST procedural compliance that would become due between 20th March 2020 and 30th August 2020, except for the filing of CMP-08, GSTR-4, GSTR-3B and GSTR-1, annual returns, shall stand extended up to 31st August 2020. Hence, the new relief period will be between 20th March 2020 and 30th August 2020.

The earlier relief period as per notification number 35/2020 was between 20th March 2020 and 29th June 2020. The notification applies to actions to be taken by the taxpayer and the tax officer under the GST legislation. It provides an extension for filing an appeal and for responding to any GST notice issued before 20th March 2020 when such a deadline expires during the relief period.

It also pushes the last date for filing a request or a document or report or filing of specific GST returns under the GST Act, which falls due during the relief period. The forms covered by extension are ITC-04 from January to March 2020, GSTR-5 and GSTR-5A from February to May 2020, and GSTR-6, 7 and 8 from March to May 2020. Further, filing of letter of undertaking in form RFD-11 also gets covered by the extension.

Also Read: CBDT notifies ITRs for the tax filings of AY 2020-21 (FY 2019-20)

However, the following actions or compliances are excluded from the benefit of extension:

• Sections 25 and 27 covering the GST registration process for regular taxpayers and casual taxable persons, respectively is out of the scope. Section 10(3) addressing the composition scheme also has been kept out of the scope. Rest of the provisions cover interest, late fee, penalty, confiscation, and the power to arrest to mention a few are specifically not covered.
• The extension does not include the issue of invoices or the e-way bills. It allows the businesses operations unhampered during the relief period.
• There is no grant to the time extension for uploading invoice information in form GSTR-1 within the 11th of every month. However, the extension to GSTR-1 is taken care of by another notification CGST notification number 51/2020 dated 24th June 2020, where different timelines are specified for tax periods from March 2020 to June 2020 across July and August 2020.

Apart from the above extension, the time limit to issue refund order to an applicant has been extended by two months. The CBIC issued Central Tax notification number 56/2020 dated 27th June 2020 to give effect to the same. Accordingly, where any notice for rejecting refund claims is sent to the refund applicant, then if the time limit to issue the order in such cases expires between 20th March 2020 and 30th August 2020, it will get extended automatically. The new time limit shall be the later of the following two dates:

• 15 days after receiving the reply to the notice from the refund applicant
• 30th June 2020

Earlier, the CBIC Central Tax notification number 46/2020 dated 9th June 2020 had extended this timeline to later of 15 days front the receipt of a reply to notice or 30th June 2020, for a timelimit expiring between 20th March 2020 and 29th June 2020.

For any clarifications/feedback on the topic, please contact the writer at annapoorna.m@cleartax.in