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Relief in late fee to Taxpayers filing Form GSTR-3B and Form GSTR-1

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Due to COVID-19 pandemic and challenges faced by taxpayers, Government has extended dates for GST filings. These are notified vide Notifications 51 to 54/2020 dated 24.06.2020. A Circular No. 141/1/2020-GST dated 24th June, 2020 has also been issued in this regard.

Late Fee Relief to Normal Taxpayers filing Form GSTR-3B:

Taxpayers having aggregate turnover > Rs. 5Cr. in preceding FY

Tax period

Late fees waived if return filed on or before

Feb, 2020

24th June, 2020

March, 2020

24th June, 2020

April, 2020

24th June, 2020

May, 2020

27th June 2020 (extended date for filing)

Taxpayers having aggregate turnover upto Rs. 5 crores in preceding FY

Tax period

Late fees waived if return filed on or before (For Group A States)*

Late fees waived if return filed on or before (For Group B States)*

Feb, 2020

30th June, 2020

30th June, 2020

March, 2020

03rd July, 2020

05th July, 2020

April, 2020

06th July, 2020

09th July, 2020

May, 2020

12th Sept., 2020

15th Sept., 2020

June, 2020

23rd Sept., 2020

25th Sept., 2020

July, 2020

27th Sept., 2020

29th Sept., 2020

* Group A- Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Goa, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Daman & Diu and Dadra & Nagar Haveli, Puducherry, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Lakshadweep

Group B- Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, Uttarakhand, Haryana, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Sikkim, Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram, Tripura, Meghalaya, Assam, West Bengal, Jharkhand, Odisha, Jammu and
Kashmir, Ladakh, Chandigarh, Delhi

Note: Taxpayers who are yet to file Form GSTR-3B for any month(s) from July, 2017 till Jan., 2020, can now file Form GSTR-3B from 1st July, 2020 till 30th Sept., 2020, without any late fee, for those months in which they did not have any tax liability. However, for the months they had a tax liability, their late fee is capped at Rs 500 per return.

Late Fee Relief to Normal Taxpayers filing Form GSTR-1:

Tax period

Due Date

Waiver of late fee if return filed on
or before

March 2020

11.04.2020

10.07.2020

April 2020

11.05.2020

24.07.2020

May 2020

11.06.2020

28.07.2020

June, 2020

11.07.2020

05.08.2020

Quarterly taxpayers Jan to March 2020

30.04.2020

17.07.2020

Quarterly taxpayers April to June
2020

31.07.2020

03.08.2020

Note: If the Form GSTR-3B and Form GSTR-1 for the period mentioned in Tables above is not filed by the notified dates, late fee will
become payable from the due dates for these returns.

Few aspects of the PSU Bank Merger

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  1. As per the latest merger- Oriental Bank of Commerce (OBC) and United Bank of India (UBI) will be merged with Punjab National Bank (PNB). The merged entity will become the second-largest state-run bank. The new entity will have a business of Rs 17.95 lakh crore and 11,437 branches. The PNB will become second largest after the State Bank of India (SBI)
  2. The amalgamation of Syndicate Bank into Canara Bank will create the fourth-largest public sector bank with Rs 15.20 lakh crore business and a network of 10,324 branches.
  3. Merger of Union Bank of India, Andhra Bank and Corporation Bank will create India’s fifth largest PSB with Rs 14.6 lakh crore business and fourth largest branch network.
  4. Allahabad Bank branches will operate as those of the Indian Bank. The merger of Allahabad Bank with the Indian Bank will create the seventh-largest public sector bank with Rs 8.08 lakh crore business.
  5. With this mega-bank mergers, the number of PSBs will get consolidated from 27 banks in 2017 to 12 banks in 2020.
  6. Six Merged Banks – SBI, Bank of Baroda, Punjab National Bank, Canara Bank, Union Bank of India, Indian Bank.
  7. Six Independent Banks – Indian Overseas Bank, UCO Bank, Bank of Maharashtra, Punjab and Sind Bank, Bank of India, Central Bank of India.
  8. Last year, Dena Bank and Vijaya Bank were merged with Bank of Baroda. Prior to this, the government had merged five associate banks of SBI and Bharatiya Mahila Bank with the public sector bank. These were State Bank of Patiala, State Bank of Bikaner and Jaipur, State Bank of Mysore, State Bank of Travancore and State Bank of Hyderabad effective April 2017.

Earlier this month the cabinet gave its approval for the mergers that will consolidate operations of 10 public sector banks (PSBs) into four ‘mega banks’. There were as many as 27 public sector banks (PSBs) in 2017. The total number of public sector banks in the country will come down from 18 to 12 in the new financial year.

Impact of PSU Bank Mergers

The merger of PSU banks has its share of merits and demerits. The addition of staff and network is the effect that can be easily gauged from the impending merger move. What else can emerge due to the merger? Don’t know? Take a look below.

Merits of Merger

  • A large capital base would help the acquirer banks to offer a large loan amount
  • Service delivery can get improved
  • Recapitalization need from the government to reduce
  • Customers will have a wide array of products like mutual funds and insurance to choose from, in additional to the traditional loans and deposits
  • Technological up gradation on the cards.

Demerits of Merger

  • It would be tough to manage issues pertaining to human resource
  • Few large inter-linked banks can expose the broader economy to enhanced financial risks
  • The local identity of small banks won’t be that prominent

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Coronavirus: FM Sitharaman Announces Package Worth Rs 1.7 Lakh Crore for Poor, Daily Wagers

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Pradhan Mantri Gareeb Kalyan Ann Yojna(PMGKY)

Under the Pradhan Mantri Gareeb Kalyan Ann Yojna (PMGKY) which is a part of the relief package, at least 80 crore poor people will be covered.

Under the scheme – Food and Food Related

1.      An additional five kilos of rice/wheat will be given to 80 crore individuals — over the 5 kilo they already get

2.      Along with a one-kilo pulse per household for a period of three months. 

Under Direct Benefit Transfer – DBT

Announced direct cash transfers for a large number of affected people including senior citizens, widows, farmers and daily wage labourers:

A.   FARMERS: –

“8.69 crore farmers to be immediately benefited through direct cash transfers under Kisan Samman Nidhi. Instalment of Rs 2,000 in the first week of April will be transferred,” Sitharaman said.

B.   MNREGA: –

Wages under MNREGA will also be increased by Rs 2000 per worker on an average as additional income to help daily wage labourers.

C.WIDOWS/POOR PENSIONERS/OLD AGE/DIVYANGS: –

Three crore senior citizens, persons with disabilities (Divyangs) and widows will get one-time additional amount of Rs 1,000 in two instalments, to be given through DBT over a period of three months.

D.   JAN DHAN YOJNA: –

20 crore Jan Dhan women account holders will be covered under the relief package and a compensation of Rs 500 per month for the next 3 months.

E.   UJJAWALA SCHEME:

BPL families will get free cylinders for 3 months under the Ujjawala Scheme as well.

F. LIVELIHOOD SCHEME: 

7 crore households to be impacted through 63 lakhs SHG’s – currently they get collateral-free loans upto 10 lakhs. Now it is doubled to Rs 20 Lakh for women self-help groups under the Deen Dayal National Livelihood Mission.

G.   ORGANISED SECTOR WORKERS: –

1.  The Government will bear the cost of EPF contribution of both employer and employee (24 per cent) for the next three months. However, this is only for those establishments which have up to 100 employees and 90 per cent of them earn less than Rs 15,000. This is like to benefit around 4.8 crore employees.

2.  80 lakh employees and 4 lakh establishments to be benefited. The Government ready to amend the regulation of EPF due to this pandemic so that workers can draw upto 75% non-refundable advance from credit in PF account or 3 months’ salary, whichever is lower.

H.   BUILDING AND CONSTRUCTION WORKERS: –

The welfare of building and construction workers, the central government has passed orders to states to use funds worth Rs 31,000 crore to provide relief. This fund is likely to be used to augment medical testing, screening and providing better healthcare facilities. A total of around 3.5 crore workers are registered under the Act.  

Insurance for Safai Karamcharis, Ward-Boys, Nurses, Paramedics, Technicians, Doctors and Specialists:

There will be Rs 50 lakh insurance cover for each healthcare worker for 3 months.

 

“Safai karamcharis, ward-boys, nurses, paramedics, technicians, doctors and specialists and other health would be covered by a special insurance scheme. Any health professional who while treating Covid-19 patients meets with some accident, then he/she would be compensated with an amount of Rs 50 lakh under the scheme,” stated the government press releases.There will be Rs 50 lakh insurance cover for each healthcare worker for 3 months.

 

“COVID-19 Outbreak| 21 Days Lockdown| Statutory & Regulatory Relief till 30th June 2020”

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The entire world is fighting against epidemic COVID-19 outbreak and Hon’ble Prime Minister of India Mr. Narendra Modi has taken the most needed essential precautionary step of complete lockdown from midnight 12’o clock of 24th March 2020 onwards for next 21 days i.e. till 14th April 2020. Also, Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced a slew of measures for extension of statutory and regulatory compliances in view of the coronavirus pandemic spreading its wings and impacting the economy.

The Union Finance & Corporate Affairs Minister Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman announced several important relief measures taken by the Government of India in view of COVID-19 outbreak, especially on statutory and regulatory compliance matters related to several sectors such as Income Tax, GST, Customs & Central Excise, Corporate Affairs, Insolvency & Bankruptcy Code (IBC) Fisheries, Banking Sector and Commerce. Key highlights of the announcements made by the Finance Minister to provide relief relating to Statutory and Regulatory compliance matters in view of COVID-19 outbreak.

1.    Relief/Relaxation under Income Tax

  • Last date of filing of belated Income Tax return u/s 139(4) of Income Tax Act, 1961 is 31st March of the relevant assessment year. Accordingly, last date of filing of ITR for F.Y. 2018-19 is 31st March, 2020. However, such date has been extended to 30th June, 2020.
  • Income Tax department has made it mandatory that all Individual PAN Holders are required to link their Aadhar Card with PAN on Income Tax portal. Earlier, Last date of such linking was 31st March, 2020 which has been extended to 30th June, 2020.
  • As per Vivad se Vishwas scheme, if any person opts make payment under this scheme on or before 31st March, 2020 then he is liable to pay 100% of disputed tax amount. However, an additional 10% taxes are required if payment is made after 31st March, 2020 but upto 30th June, 2020. Additional payment 0f 10% has been withdrawn for payment made after 31st March, 2020.
  • Due dates which falls or time limit which expires between 20th March 2020 to 29th June 2020 shall be extended to 30th June 2020 whether it is with respect to issue of notice, intimation, notification, approval order, sanction order, filing of appeal, furnishing of return, statements, applications, reports,
  • Any other documents and time limit for completion of proceedings by the authority and any compliance by the taxpayer including investment in saving instruments or investments for roll over benefit of capital gains   under Income Tax Act, Wealth Tax Act, Prohibition of Benami Property Transaction Act, Black Money Act, STT law, CTT Law, Equalization Levy law, Vivad Se Vishwas law.
  • If delay payment is made with respect to advanced tax, self-assessment tax, regular tax, TDS, TCS, equalization levy, STT, CTT, which are due between made between 20th March 2020 and 30th June 2020, then interest shall be applicable at reduced rate of 9%   instead of earlier rates if 12 %/18 % per annum (i.e. 0.75% per month instead of 1/1.5 percent per month). Further, no late fee/penalty shall be charged for delay pertaining to such period.

2. Relief/Relaxation under Goods and Service Tax (“GST”)/Indirect Taxes

  • India including the world is facing tough time due to COVID-19. Hon’ble PM announced complete lock down for 21 days. In such grim conditions Hon’ble FM announced no. of relief measures considering on 24th March 2020 pertaining to Income Tax, GST, Customs, Company law etc.

Effective Date After Relaxation

Due Date of GSTR 3B for businesses having aggregate turnover of 5cr or more:

S.NO.

Month

Due Date

New Due Date after
Relaxation

Return filed on or before 30th June 2020 and after due date

Late Fee

Penalty

1

Feb-20

20th March 2020

5th April 2020

NIL

NIL

2

Mar-20

20th April 2020

5th May 2020

NIL

NIL

3

Apr-20

20th May 2020

5th June 2020

NIL

NIL

Note: For businesses having turnover of 5 cr or more, relaxation has been extended by 15 days & also announced reduction in interest at 9% instead of 18%. No late fee and penalty to be charged, if return is filed before till 30th June 2020.

Impact of Relaxation on GST Returns Dates

 Due Date of GSTR 3B for businesses having aggregate turnover less than 5cr:

S.NO.

Month

Due Date

New Due Date after
Relaxation

Return filed on or before 30th June 2020 and after due date

Late Fee

Penalty

1

Feb-20

22nd March to 24th March

Last week June,2020

NIL

NIL

2

Mar-20

22nd April to 24th April

Last week June,2020

NIL

NIL

3

Apr-20

22nd May to 24th May

Last week June,2020

NIL

NIL

Note: Effectively date of filing Returns for businesses having turnover less than 5 Cr has been extended till last week of June 2020. However Exact dates will be notified separately.

Relaxation –Composition Dealers

  1. Last date for making payments for the quarter ending 31st March 2020 and filing of return for 2019-20 by the composition dealers extended till the last week of June 2020.
  2. Date for opting for composition scheme is extended till the last week of June,2020.

Other Relaxations till 30th June 2020

Due date for issue of notice, notification, approval order, sanction order, filing of appeal, furnishing of return, statements, applications, reports, any other documents, time limit for any compliance under the GST laws where the time limit is expiring between 20th March 2020 to 29th June 2020 shall be extended to 30th June 2020.

Sabka Vishwash Scheme-Payments till 30th June

Payment date under Sabka Vishwas Scheme shall be extended to 30th June 2020. No interest for this period shall be charged if paid by 30th June 2020.

Relief Business-Under-corona-stress

1.    Relief under Customs

  • 24 X 7 Custom clearance will be open till the end of 30th June, 2020.
  • Due date falling or time limit expiring between 20th March 2020 to 29th June 2020 under the Customs Act and other allied law has been extended till 30th June 2020. Such Due date or time limit may be for the issue of notice, notification, approval order, sanction order, filing of appeal, furnishing applications, reports, any other documents etc. under the Customs Act and other allied Laws.

2.    Relief under Financial Services

Considering the cash crunches that may arise in economy due to lock down and no business activity, following relaxations are given for 3 months to ease the livelihood:

  1. Debit cardholders may withdraw cash for free from any other banks’ ATM for 3 months.
  2. Account holders are not required to maintain minimum balance.
  3. Reduced bank charges for digital trade transactions for all trade finance consumers 

3.    Relief under Corporate Affairs

  • One of major relied which is given is wavier of an additional fee of any document, returns, statements etc. filed with MCA-21 registry during the moratorium period of 1st April 2020 to 30th September 2020 irrespective of its due date. This wavier will not only reduce the compliance burden, including the financial burden of companies/ LLPs at large but also give a chance to long-standing non-compliant companies/ LLPs to make a ‘fresh start’. So, if you are one of non-compliant company/LLP, then this is a good chance to complete the compliance and avoid a huge amount of additional fee.
  • As per Companies Act, 2013, every company is mandatorily required to hold meetings of the Board of the companies within an interval of 120 days. Such interval shall be extended by a period of 60 days till next two quarters i.e., till 30th September;
  • Earlier reporting under Companies (Auditor’s Report) Order, 2020 was getting applicable from F.Y. 2019-20 onwards. However, now it shall be made applicable from the financial year 2020-2021 instead of from 2019-2020 notified earlier. This will significantly ease the burden on companies & their auditors for the year 2019-20.
  • As per Schedule 4 to the Companies Act, 2013, Independent Directors are required to hold at least one meeting without the attendance of non-independent directors and members of management. For the year 2019-20, if the IDs of a company have not been able to hold even one meeting, the same shall not be viewed as a violation.
  • With an objective to secure repayment of deposits, Companies Act, 2013 requires every Company which is having outstanding deposits that are will deposit at least 20% of the amount of its deposits maturing in following the financial year in a separate bank account to be called deposit repayment reserve account on or before 30th April of each year. Such requirement of depositing the amount to a separate bank account for deposits maturing during the financial year 2020-21 has been extended till 30th June 2020 from 30th April 2020.
  • Similarly, the requirement of investing 15% of debentures maturing during a particular year in specified instruments before 30th April 2020, maybe done so before 30th June 2020.
  • Every newly incorporated company is required to file a declaration with RoC for Commencement of Business within 6 months of incorporation. However, an additional time of 6 more months shall be allowed.
  • As per section 149(3) of Companies Act, 2020, at least one director of every company shall stays in India for a total period of not less than 182 days during the financial year, However, Non-compliance of minimum residency in India shall not be treated as a violation.
  • Due to the emerging financial distress faced by most companies on account of the large-scale economic distress caused by COVID 19, it has been decided to raise the threshold of default under section 4 of the IBC 2016 to Rs 1 crore (from the existing threshold of Rs 1 lakh). This will by and large prevent triggering of insolvency proceedings against MSMEs. If the current situation continues beyond 30th of April 2020, we may consider suspending section 7, 9 and 10 of the IBC 2016 for a period of 6 months so as to stop companies at large from being forced into insolvency proceedings in such force majeure causes of default.

4.    Relief under the Department of Fisheries

  • All Sanitary Permits (SIPs) for import of SPF Shrimp Broodstock and other Agriculture inputs expiring between 1st March 2020 to 15th April 2020 is extended by 3 months
  • Delay upto 1 month in the arrival of consignments to be condoned.
  • Rebooking of quarantine cubicles for cancelled consignments in Aquatic Quarantine Facility (AQF) Chennai without additional booking charges
  • The verification of documents and grant of NOC for Quarantine would be relaxed from 7 days to 3 days 

Detailed notifications/circulars under respective act shall be issued by the Ministry of Corporate Affairs separately.

In this tough time, we request all of you to stay back at your home and keep yourself and your family safe from COVID-19.

****************“Stay Home, Save Lives”*******************