GST Payment: Due Dates, Late Fees & Interest

Pramit Pratim Ghosh |Updated on: March 19, 2021

• GST Payment & Due Date
• Penalties for Non-Compliance under GST
• Late Fee for GST Payment after Due Date
• Interest on Late Fee for GST Payment after Due Date

GST Payment & Due Date

GST payment is extremely crucial for the compliance of a business. As per the guidelines, every registered regular taxpayer has to furnish the GST returns on a monthly basis, and pay the requisite tax by the due date for payment of GST – 20th of every month.

If by any chance, if a person furnishes a monthly return without paying the tax due, the return furnished will be considered as an invalid return. Without furnishing the return for a month and paying the tax due, the subsequent month’s return cannot be furnished. Also, if the tax due is not paid, interest will be applicable on the same, starting from the GST payment due date on which the tax was supposed to be paid.

Penalties for Non-Compliance under GST

In order to avoid such instances, various measures have been laid down to check non-compliance under GST, which vary based on the severity of the offence. In fact, penalties have been made stricter for tax evaders under GST, as compared to the previous regime.

In the previous regime, tax authorities could arrest a taxable person if the amount of tax evaded exceeded INR 2 Crores under Excise and Service Tax. In VAT, barring Gujarat, no other state had the arrest clause. Under GST, a tax evasion of INR 50 Lakhs can attract a prison sentence of up to 1 year with fine. A non - bailable arrest, with imprisonment of up to five years and fine, could follow if the value of tax evasion exceeds INR 1 crore.

The following are the various penalties in the form of late fines and interest on the same, charged for non-compliance under GST.

Late Fee for GST Payment after Due Date

A person fails to furnish details of outward or inward supplies, monthly return or final return by the GST payment due date – INR 100 for every day during which the failure continues, subject to a maximum of INR 5,000

A person fails to furnish the annual return by the GST payment due date – INR 100 for every day during which the failure continues, subject to a maximum of quarter percent of the person’s turnover in the state where he/she is registered

Interest on Late Fee for GST Payment after Due Date

The rate of interest on the applicable offences, in case one misses the GST payment last date, is yet to be notified. The circumstances for levy of interest are as follows:

• A person liable to pay tax fails to pay the tax - Interest on the tax due will be calculated from the first day on which the tax was due to be paid.
• A person makes an undue or excess claim of input tax credit or undue or excess reduction in output tax liability - Interest on the undue excess claim or undue or excess reduction.
• A recipient of a service fails to pay to the supplier of the service the amount towards the value of the service, along with tax payable thereon, within 3 months from the date of issue of invoice by the supplier - Interest on the amount due will be added to the recipient’s liability.