The Government of India via Notification No. 08/2025-Central Tax has waived excess late fees for filing delayed GSTR-9C reconciliation statements for financial years 2017-18 to 2022-23. To qualify, taxpayers must file the pending GSTR-9C on or before March 31, 2025. This relief covers the penalty (up to Rs. 200/day) that exceeds the amount payable for the GSTR-9 annual return.
Scope of the Scheme: The waiver scheme applies to only those taxpayers who have failed to file GSTR-9 earlier. To avail benefits of this scheme, taxpayers have to file the return before March 31, 2025. Already Paid Late Fees: No refunds will be issued if the taxpayer has already filed the return with late payment fees.
Taxpayers who miss the GSTR9c due date are liable to pay a penalty of ₹200 per day of delay (₹100 SGST + ₹100 CGST). The total penalty amount shall not exceed 0.50% of the taxpayer's turnover in the relevant state/UT.
If there is an amnesty announced by the government for the default, then the GST penalty could be conditionally waived off.
GSTR-9C applies only to regular taxpayers who exceed the turnover limit. However, composition taxpayers and e-commerce operators filing GSTR-8 do not need to file GSTR-9C, even if their turnover exceeds Rs. 5 crore.
Here is the GST late fee you pay for not filing or filing late the GSTR returns: Total late fee of ₹100 per day, which is equally distributed between CGST (₹50) and SGST (₹50). The GST late fee is limited to ₹5,000 per type of return, but can quickly accumulate in case of several returns being late.
GST is leviable only if aggregate turnover is more than 20 lacs. (Rs. 10 lacs in 11 special category States). For computing aggregate supplies turnover of all supplies made by you would be added.
➢ Waiver or reduction of penalty under section 273A(4)
Section 273A(4) empowers the Principal Commissioner or Commissioner to waive or reduce any penalty imposable under the Income-tax Act as well as to stay or compound any proceeding for the recovery of penalty.
The GST Amnesty Scheme under Section 128A grants total waiver of pending interest and penalty amount if the tax dispute amount is paid by an eligible taxpayer on or before March 31, 2025.
Steps to Apply for the GST Waiver
Here's a simplified breakdown of the process under Section 128A: File an Application on the GST Portal: Apply electronically using FORM GST SPL-01 for non-fraudulent notices or FORM GST SPL-02 for certain orders. Include details of the tax payments made using FORM GST DRC-03.
1. Login into GST portal: Navigate to > Services > User Services > My Applications. 2. On Navigating to 'My Applications' page, the taxpayer has to select 'Apply for Waiver Scheme under Section 128A' option under 'Application type' dropdown.
An offender not paying tax or making short-payments has to pay a penalty of 10% of the tax amount due, subject to a minimum of Rs. 10,000. Therefore, the penalty will be high at 100% of the tax amount when the offender has evaded i.e., where there is a deliberate fraud.
If you (a regular taxpayer) does not file a return for a continuous period of six months, then the GST Officer may cancel the GST registration of such person. Before cancellation, the officer will issue a Notice seeking your clarification.
Hence, the GSTR-9C must be filed on or before 31st December of the year subsequent to the relevant FY under audit. The due date can be extended by the Government if deemed necessary.
You face a penalty when you file your GST/HST return late if you owe money. The penalty equals 1% of your unpaid amount plus 0.25% of that amount for each full month your return is late. The maximum penalty period is 12 months. After that, no additional monthly charges apply.
Any expenditure in consequence of violation of law like penalty or fine levied for evading provisions of any act time for the time being in force, cannot be claimed as deduction under the Act.
To provide relief, the Government issued Notification No. 08/2025-Central Tax, dated 23rd January 2025, waiving excess late fees for delayed GSTR-9C filing for financial years up to FY 2022-23, provided it is filed by 31st March 2025.
Barring of GST Return on expiry of three years
The GST network issued another advisory on 7th June 2025, implementing the rule of time-barring of GST return filing beyond three years from the due date. By this update, taxpayers will not be able to file GST returns after three years from the due date of such return.
The total of lifetime gifts and the estate are eligible for a lifetime exemption, which is set at $13.99 million in 2025. The exemption amount is indexed for inflation, and was scheduled to be reduced by half after 2025. The higher exemption level was made permanent and slightly increased to $15 million in 2026 by P.L.
Fires, natural disasters or civil disturbances. Inability to get records. Death, serious illness or unavoidable absence of the taxpayer or immediate family. System issues that delayed a timely electronic filing or payment.
GST Amnesty Scheme 2025, as per Section 128A of the CGST Act, is a relief mechanism where the taxpayers are provided an opportunity to clear outstanding dues by exempting historical tax dues from penalty and interest.
Maximum marginal rate is the highest rate of tax at any income level. This means for those with incomes between Rs 2 crore and Rs 5 crore, 39% will be the highest applicable tax rate, and for those with incomes above Rs 5 crore, it will be 42.74% — the highest tax rate since 1992.
Businesses with annual sales of Rs. 40 lakhs or more for goods, and Rs. 20 lakhs or more for services, must register for GST. If the turnover exceeds the allowed threshold, there is a penalty for failing to register under GST.
The GST exemption essentially allows the earmarking of transfers, made during lifetime or at death, that either skip a generation or are made in trust for multiple generations.