Offences and Penalties for late GST Return Filing!

You must need to do GST Return Filing Online otherwise if taxpayers do not file their returns within particular due dates, he/she will be responsible to pay a late fee of Rs. 50/day. Rs. 25 per day in every case of CGST and SGST (in case of any tax liability).

In the GST rule, any regular business having more than Rs. 5 crores as an average income has to file two monthly returns and one yearly return. You can know more about GST annual returns from Online Legal India. This amount is calculated to 26 GST returns in a year. The number of GSTR filings depends on quarterly GSTR-1 filers under the QRMP scheme.

Offences/ Default under GST

 A breach of a law or rule, i.e., an illegal act is known as Offence or Default. Similarly, an offence under GST is a breach of the provisions of the GST Act and GST Rules. However, there are 21 offences under GST. For easy understanding, we have grouped them into a few categories:

Fake/wrong invoices

1. When a taxable person supplies any goods/services without any invoice or issues a false invoice.
2. When a taxable person issues any invoice or bill without supply of goods/services in violation of the provisions of GST
3. When a taxable person issues invoices using the identification number of another bonafide taxable person

Fraud

1. When a taxable person submits false information while registering under GST
2. When a taxable person fakes financial records/documents or files fake returns to evade tax
3. When a taxable person does not provide information/gives false information during proceedings

Tax evasion

1. When a taxable person collects any GST but does not submit it to the government within 3 months
2. When a taxable person collects any GST in contravention of provisions, he still has to deposit it to the government within 3 months. Failure to do so will be an offence under GST.
3. When a taxable person obtains refund of any CGST/SGST by fraud.
4. When a taxable person takes and/or utilizes input tax credit without actual receipt of goods and/or services
5. When a taxable person deliberately suppresses his sales to evade tax

Supply/transport of goods

1. When any individual transports goods without proper documents
2. When any individual supplies/transports goods which he knows will be confiscated
3. When any individual destroys/tampers goods which have been seized

Others

1. When an individual has not registered under GST although he is required to by law
2.  When an individual does not deduct TDS or deducts less amount where applicable.
3. When an individual does not collect TCS or collects less amount where applicable.
4. When an individual being an Input Service Distributor, takes or distributes input tax credit in violation of the rules
5. When an individual obstructs the proper officer during his duty (for example, he hinders the officer during the audit by tax authorities)
6. When an individual does not maintain all the books that he required to maintain by law
7. When an individual destroys any evidence

Penalties under GST 

A penalty is a punishment imposed by law for committing an offence or failing to do something that was the duty of a party to do. However, it can be both corporal pecuniary, civil or criminal is applicable under Goods and Service Tax.

Common Offences/Defaults Under GST and Their Penalties

 Penalty in cases of fraud

An offender has to pay a penalty amount of tax evaded/short deducted etc., i.e., 100% penalty, subject to a minimum of Rs. 10,000.

For all the offences or defaults mentioned above, for fraud cases, a penalty will be 100% (minimum Rs. 10,000).

Corporal Punishments

GST has corporal punishments for high-value fraud cases as follows-

These punishments are applicable along with a monetary penalty.

Penalty for Other Cases (no intention of fraud or tax evasion)

• 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.
• For other non-fraud cases, the penalty is 10% of tax.

General Penalty

Any offence under GST for which penalty is not specifically mentioned will be liable to a penalty extending Rs. 25,000.

Minor Breaches under GST

• Minor breaches (where tax amount is less than Rs.5000) or errors are easily rectifiable and clearly made without any motive of fraud.
• There will not be substantial penalties for minor breaches
• The tax authority may issue a warning in such cases.

How can we help you?

To avoid any further penalty,  you need to do GST return filing that can be easily processed by Online Legal India. Before you can do it, you need to know the entire details briefly.

If you have started a new business then it is eligible for company registration. A company director must have proper knowledge about the company registration process.