CBIC on Friday said a blanket exemption of late fee would be unfair towards those taxpayers who filed February, March and April GST sales returns within the extended due date of June 24. As part of COVID-19 relief package announced in March, a conditional waiver of late fee had been provided for taxpayers.

Accordingly, for entities having turnover of more than Rs 5 crore, late fee waiver on GSTR-3B returns for the tax period February, March and April 2020 was subject to the condition that the return is filed by June 24, 2020

The Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC), in a series of tweets, said it had been explicitly clarified to stakeholders that the waiver of late fee was conditional upon filing the return of the said tax period by the due date.

“A blanket exemption of late fee would have been unfair to those taxpayers who filed returns before June 24,” the CBIC added.

Source : PTI