GSTR-3B Calendar and Late filing fee

GSTR-3B is a monthly return in which summary of Sales, GST Output, ITC available and tax payment is reported for each month. This return is specially designed for a limited period to remove initial technical and filing difficulties faced by taxpayers. Earlier this return was notified only for July 2017 and August 2017 with the hope that the GST system will be able to resolve issues faced by taxpayers and forms GSTR-1, GSTR-2 and GSTR-3 would be available in normal course. But, it was not possible and then this special procedure to file return in Form GSTR-3B extended till December 2017.

Even after six months of implementation of GST laws and system, government was unable to provide a healthy system to file returns in form GSTR-1, GSTR-2 and GSTR-3 as provided in law, so, Form GSTR-3B continued for the months of Jan 2018 to March 2018.

In its 26th meeting on 10 March 2018, GST Council recommended to continue with special system of return filing through Form GSTR-3B for another three months from April 2018 to June 2018. So, CBEC issued notification CGST-16/2018 dtd 23.03.2018 to notify due dates for these periods.

On 10.08.2018, CBIC further issued notification to extend system of filing of GSTR-3B from July 2018 to March 2019. {CGST-34/2018}.

Temporary measure for filing of GST returns is now becomes an equivalent to permanent measure because the return in FORM GSTR-3B further extended and currently extended till 30th September 2020. In the recent developments in finance ministry, it is expected to continue with GSTR-3B for long period. However, the figures in form would be auto-populated from GSTR-1 and GSTR-2B forms.

Form GSTR-3B was initially introduced as special system of return filing because the form was not provided in GST Acts. It was issued by GST Council under authority provided under law as temporary measure to remove difficulties faced by taxpayers.  After lot of judicial pronouncements where return in form GSTR-3B was declared as unconstitutional, resulting that all provisions under GST laws (like expiry of time limit for claim of ITC, due date of  payment of taxes, late fee for filing returns) were impacted badly. To curb the situation occurred pursuant to such pronouncements, CBIC has amended the GST rules to make the return in Form GSTR-3B as a constitutionally valid return vide CGST Notification CGST-49/2019 dated 09/10/2019. Further, it is provided that where return in Form GSTR-3B has been prescribed for any tax period, there is no requirement to file FORM GSTR-3 for the said tax period.

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GSTR-3B calendar

From January 2020 onwards, due date of filing GSTR-3B has been bifurcated among various dates i.e. 20th of next month, 22nd of next month and 24th of next month based on the location of registered person and aggregate turnover during previous financial year.

For the registered persons having aggregate turnover in previous financial year more than Rs 5 crores, due date to file GSTR-3B is 20th of next month irrespective of location of such person. Month wise due dates are given in table below…

And, Registered person(s), having aggregate turnover in previous financial year upto Rs 5 crores and belongs to following  States/UTs, are liable to file returns by 22nd of next month:-

• Southern States and Western States of India i.e. Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Goa, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Telangana,  Andhra Pradesh or
• Union territories of Daman and Diu and Dadra and Nagar Haveli, Puducherry, Andaman and Nicobar Islands and Lakshadweep

Whereas, Registered person(s), having aggregate turnover in previous financial year upto Rs 5 crores and belongs to following  States/UTs, are liable to file returns by 24th of next month:-

• Northern States of India, i.e. Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, Uttarakhand, Haryana, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh,  Bihar
• Eastern States of India, i.e. Sikkim, Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram, Tripura, Meghalaya, Assam, West Bengal, Jharkhand or Odisha
• Union territories of Jammu and Kashmir, Ladakh, Chandigarh and Delhi

Due date for filing of return for the tax period of May 2020 has been extended to 12th July 2020 instead of 22nd June 2020 and 14th July 2020 instead of 24th June 2020 for respective persons as referred above.

Due date for filing of return for the tax period of August 2020 has been extended to 1st October 2020 instead of 22nd September 2020 and 3rd October 2020 instead of 24th September 2020 for respective persons as referred above.

Due to coronavirus (COVID-19), due date of filing returns and payment of taxes under GST has been relaxed for various tax periods for all type of taxpayers. Please refer separate article on that >>> 

Year 2020 : Relaxations and Fee Waivers for GSTR-3B during COVID-19 Pandemic

Year 2021 : 2021 – Relief Measures under GST due to COVID-19 Pandemic

 

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Due date of filing of GSTR-3B for the Financial Year 2020-21 for Taxpayers having turnover more than 5 Crores during Previous Financial Year

Month & Year	Due Date	Late filing Fee per Day
September 2020	20th October 2020	Rs 50/- per day where tax is payable in that month and Rs 20/- per day where tax payable is nil (subject to maximum Rs 10,000/- per return in both cases)
August 2020	20th September 2020
July 2020	20th August 2020
June 2020	20th July 2020
May 2020	extended till 27th June 2020
April 2020	20th May 2020

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Due date of filing GSTR-3B upto March 2020

Month & Year	Due Date	Late filing Fee per Day
March 2020 March 2020 (for turnover <= 5 Crore) Feb 2020 Feb 2020 (for turnover <= 5 Crore) Jan 2020 Jan 2020 (for turnover <= 5 Crore) Dec 2019 Nov 2019 Oct 2019 Sep 2019 Aug 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019	20th April 2020 22nd April / 24th April 2020 20th March 2020 22nd Mar /24th Mar 2020 20th Feb 2020 22nd Feb /24th Feb 2020 20th Jan 2020 23rd Dec 2019 20th Nov 2019 20th October 2019 20th September 2019 22nd August 2019 (##) 20-July-2019 20-June-2019 20-May-2019 (#)	Rs 50/- per day where tax is payable in that month and Rs 20/- per day where tax payable is nil (subject to maximum Rs 10,000/- per return in both cases) For Oct 2017, late fee waived in case return was submitted but not filed on the common portal, after generation of the application reference number. (CGST-41/2018)
March 2019	20-April-2019 extended till 23rd April 2019 (N/N CGST-19/2019)
February 2019	20-March-2019
January 2019	22-February-2019 28th February 2019 for J&K
December 2018	20-Jan-2019
November 2018	20-Dec-2018
October 2018	20-Nov-2018
September 2018	25-Oct-18
August 2018**	20-Sep-2018
July 2018**	24-Aug-2018
June-18	20-Jul-18
May-18	20-Jun-18
April-18	20-May-18
March-18	20-Apr-18
February-18	20-Mar-18
January-18	20-Feb-18
December-17	22-Jan-18
November-17	20-Dec-17
October-17	20-Nov-17
September-17	20-Oct-17	Nil
August-17	20-Sep-17	Nil
July-17*	25-Aug-17	Nil

## Due date for the month of July 2019 extended till 20th September for the state of J & K and for Flood affected areas notified through CGST-37/2019 dated 21/08/2019.

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# Due date has been extended for furnishing FORM GSTR-3B for the month of April, 2019 till 20.06.2019 for registered persons whose principal place of business is in the districts of Angul, Balasore, Bhadrak, Cuttack, Dhenkanal, Ganjam, Jagatsinghpur, Jajpur, Kendrapara, Keonjhar, Khordha, Mayurbhanj, Nayagarh and Puri in the State of Odisha. (Refer Notification CGST-24/2019)

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**For the registered persons having principal place of Business is in the state of Kerala or in  Kodagu district in the State of Karnataka or in Mahe in the Union territory of Puducherry, due dates for the month of July 2018 and August 2018 extended as per following timelimes:-

For July 18 : Extended till 5th Oct 2018
For Aug 18 : Extended till 10th Oct 2018

Refer Notification >>> CGST-36/2018

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Waiver of Late fee for filing of GSTR-3B for Return Defaulters

Modi Government has very big heart for those who are return defaulters. The expression ‘return defaulters’ means those persons who are registered under GST but are not filing their GST returns.

Government has provided a one time late fee waiver scheme for such persons to complete their due filings pending for the tax periods from July 2017 to September 2018 within the period from 22nd December 2018 to 31st March 2019. Late fee will not be charged if a person file his pending returns for such periods within such allowed time.{CGST-76/2018 dated 31 December 2018}

It means if a person who has just completed all or some of filings on or before 21st December 2018, he will be liable to pay late fee for such periods filed so far. However, if he would file the same on 22nd December 2018, he could save his lot of amount paid/payable in late fee. {Doing this, the government has hurt the sentiments of honest tax -payers.}

It is pertinent to note that the government, under this scheme, had not extended due date for GSTR-3B for the purposes of levying interest on late payment of taxes. This scheme has waived the late fee for late filing of returns only.

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Due date for filing of GSTR-3B for those who were allotted provisional ID’s for migration from existing laws but did not completed the migration process within due time

CBIC has relaxed due date for filing GSTR-3B for the period from July 2017 to February 2019 for those who got migration into GST in pursuance of CGST Notification CGST-31/2018 dtd 06.08.2018 as amended by CGST Notification CGST-67/2018 dated 31.12.2018. For these persons, due date is 31st March 2019 for the periods from July 17 to February 2019

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*For the month of July 2017, there are different due dates according to different circumstances :-

1. For Registered persons entitled to avail input tax credit in terms of section 140 of the said Act read with rule 117 of the said Rules but opting not to file FORM GST TRAN-1 on or before the 28th August, 2017, due date is 25 Aug 2017
2. For Registered persons entitled to avail input tax credit in terms of section 140 of the said Act read with rule 117 of the said Rules and opting to file FORM GST TRAN-1 on or before the 28th August, due date is 28 August 2017 subject to following conditions:-
   • compute the “tax payable under the said Act” for the month of July, 2017 and deposit the same in cash as per the provisions of rule 87 of the said Rules on or before the 25th August, 2017;
   • file FORM GST TRAN-1 under sub-rule (1) of rule 117 of the said Rules before the filing of FORM GSTR-3B;
   • where the amount of tax payable under the said Act for the month of July, 2017, as detailed in the return furnished in FORM GSTR-3B, exceeds the amount of tax deposited in cash as per item (i), the registered person shall pay such excess amount in cash in accordance with the provisions of rule 87 of the said Rules on or before 28th August, 2017 along with the applicable interest calculated from the 26th day of August, 2017 till the date of such deposit.