The country is once again under lockdown citing the rising COVID-19 cases. Considering the prolonged pandemic, the government is taking measures in all areas for the well-being of the citizens. The finance ministry has been updating the new norms in multiple areas including GST. The Finance Ministry made new announcements and notifications in the month of May, followed by an update to the same in 43^rd GST Council meeting and issue of new notifications on 1st June 2020.

Covid 19 Relief Measured Issued vide 43rd GST Council Meeting

The 43rd GST Council Meeting took place on May 28th, 2021 and had several new announcements for Covid Relief.

1. Extension of Due dates as Covid Relief Measures:

Government has extended the dates of various compliances by Taxpayers under GST vide Notn No 12/2021-CT, dated 1st May, 2021, r/w Notn No 17/2021 CT dated 1st June, 2021, Notn No 14/2021-CT, dated 1st May, 2021,r/w Notn No 24/2021-CT, dated 1st June, 2021, Notn No 25/2021-CT, dated 1st June, 2021, Notn No 26/2021-CT, dated 1st June, 2021. The details are summarized below:

Return type	Tax Period	Original due date	Extension as per 1st May notification	Recommended due date as per council meeting	Actual extension as per 1st June notification
GSTR 1*	Apr ‘21	11 May ‘21	26 May ‘21	No Change	No Change
	May ‘21	11 June ‘21	NA	26 June ‘21	26 June ‘21
IFF*	Apr ‘21	13 May ‘21	28 May ‘21	No Change	No Change
	May ‘21	13 June ‘21	NA	28 June ‘21	28 June ‘21
GSTR 4	FY 20-21	30 Apr ‘21	31 May ‘21	31st July ‘21	31st July ‘21
GSTR 5 & 5A	Mar ‘21	20 Apr ‘21	31 May ‘21	30 June ‘21	30 June ‘21
	Apr ‘21	20 May ‘21	31 May ‘21	30 June ‘21	30 June ‘21
	May ‘21	20 June ‘21	NA	30 June ‘21	30 June ‘21
GSTR 6	Apr ‘21	13 May ‘21	31 May ‘21	30 June ‘21	30 June ‘21
	May ‘21	13 June ‘21	NA	30 June ‘21	30 June ‘21
GSTR  7 & 8	Apr ‘21	10 May ‘21	31 May ‘21	30 June ‘21	30 June ‘21
	May ‘21	10 June ‘21	NA	30 June ‘21	30 June ‘21
ITC 04	Qtr – Mar ‘21	25 Apr ‘21	31 May ‘21	30 June ‘21	30 June ‘21

 

Please refer the article on Extended GST Due Dates for further details

2. Lower Interest Rates and Waiver of Late fees:

Several relaxations in interest and late fees were provided at the start of the month vide notifications issued on 1st May 2021. The council recommended further relaxations on the previous notification and some more new relaxations. These recommended relaxations were further notified on 1st June 2021 by some more new notifications Following is a summary of the relaxations announced:

Criteria	Return type	Tax period	Original due date	Relaxation of interest & late fees available (As per notification issued on 1st May, 21)	Relaxation of interest & late fees available (As per council meeting announcement & notification issued on 1st Jun, 21)	Relaxation of interest available
Taxpayers who opted for QRMP	PMT 06	Apr-21	25 May ’21	9 Jun ’21	9 Jun ’21	Nil interest
				10 Jun ’21 – 24 Jun ’21	10 Jun ’21 – 9 Jul ’21	Interest at reduced rate of 9%
		May-21	25 Jun ’21	NA	10 Jul ’21	Nil interest
				NA	11 Jul ’21 – 25 Jul ’21	Interest at reduced rate of 9%
Monthly filers of GSTR 3B where turnover is up to 5 crores	GSTR 3B	Mar-21	20 Apr ’21	05 May ’21	05 May ’21	Nil interest
				6 May ’21 -20 May ’21	6 May – 19 Jun ’21	Interest at reduced rate of 9%
		Apr-21	20 May ’21	4 Jun ’21	4 Jun ’21	Nil interest
				5 Jun to 19 Jun ’21	5 Jun to 4 Jul ’21	Interest at reduced rate of 9%
		May-21	20 Jun ’21	NA	05-07-’21	Nil interest
				NA	6 Jul to 20 Jul ’21	Interest at reduced rate of 9%
Monthly filers of GSTR 3B where turnover exceeds 5 crores		Mar-21	20 Apr ’21	05 May ’21	No change	Interest at reduced rate of 9%
		Apr-21	20 May ’21	04 Jun ’21	No Change	Interest at reduced rate of 9%
		May-21	20 Jun ’21	NA	05 Jul ’21	Interest at reduced rate of 9%
Taxpayers who opted for quarterly filing and in Category A states/ UT’s		Qtr – Mar 21	22nd Apr ’21	07 May ’21	07 May ’21	Nil interest
				8 May ’21 – 22 May ’21	8 May ’21 – 21 Jun ’21	Interest at reduced rate of 9%
Taxpayers who opted for quarterly filing and Category B states/ UT’s		Qtr – Mar 21	24 Apr ’21	09 May ’21	09 May ’21	Nil interest
				10 May – 24 May ’21	10 May – 23 Jun ’21	Interest at reduced rate of 9%
	CMP 08	Qtr – March 21	18 Apr ’21	3 May ’21	3 May ’21	Nil interest
				4 May to 18 May ’21	4 May to 17 Jun ’21	Interest at reduced rate of 9%
	*No Late Fees to be charged till the extended due date

  3. Other Relief Measures

Other COVID 19 relief measures announced in 43rd GST Council Meeting for COVID Relief are:

• Cumulative application of rule 36(4): For availing ITC for tax periods April, May and June, ‘21 cumulative application of rule 36(4) is allowed in the return for the period June, ‘21.
• EVC over DSC: Allowed filing of returns by companies using Electronic Verification Code (EVC), instead of Digital Signature Certificate (DSC) till 31^st August ‘21
• Relaxations under section 168A of the CGST Act: Time limit for completion of various actions, by any authority or by any person, under the GST Act, which falls during the period from 15^thApril, ‘21 to 29^th June, ‘21, to be extended upto 30^th June, ‘21, subject to some exceptions.
• A number of specified COVID-19 related goods such as medical oxygen, oxygen concentrators and other oxygen storage and transportation equipment, certain diagnostic markers test kits and COVID-19 vaccines, etc., have been recommended for full exemption from IGST, even if imported on payment basis, for donating to the government or on recommendation of state authority to any relief agency. This exemption shall be valid upto 31.08.’21.
• Hitherto, IGST exemption was applicable only when these goods were imported “free of cost” for free distribution. The same will also be extended till 31.8.’21. It may be mentioned that these goods are already exempted from Basic Customs duty. Further in view of rising Black Fungus cases, the above exemption from IGST has been extended to Amphotericin B.
• As regards individual items, it was decided to constitute a Group of Ministers (GoM) to go into the need for further relief to COVID-19 related individual items immediately. The GOM shall give its report by 08th June ’21.
• To support the LympahticFilarisis (an endemic) elimination programme being conducted in collaboration with WHO, the GST rate on Diethylcarbamazine (DEC) tablets has been recommended for reduction to 5% (from 12%).
• Certain clarifications/clarificatory amendments have been recommended in relation to GST rates. Major ones are, –
  • Leviability of IGST on repair value of goods re-imported after repairs
  • GST rate of 12% to apply on parts of sprinklers/ drip irrigation systems falling under tariff heading 8424 (nozzle/laterals) to apply even if these goods are sold separately.

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Covid 19 Relief Measured Issued on 1st May 2021

Stating below all the new relief measures released by CBIC via latest notifications and circulars. These recent updates with regards to COVID-19 serve as relief measures and will prove to be beneficial for the taxpayers.

The CGST Notifications dated 01 May 2021- 08/2021 to 14/2021  provide relaxation in due dates on various returns. Here is a tabular representation of all the changes:

1. Form GSTR 1/IFF Facility: Due dates

Category	Tax Period	Original Due date	Extended Due Date
Monthly filers of GSTR1	April 2021	11-May-21	26-May-21
QRMP Scheme (IFF)	April 2021	13-May-21	28-May-21

 Note: Since due date of GSTR 1 is extended (for the month of April) to 26th May ’21 and Due date of IFF is extended to 28th May ’21, GSTR 2B which is based on GSTR 1/IFF will be available on 29th May ‘21

2. Form GSTR 3B: Due dates, Late Fee and Interest

Category of taxpayer	Turnover in PFY	Tax Period	Actual due date	Relaxation in Interest		Late fees waived till
				File GSTR 3B by	Interest Rate
Monthly	More than Rs. 5 Crore	Mar-21	20-Apr-21	05- May-21	9%	5-May-21
				After 05-May-21	18%
		Apr-21	20-May-21	04- Jun-21	9%	4-June-21
				After 04-Jun-21	18%
	Up to Rs. 5 Crore but has not opted for quarterly scheme	Mar-21	20-Apr-21	05-May-21	Nil	20-May-21
				6-May-21 to 20-May-21	9%
				After 20-May-21	18%
		Apr-21	20-May-21	04-Jun-21	Nil	19-Jun-21
				5-Jun-21 to 19-Jun-21	9%
				19-Jun-21	18%
Quarterly	Up to Rs. 5 Crore but has opted for quarterly scheme and is in Category A states	Jan-21 to Mar- 21	22-Apr-21	7-May-21	Nil	24-May-21
				8-May-21 to 22-May-21	9%
				After 22-May-21	18%
	Up to Rs. 5 Crore but has opted for quarterly scheme and is in Category B states	Jan-21 to Mar-21	24-Apr-21	9-May-21	Nil	26-May-21
				10-May-21 to 24-May-21	9%
				After 24-May-21	18%

Category A – Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Goa, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Telangana or Andhra Pradesh or the Union territories of Daman and Diu and Dadra and Nagar Haveli, Puducherry, Andaman, and the Nicobar Islands, and Lakshadweep

Category B – Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, Uttarakhand, Haryana, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Sikkim, Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram, Tripura, Meghalaya, Assam, West Bengal, Jharkhand or Odisha or the Union territories of Jammu and Kashmir, Ladakh, Chandigarh, and Delhi            

3. Filing of CMP-08

Particulars	Quarter	Original Due date	Relaxation in Interest
CMP-08	Jan-Mar-21	18-Apr-21	Till 3-May-21	Nil
			4-May-21 to 18-May-21	9%
			After 18-May21	18%

4. Other Due dates

Particulars	Period/Month/Quarter	Due date	Extended Due Date
ITC-04	Jan-March 21	25-Apr-21	31-May-21
GSTR-4	FY 2020-21	30-Apr-21	31-May-21
GSTR-5	Mar-21	20-Apr-21	31-May-21
	Apr-21	20-May-21	31-May-21
GSTR-6	Apr-21	13-May-21	31-May-21
GSTR-7	Apr-21	10-May-21	31-May-21
GSTR-8	Apr-21	10-May-21	31-May-21
Time Limit for completion of any proceedings, filing of any appeal, reply, application etc. which is yet to be completed during this period		15-Apr-21 to 30-May-21	31-May-21

5. Relaxation of Rule 36(4)

Provisional ITC as per Rule 36(4) of the CGST Rules, 2017 will be allowed a maximum of up to 5% of the invoices furnished by the vendors in their GSTR 1/ through IFF Facility. Provisions of ‘Rule 36(4)’ has been relaxed for the month of April and the Condition of Rule 36(4) would apply cumulatively in the month of May 2021.

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COVID-19: Relief Measures Issued in 2020

SN	Source	Notification Description
1	Notification: 42/2020- Central Tax ,dt. 05-05-2020	GSTR 3B due date extended to 24th March 2020 for periods November 2019 to February 2020 for the taxpayers of Union Territory of Jammu & Kashmir. GSTR 3B due date extended to 24th March 2020 for periods November 2019 to December 2019 for the taxpayers of Union Territory of Ladakh. Extended GSTR 3B due date to 20th May 2020 for periods January 2020 to March 2020 for the taxpayers of Union Territory of Ladakh.
2	COVID 19: New Relief measures issued amidst Lockdown 3.0	Due date to file GSTR-9 & GSTR-9C for the FY 2018-19 further extended up to 30th September 2020.
3	Notification: 40/2020- Central Tax ,dt. 05-05-2020	E-way bill generated upto 24th March 2020 and if its validity period expires anytime between 20th March 2020 and 15th April 2020, shall remain valid until 31st May 2020,
4	Notification: 39/2020- Central Tax ,dt. 05-05-2020	The Interim Resolution Professional (IRP) must obtain separate GST registration in every state/Union Territory, where the corporate debtor was earlier registered. The time limit allowed is later of thirty days of his appointment or by 30th June 2020. The special procedure under GST notified via CGST notification number 11/2020 dated 21st March 2020 shall not apply to those corporate debtors who have filed GSTR-1 and GSTR-3B returns for all the tax periods prior to the appointment of the IRP.
5	Notification: 38/2020- Central Tax ,dt. 05-05-2020	Nil GSTR-3B may be filed by just sending out an SMS from the registered mobile number and verified using a One-time password (OTP). However, the date of implementation of this rule is yet to be notified. Person registered under the provisions of the Companies Act, 2013 (18 of 2013) shall, during the period from the 21st April to 30 June, 2020, also be allowed to furnish FORM GSTR3B verified through electronic verification code (EVC).”
6	Circular – 138/08/2020	The requirement of exporting the goods by the merchant exporter within 90 days from the date of issue of tax invoice by the registered supplier gets extended to 30th June, 2020, provided the completion of such 90 days period falls within 20.03.2020 to 29.06.2020
7	Circular – 138/08/2020	The due date of furnishing of FORM GST ITC-04 for the quarter ending March, 2020 stands extended up to 30.06.2020

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