In order to provide relief to various categories of registered persons under the GST, the Government announced certain relaxations primarily in the area of compliances and as well as in proceedings before the GST authorities. This article attempts to provide the summary of the relaxations announced in the series of Notifications issued on 01.05.2021:
Due date of filing of GSTR 1:
The Due date of filing of monthly GSTR-1 for the month of April-21 has been extended till 26.05.2021 from the existing date of 11.05.2021. An extension of 15 days has been granted only for the month of April-21.
Note: The due date of quarterly GSTR-1 i.e. 13.04.2021 has not been extended.
The Due date of filing of monthly GSTR-1 for the month of April-21 has been extended till 26.05.2021 from the existing date of 11.05.2021. An extension of 15 days has been granted only for the month of April-21.
Due Date of filing of GSTR 3B:
The Due date of filing of GSTR-3B remained unchanged and hence the same shall continue to be 20th of the succeeding month.
However, indirect extension has been granted by way of waiving the late fee for filing the GSTR-3B return and as well waiving or reducing the interest rates in case tax is not paid by due date i.e. 20th of succeeding month.
Waiving of late fee:
The late fee for failure to file the GSTR-3B return within the due date has been waived to various categories of tax payers as under:
| S.No. | Class of Registered Persons | Tax Period | Period for which late fee waived |
| 1 | Taxpayers having an aggregate turnover of more than rupees 5 crores in the preceding financial year. | March, 2021 and April, 2021 | Fifteen days from the due date of furnishing return |
| 2 | Taxpayers having an aggregate turnover of up to rupees 5 crores in the preceding financial year who are liable to furnish the monthly return i.e. other than quarterly return | March, 2021 and April, 2021 | Thirty days from the due date of furnishing return |
| 3 | Taxpayers having an aggregate turnover of up to rupees 5 crores in the preceding financial year who are liable to furnish the quarterly i.e. other than monthly return | January-March, 2021 | Thirty days from the due date of furnishing return |
Rate of Interest:
The rate of interest i.e. 18% has been revised for certain categories of registered persons and for certain limited period as under:
| S.No. | Class of Registered Persons | Rate of Interest | Tax period |
| 1 | Taxpayers having an aggregate turnover of more than rupees 5 crores in the preceding financial year | 9 per cent for the first 15 days from the due date and 18 per cent thereafter | March, 2021, April, 2021 |
| 2 | Taxpayers having an aggregate turnover of up to rupees 5 crores in the preceding financial year who are liable to furnish monthly return | Nil for the first 15 days from the due date, 9 per cent for the next 15 days, and 18 per cent thereafter | March, 2021, April, 2021 |
| 3 | Taxpayers having an aggregate turnover of up to rupees 5 crores in the preceding financial year who are liable to furnish the quarterly return. | Nil for the first 15 days from the due date, 9 per cent for the next 15 days, and 18 per cent thereafter | March, 2021 and April, 2021 |
| 4 | Composition Taxpayers who are liable to furnish the quarterly return. | Nil for the first 15 days from the due date, 9 per cent for the next 15 days, and 18 per cent thereafter | Quarter ending March, 2021 |
Rule 36(4) – ITC reversal due to non filing of GSTR 1 by the Supplier
The computation of eligible credit under Rule 36(4) has been made applicable for the cumulative period of April-21 and May-21 as against monthly period. Therefore, for the month of April-21, eligible credit need not be ascertained individually for that month.
Other relaxations:
- For the Companies registered under the Companies Act, 2013, filing of GST returns through OTP has been enable which is otherwise disabled and the filing is only allowed through Digital Signature.
- Declaration of goods dispatched by the principal to the job worker through ITC-04 has been extended till 31.05.2021.