GST Amnesty Scheme: Eligibility, Deadline, and Application Process

A unique amnesty program for taxpayers having problems with goods and services taxes (GST) has been introduced by the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC). Specific GST taxpayers who disagree with a GST tax demand order may file an appeal under this GST Amnesty Scheme until January 31, 2024.

It was announced that the Special Amnesty Scheme would excuse the delay in filing the GST Appeal. The amnesty program will remain in effect until January 31, 2024. For taxpayers who might have missed the appeal deadline, this is a fantastic chance.

gsm amnesty

Who can file an appeal against a GST tax demand order?

In a notice titled “No. 53/2023- CENTRAL TAX” published on November 2, 2023, the CBIC said that only a specific group of taxpayers may utilize this GST Amnesty program to appeal a GST tax demand order. The designated taxpayers are:

1. Individuals who failed to submit an appeal against the GST demand order issued by the GST competent officer by March 31, 2023, at the latest.

2. if the prior appeal against the GST demand order was turned down only because it was submitted after the deadline had passed.

Benefits of the amnesty program are available for any GST demand order issued by March 31, 2023, or before. Therefore, even in the case of a GST demand order for FY 2018–19, amnesty advantages may be obtained.

The GST Amnesty Scheme is only available to those GST demand orders made under Sections 73 or 74 on or before March 31, 2023, thus taxpayers should carefully review the demand order. This means that GST orders issued under other sections, such as refund denial, revocation of GST registration, etc., cannot be appealed under the GST amnesty plan.

Form for filing GST Amnesty Scheme

GST Form APL-01 must be used to file an appeal under the GST Amnesty Scheme against the GST tax demand order.

gsm amnesty

Sub-section (1) of Section 107 of the aforementioned Act requires the said individual to file an appeal against the said order in FORM GST APL-01 by no later than January 31, 2024.

Read More: 10 Key Terms in the Budget Book and Their Definitions You Must Know

How to submit a form under the GST Amnesty Scheme

A taxpayer must complete the following in order to file the GST APL-01 form under the amnesty plan.

A taxpayer must determine whether a tax notice is entirely or substantially inaccurate after receiving a GST demand notice. 12.5% of the disputed amount must be submitted with the GST administration if the taxpayer completely disagrees with the GST demand notice. The amount in dispute cannot be more than Rs 25 crore.

Advisory on auto-population of e-invoice details into GSTR-1

1. Certain notified taxpayers have to prepare and issue their invoices by obtaining an Invoice Reference Number (IRN) from the Invoice Registration Portal (IRP) (commonly referred to as ‘e-invoices’).

2. Upon successful generation of IRN, details of such e-invoices will be auto-populated in respective tables of GSTR-1. The same can be downloaded as an Excel file as well.

3. In case the GSTR-1 for the corresponding period was already filed by the taxpayer, then, the details from e-invoices can be downloaded as an Excel file only.

 

e invoice

 

4. The details would be auto-populated based on the document date.

5. Auto-population into GSTR-1 is as follows:

 

[table id=69 /]

 

6. The item-level details in the document will be aggregated at the rate level for auto-population into GSTR-1. For the auto-populated invoices, below additional details will also be displayed.

a. Source (e-invoice)

b. Invoice Reference Number (IRN)

c. Invoice Reference Number Date (IRN Date)

7. After auto-population of details from e-invoices, in case of cancellation of IRN, such documents will be deleted in the respective table.

8. Details of e-invoices auto-populated in GSTR-1 can be edited/deleted by the taxpayer. However, in such cases, the ‘Source’, ‘IRN’ and ‘IRN date’ fields will be reset to blank in respective tables of GSTR-1. Such edited documents will be treated as if they were not auto-populated but uploaded separately by taxpayer.

9. Before filing GSTR-1, taxpayers are advised to review the details of e-invoices auto-populated in specified tables:

a. By viewing them online on GST Portal, or

b. By downloading the JSON from GST Portal, or

c. By using APIs via GSP

10. Taxpayers are advised to modify/update only those documents where the details auto-populated from e-invoices are not as per the actual invoice issued.

11. Taxpayers are required to add details of supplies made in respective tables of GSTR-1, other than those auto-populated from e-invoices.

12. An additional facility for the consolidated download of all documents auto-populated from e-invoices is available in the GSTR-1 dashboard. For this, you can use the ‘Download details from e-invoice (Excel)’ button on the GSTR-1 dashboard. It may be noted that the auto-populated details in this Excel file are as reported on the e-invoice portal Invoice Registration Portal (IRP). So, this Excel file would not reflect any subsequent modifications to the auto-populated documents (in GSTR-1 tables).

13. Taxpayers can use the link ‘e-invoice download history’ to view the list of the last five downloaded files. On clicking the link, you can download the file.

14. The Excel file downloaded from the GSTR-1 dashboard page will have details of all the e-invoices received from the Invoice Registration Portal (IRP) including cancelled invoices.

Following additional information relating to such e-invoices will also be available:

a. Invoice Reference Number (IRN) – 64 string hash

b. Date of Invoice Reference Number (IRN date)

c. e-invoice Status – Valid/ Cancelled

d. Date of auto-population/ deletion (in case of canceled IRN) will be the date when the e-invoice details are auto-populated in GSTR-1 or when the IRN was cancelled. Any subsequent modifications made to the auto-populated documents (in GSTR-1 tables) would not be reflected in this excel file.

e invoice

 

e. GSTR-1 auto-population / deletion status (either of the following):

Auto-populated,

• Deleted,

• Auto-population failed,

• Deletion failed

f. Error in auto-population/ deletion – Error description, if any

CBIC – Taxpayers to Submit GST Annual Returns by the Deadline

Dear GST Taxpayer, For the Fiscal Year 2022–2023, kindly submit your Annual Return using Forms GSTR-9 and GSTR-9C. The 31st of December, 2023 is the deadline for filing Forms GSTR-9 with 9C. Forms GSTR-9 and GSTR-9C that are filed beyond the deadline will be penalized.

Taxpayers who must submit Form GSTR-9

All GST taxpayers with a combined revenue above two billion rupees (for the fiscal year 2022–2023), with the exception of:

1. Input Service Provider

2. The TDS Deductor

gst

3. TCS Collector

4. Non-Resident Taxable Individual

5. Taxable Non-Resident Individual

Read More: ITR submission was overlooked? The deadline for late filing income tax returns is December 31st.

Taxpayers who are required to file FORM GSTR-9C

During F.Y. 2022–2023, taxpayers whose aggregate annual turnover exceeds Rs. 5 crore are required to file an annual return in FORM GSTR-9 along with a self-certified reconciliation statement in FORM GSTR-9C.