Supreme Court stays extension of deadline for filing GSTR-9 return by Rajasthan High Court

Supreme Court has put a stay on the order of the High Court of Judicature for Rajasthan, Jodhpur partially which has extended the deadline for submitting the GST returns GSTR 9/9C.

New Delhi:The Supreme Court on Tuesday partly stayed the order of Rajasthan High Court that effectively extended the date for filing the GST returns GSTR-9 and GSTR-9C by GST taxpayers. We only stay that part of the order which has extended the deadline for submitting the returns, said a division bench of Justice Rohintan Fali Nariman and S Ravindra Bhat while hearing a special leave petition filed by the Central government against the Rajasthan High Court’s order of February 5.

The apex court said its order was passed on the basis of solicitor general Tushar Mehta’s statement to the Court that only Rs 200 per day will be charged as late fee which will also be subject to refund as per the outcome of the writ petition filed by Tax Bar Association filed in Rajasthan High Court.

In its order, the division bench also said that the solicitor general Tushar Mehta has assured the court that both the central and state governments will not invoke any penal powers against taxpayers.

Early this month, Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBIC) had extended the last date for filing GSTR-9 and GSTR-9C returns in a staggered manner. The date was extended from February 4 to February 5 to 7, as per grouping of the states. The apex body to administer the GST tax had extended the last date as taxpayers have complained of server outage problem on GSTN portal.

However, the Tax Bar Association & Others have filed a writ petition before the principal bench of Rajasthan High Court located in Jodhpur, claiming that many of its members could not access the GST portal and despite accessing the GST portal they were not able to furnish the GST returns on time.

In their writ petition, Tax Bar Association sought the extension of the deadline for filing the GSTR-9 and GSTR-9C returns by at least 30 days.

In its order passed on the fifth of this month, Rajasthan High Court allowed the Union government to file its reply by February 12 but it also directed that as an interim measure, the government would not charge any late fee till February 12, 2020 for uploading the GSTR-9 and GSTR-9C returns.

A source in the ministry of finance said: “In effect, it was an extension of the last date for filing the GSTR-9 and GSTR-9C returns for FY 2017-18.”

The Union government challenged the Rajasthan High Court’s order in the Supreme Court vide SLP No. 4945 of 2019 which refused to interfere with the order of the Rajasthan High Court but only stayed that part of the order, which in the apex court’s view, extended the deadline for filing the returns.

“We do not intend by this ad-hoc order to at all interfere with what the High Court may ultimately do on the facts of this case,” said the division bench of the Supreme Court.

During the hearing in the Supreme Court, the Tax Bar Association, which has approached Rajasthan High Court for extension of the last date for filing GSTR-9 and GSTR-9C returns, said that its members faced problems as the capacity for online processing of GST return was very limited.

In its order passed on Tuesday, the Supreme Court also directed the Union government to look into the problem faced by taxpayers in filing the GST returns and come out with a solution as soon as possible.

Recently the Union government has allowed the staggered filing of GST returns by the taxpayers as per the place of business. Rajasthan falls in the Group 1, where the cut off date for filing GSTR-9 and GSTR-9C returns was February 5, 2020.

Sources in the finance ministry said the last date for filing annual returns for FY 2017-18 and reconciliation statement (GSTR-9C), which is applicable in case of taxpayers having an aggregate turnover above Rs 2 crore has already been extended several times.

They said staggered filing of returns was permitted with a view to reduce the load on GSTN portal before the cut off date and these extensions were based on the recommendations of GST council.

Sources in the finance ministry said that more than 7.61 lakh GSTR 9C returns have already been filed by February 4, which constitute 61% of the total returns to be filed as required by the GST law.

Explaining the rationale behind the Union government’s decision for non-extension of deadline, a finance ministry official said that out of 7.61 lakh GSTR-9C returns, over 5 lakh had been filed in the last 15 days before the deadline.

“The staggered filing of GST returns was introduced to particularly address the problems faced by the taxpayers,” he added.

Industry bodies have demanded introduction of staggered filing of GST returns on the lines of other countries to reduce the load on GST returns during the last dates.

As reported earlier by ETV Bharat, last month, the Union government had allowed staggered filing of GSTR 3B returns to reduce the burden on GSTN Portal.

The CBIC also used staggered date mechanism while extending the last date for filing GSTR-9/9C returns when it extended the deadline early this month.

(Article by Senior Journalist Krishnanand Tripathi)