Non-liable businesses can now get temporary identity under GST, notifies CBIC

Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) has notified the mechanism for businesses to get a temporary identification number under GST, even if the said entity is not required to do so. It has also announced the waiver of excess of late fee for FY 17-18 to FY 22-23 for filing annual returns.

GST Council, in its meeting last month, recommended making changes in rule to provide ‘Temporary Identification Number’ by Tax Officers to persons, not liable to be registered otherwise. Now a notification, by CBIC, says “Where a person is not liable to registration under the Act but is required to make any payment under the provisions of the Act, the proper officer may grant the said person a temporary identification number and issue an order in Part B of FORM GST REG-12.” It may be noted that Part A of FORM GST REG-12 is for giving temporary identification to businesses that are mandatorily required to register.

Under GST, businesses whose turnover exceeds the set threshold are mandatorily required to get registered. The threshold limit is ₹40 lakh or higher for the manufacturing sector. The service sector has a threshold of ₹20 lakh or higher. The threshold limit is ₹10 lakh or more for particular category states. Special Category States include Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Jammu & Kashmir, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Tripura, Sikkim, and Uttarakhand. Jammu and Kashmir and Assam are two particular category states that chose to have a threshold limit of ₹40 lakh for commodities. Puducherry, a regular category state, opted for a threshold limit of ₹20 lakh for goods.

As on date there are 1.49 crore registered tax payers under GST.

Weaver of late fee on filing Annual Return

Another notification prescribed the late fee, is waived for financial years 2017-18 to 2022-23, in excess of the payable late fee for delayed filing of Form GSTR-9C (reconciliation statement) along with Form GSTR-9 (annual return). This waiver applies only if Form GSTR-9C is filed on or before March 31, 2025. No refund will be provided for any late fees already paid for the delayed furnishing of GSTR-9C for these financial years, the notification said.

In the meeting last month, the Council recommended to clarify through a circular that the late fee is leviable for the delay in filing the complete annual return in FORM GSTR-9 (Annual Return) and FORM GSTR-9C (Reconciliation Statement). For the annual returns pertaining to the period 2017-18 to 2022-23, it also recommended to issue notification for waiver of the amount of late fee for delayed filing of FORM GSTR-9C, which is in excess of the amount of late fee payable till the date of filing of FORM GSTR-9 for the said financial years, provided the said FORM GSTR-9C is filed on or before March 31, 2025.

GSTR 9 is an annual return to be filed by December 31 of the year following the particular financial year. It contains sales, purchases and tax charged and paid on the same during the financial year. Registered taxpayers under GST must file GSTR-9 if their annual turnover limit exceeds ₹2 crore. GTTR 9C is an Annual Reconciliation Statement that must be self-certified and filed by all taxpayers whose aggregate turnover exceeds ₹5 crore in a financial year.