In order to give an opportunity to the GST defaulters, the GST Council is likely to consider a one-time amnesty scheme to facilitate an exit for ‘nil’ filers and non-filers.

“Approximately there is 25 lakh ‘nil’ filer assessees while on an average 10 percent of assessees have never filed returns so far,” a senior tax official told Businessline. These assessees do not contribute anything but add to the work of the tax system. “A scheme for exit will bring relief to the taxpayers as it will bring down their compliance cost and at the same time there will be less pressure on the GST Network,” he said.

An amnesty scheme is a mechanism adopted by the Government to encourage compliance under taxation laws. Under GST laws, the persons registered under the new indirect tax regime has to file GST returns mandatorily on a monthly or quarterly basis, whichever is applicable. Any registered entity not filing the return will have to pay penalty in the form of late fee.

For late filing of GSTR 3B, the entity is obliged to pay a late fee of Rs. 50 a day, that is, Rs. 25 per day in each case of CGST and SGST (in case of any tax liability) and Rs. 20 a day, that is, Rs. 10 in each CGST and SGST (in case of Nil tax liability) subject to a maximum of Rs. 5,000 from the given due date to the actual date when the returns are finally filed. Amnesty scheme is likely to give relief from such fees.