Section 62 of CGST Act 2017: Assessment of non-filer of returns

What does Section 62 say?

Section 62 of CGST ACT 2017 talks about the assessment of those registered taxpayers who have not filed their GST returns within the prescribed due dates. The Proper Officer shall assess the Tax Liability along with necessary interest and penalties which shall be deposited by the Registered Taxpayer upon service of notice from the Proper Officer.

The reference from the Law has been described below:

(1) Notwithstanding anything to the contrary contained in section 73 or section 74, where a registered person fails to furnish the return under section 39 or section 45, even after the service of a notice under section 46, the proper officer may proceed to assess the tax liability of the said person to the best of his judgment taking into account all the relevant material which is available or which he has gathered and issue an assessment order within a period of five years from the date specified under section 44 for furnishing of the annual return for the financial year to which the tax not paid relates.

(2) Where the registered person furnishes a valid return within thirty days of the service of the assessment order under sub-section (1), the said assessment order shall be deemed to have been withdrawn but the liability for payment of interest under section (1) of section 50 or for payment of late fee under section 47 shall continue.

The GIST of the above section has been described as below:

1. The Registered Taxpayer has not furnished the GST Return u/s 39 and 45 of the CGST ACT 2017.
2. The Proper Officer shall issue a notice in the form GST-3A as per section 46 read with rule 68 to furnish the GST Returns, the notice shall be issued electronically.
3. The Tax Liability shall be assessed by the Proper Officer as per the relevant records available with the proper officer and an assessment order will be passed.
4. The assessment order shall be issued within a period of five years from the date specified u/s 44 for furnishing the annual return.
5. The Registered person has furnished the GST Returns within Thirty days from the service of order then the assessment order shall be withdrawn and returns will be treated as Valid GST Returns.
6. The Liability to pay interest and penalty shall continue according to law.

Remedy available to GST Taxpayer

1. As per the GST Law if the Registered GST Taxpayer furnishes the GST Return within 15 days from the issue of notice under form GST-3A as per section 46 then the assessment proceeding shall be dropped.
2. A Valid Return has been furnished within 30 days from the date of service of assessment order u/s 62 (1) of the CGST ACT 2017 in form ASMT-13 then the proceeding shall be dropped.

Interest and Penalty

The provision of interest and penalty shall be levied accordingly as per law because the GST Returns has not been furnished and the Tax Liability if so any has not been deposited to the Government.

Timelines to issue Order

The Assessment order shall be furnished under form ASMT-13 within Five Years from the date of furnishing the annual return u/s 44 of the CGST ACT 2017.

Order withdrawn

The order shall be withdrawn when the valid gst return has been furnished within 30 days from the date of service of order.

Assessment of Tax Liability

The Tax Liability shall be assessed on the basis of details of outward supplies available in the GSTR-1 u/s 37, Details of inward supplies populated from GSTR-2A, E-way Bill, Information available from any other source, Inspection conducted etc.

Types of Return U/s 39 and U/s 45

Department Circulars and Notifications

As per the GST Department Circular issued as per Circular no CBEC-20/06/04/2019 the Standard of Operating Procedure for the Non-filer of Returns has been specified. The Circular Guidelines has been described as below:

The following guidelines are hereby prescribed to ensure uniformity in the implementation of the provisions of law across the field formations:

1. Preferably, a system-generated message would be sent to all the registered persons 3 days before the due date to nudge them about filing of the return for the tax period by the due date.
2.  Once the due date for furnishing the return under section 39 is over, a system-generated mail/message would be sent to all the defaulters immediately after the due date to the effect that the said registered person has not furnished his return for the said tax period; the said mail/message is to be sent to the authorized signatory as well as the proprietor/partner/director/karta, etc.
3.  Five days after the due date of furnishing the return, a notice in FORM GSTR-3A (under section 46 of the CGST Act read with rule 68 of the CGST Rules) shall be issued electronically to such registered person who fails to furnish return under section 39, requiring him to furnish such return within fifteen days;
4. In case the said return is still not filed by the defaulter within 15 days of the said notice, the proper officer may proceed to assess the tax liability of the said person under section 62 of the CGST Act, to the best of his judgement taking into account all the relevant material which is available or which he has gathered and would issue order under rule 100 of the CGST Rules in FORM GST ASMT-13.
5. The proper officer would then be required to upload the summary thereof in FORM GST DRC-07;
6. For the purpose of assessment of tax liability under section 62 of the CGST Act, the proper officer may take into account the details of outward supplies available in the statement furnished under section 37 (FORM GSTR-1), details of supplies auto-populated in FORM GSTR-2A, information available from e-way bills, or any other information available from any other source, including from inspection under section 71.
7. In case the defaulter furnishes a valid return within thirty days of the service of assessment order in FORM GST ASMT-13, the said assessment order shall be deemed to have been withdrawn in terms of provision of sub-section (2) of section 62 of the CGST Act. However, if the said return remains unfurnished within the statutory period of 30 days from issuance of order in FORM ASMT-13, then proper officer may initiate proceedings under section 78 and recovery under section 79 of the CGST Act.

Disclaimer: The above-said article is the author viewpoint only, please refer respective rules, section framed under GST.