Interest under section 50

[Vaishnavi Bubesh]

Dear Experts,

• We have filed Dec 2018 GSTR-3B return on 21.01.2019, one day belatedly.
• However, the payment of net cash liability and liability offsetting was also made on 19.01.2019 itself.
• Therefore there is no delay in payment of tax, but only delay in filing of return.
• Now department has issued intimation in Form -DRC-01A for payment of interest for one day delay.

Does Interest u/s 50 of CGST Act is also applicable for delayed filing of GSTR-3B, even if the net tax liability cash payment & offsetting was done before due date?

Please advise?

AI Summary

Interest on delayed GST returns may be demanded even when tax was debited earlier, prompting litigation risk.
Whether interest under section 50 applies when the net tax liability was debited from the electronic cash/credit ledger before the return due date but the return was filed late; the central dispute contrasts the view that ledger debit/CIN constitutes payment (precluding interest) with the administrative practice of recognising payment only on return filing, leading to departmental interest demands and litigation challenges.