Penalty under section 125

[VIGNESH]

Sir. Can both , penalty and late fee imposed on late filing of GSTR-9 ? is there any notification or case law to rely for any waiver. kindly refer

[VIGNESH]

sir/mdm. In continuation to the above, kindly clarrify.

1.Can both , penalty and late fee imposed on late filing of GSTR-9 ?

2. is Section 125 levy at the discretion of the officer ?

3. Does section 126 relating to General disciplines related to penalty covers section 125, can we take advantage of the same?.

[KASTURI SETHI]

Query-wise reply :

1. Late fee is also a kind of punishment (penalty/fine). An assessee cannot be punished twice for the SAME offence. However, the provision of late fee motivates a person to be in time.

2. See the language of Section 125 "----------may extend to twenty five thousand rupees" It means maximum penalty is 25,000/- and minimum amount of penalty depends upon the degree of gravity of offence. He cannot go beyond Rs.25,000/- but below Rs.25,000/- is his discretion.

3. No. Both are exclusive.

[VIGNESH]

Thank u Guruji for the reply

[KASTURI SETHI]

Dear Vignesh Ji,

Have you received SCN on this issue ? If so, you may please post relevant contents here.

[KASTURI SETHI]

In continuation to my replies, in my view penalty cannot be imposed for late filing Annual Return with late fee but penalty can be imposed under Section 125 for NOT filing Annual Return.

[VIGNESH]

Content of notice - Please note that as per section 47 of the TNGST Act 2017, a late fee of two hundred rupees ( Rs 100 CGST and Rs. 100 SGST) is liable to pay for every day during which such failure continues subject to a maximum of an amount calculated at a quarter per cent of turnover in the State.

Apart from the above late fee , a general penalty under section 125 of the TN GST Act 2017 is liable to pay which may extend to fifty thousand rupees (Rs. 25000/- -CGST and Rs. 25000 – SGST) will also be levied .

[KASTURI SETHI]

This is neither the intention of the legislature nor the Govt. I am firm.You must fight the case. I suggest you to try to trace out the case law on the issue pertaining to pre-GST era. I remember very well that during Central Excise era such case was dropped by CESTAT. Must try.

AI Summary

Late fee versus general penalty: concurrent sanctions for delayed annual return filing raise double-punishment concerns and challengeability. The dispute concerns whether a statutory late fee for delayed annual return filing and a separate discretionary general penalty may both be imposed for the same omission. The late fee operates as a per-day compliance charge capped by turnover and functions as punitive; the general penalty is a maximum-capped, fact-sensitive sanction imposed at the officer's discretion for non-filing. Commentators emphasise the principle against double punishment and advise that penalties should target non-filing, while delayed filing should attract only the late fee, recommending challenge where both are concurrently levied.