After a recommendation by GST Council, the central government has waived the late-filing penalty for taxpayers who have already registered but were not able to file GST-3B returns by the appointed date.

The Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC) announced, “In exercise of the powers conferred by section 128 of the Central Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017 (12 of 2017), the Central Government, on the recommendations of the Council, hereby waives the late fee payable under section 47 of the said Act, for all registered persons who failed to furnish the return in FORM GSTR-3B for the month of July, 2017 by the due date.”

For people who did not want to claim transitional input tax credit, the last day for filing GST returns was August 25. The date was August 28 for those wanted transitional credit.

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley in a statement released when he was announcing the figures for July collection had said there would be a nominal late filing penalty of INR 100 per day for both CGST and SGST each for those who hadn’t paid.

INR 92,283 crore has been collected by centre and states as GST in July - the first month of the the new tax system’s introduction. The number is expected to rise in the coming months as GST compliance increases.