No Interest is Payable if Tax is Deposited in Electronic Cash Ledger but GSTR 3B is Filed Belatedly.
In Eicher Motors Limited Hon’ble Madras High Court on 23/01/2024 settled the issue and great relief for the tax payers who has deposited the tax in Electronic Cash Ledger but couldn’t adjust it or file their GSTR 3B within time due to any reason.
Key point
GST Can be paid before due date of filing of GSTR 3B
-Thus, for payment of tax to Government filing the monthly returns is not the matter but the last date for furnishing the monthly return is important. Thus, whether the monthly return is filed in time or not but the GST has to be remitted not later than the last date for filing the monthly returns. (para 33)
– while filing the the monthly returns in Form GSTR-3 or GSTR-3B, the registered person/assessee has to state the amount of tax paid, which means before the filing of returns, the tax should have been paid. (parA 36)
‘- In such case, if any amount is paid by virtue of Form GST PMT-06 as discussed in paragraph No.27 hereinabove, it will first credit to the account of the Government and thereafter only, it will deemed to be credited to the Electronic Cash Ledge [ para 34]
Tax liability of a registered person will be discharged to the extent of the deposit
-the date of credit to the account of the Government in the authorised bank shall be deemed to be the date of deposit in the electronic cash ledger;
– Therefore, once the Form GST PMT-06 is generated and if any amount is paid through the said form in the authorised bank, the same will be credited to the account of the Government and thereafter only, it will be deemed to be credited to the Electronic Cash Ledger. When the GST is paid by using Form GST PMT-06, , it will be credited in the following
manner
1) First the GST amount will be credited to the account of the Government;
2) Secondly, the date, on which it is credited to the Government, is deemed to be the date of deposit in the
Electronic Cash Ledger.
-The GST, which has been collected by a registered person by virtue of sale or otherwise, is the amount of the Government and thus, the same can not be retained by any registered person/assessee forever atleast up to the date of filing of GSTR-3B returns but immediately. As soon as the collection is made, the said amount shall be deposited in the account of Government by generating Form GST PMT-06, since the said amount is belonging to the Government. Thus, once it is deposited, it should be made available to the Government for their use and the Government cannot wait or postpone the utilisation of the said amount until the date of filing of the GSTR-3 or GSTR-3B by the registered person. At any cost, the exchequers cannot be deprived of its right to utilise the amount deposited into the Government account under the pretext of non-filing of GSTR-3B monthly returns (PARA 38)
– it is not that the tax liability would be discharged only on the date when the GSTR-3B has been filed. But it is ultimate proof/account for discharge of tax liability. The said discharge of tax liability will happen on different date, which is prior to the filing of GSTR-3B monthly return, in terms of provisions of Section 39(1) and 39(7) of the Act, whenever the GST
payment is remitted to the account of Government by the registered person. (para 39)
-Whenever, the GST has been paid by using Form GST PMT06, the tax liability will be discharged to that extent.
-From the moment it is deposited by generating GST PMT-06, it is the money of the exchequers, since the money was
collected only under the name of the exchequer in the form of GST. (para 40)
GST can be paid only after filing the GSTR3B is not correct , GST Can be paid before due date of filing of GSTR 3B
-A combined reading of aforementioned provisions of Section 39(1), 39(7) and Explanation (a) to Section 49(11) of the Act along with Forms viz., Form GST PMT-06, Form GSTR-3 and Form GSTR-3B makes it clear that the payment of tax will always be made not later than the last date for filing the GSTR-3 or GSTR-3B monthly returns, i.e., on
or before 20 th of every month. (para 41)
Payment of tax can be made before the filing of GSTR-3B,
-for the payment of tax to the account of Government, the filing of GSTR-3B is immaterial, which means either with or without filing of monthly returns, the tax can be remitted to the Government.(para 43)
Interest only if Tax is paid after due date
– the GST amount has been paid by generating GST PMT-06 before the due date without any delay. If any amount is deposited after due date, for the said amount alone, the payment of interest would arise in terms of provisions of Section 50(1) of the Act.
-initially the amount is credited to the Government and thereafter, it will deemed to be credited to the Electronic Cash Ledger, (para 66)
– The law laid down by the Hon’ble Division Bench of the Jharkand High Court in RSB Transmission case and the judgement rendered by Telangana High Court in Megha Engineering case in my humble opinion are not in line with the provisions of the Act and Rules made thereunder and hence, this Court is unable to follow the same.
THE HON’BLE Mr. JUSTICE KRISHNAN RAMASAMY
W.P.Nos.16866 & 22013 of 2023
and
W.M.P.No.32200 of 2023
M/s.Eicher Motors Limited,
Represented by its Group Manager, Finance,
Mr.R.Hari Prasad,
Royal Enfield (A Unit of Eicher Motors Limited),
PO Box No.5284, Tiruvottiyur High Road,
Tiruvottiyur, Chennai 600 019.
.. Petitioner in both petitions
Vs.
1.The Superintendent of GST and Central Excise,
Range II, Tiruvottiyur Division,
459, Ananda Complex,
1
st Floor, Anna Salai, Teynampet,
Chennai 600 018.
2.The Assistant Commissioner of Central Tax & Central Excise,
Tiruvottiyur Division, Chennai-North Commissionerate,
No.459 (Old No.317), Anna Salai,
Teynampet, Chennai 600 018.
… Respondents in both petitions
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