Offence Listed under GST and Their Penalties

List of Offences under GST

Here is the list of 21 offences that are listed under GST:

1. Issuing the wrong invoice or missed issuing an invoice for a supply;
2. Issuing an invoice without any actual supply;
3. Failing to pay Tax Collected at Source (TCS) for a subsequent period of 3 months;
4. Any Tax Collected at Source against the GST law;
5. Non-collection of TCS or Collecting the lower amount of TCS;
6. Failing to deduct tax at Source (TDS) or submitting TDS;
7. Claiming ITC (Input Tax Credit) without any actual receipt of any goods or/and services;
8. Obtaining refund through fraud;
9. Illegally Claiming ITC from a distributor;
10. Submitting wrong details at the time of filing GST Return to evade tax
11. Not paying GST or failing to pay GST;
12. Submitting wrong details at the time of filing GST Registration;
13. Causing trouble at the time when a GST officer is carrying-out his duty;
14. Not showing all the required documents at the time of transporting goods;
15. Not showing the actual turnover to evade tax;
16. Not maintaining the books of accounts as prescribed;
17. Providing wrong or no information at the time of any proceeding;
18. Supplying goods that have to be confiscated
19. Using fake GSTIN (GST Identification Number) to issue an invoice;
20. Tampering the evidence;
21. Disposing goods that are detained.

Penalties under GST

Here are the certain principles on which these penalties are based.

1. No penalty for minor breach: Sometimes a taxpayer may commit any mistake unintentionally or unknowingly due to any misunderstanding or carelessness. So to save the interest of the innocent taxpayer certain guidelines laid down by the GST law: In case if the taxpayer has underpaid the tax up to 5,000 INR then it will be considered as minor breach and no penalty will be imposed. In addition to this if the mistake done by the taxpayer is easily amendable then such breach shall also be considered as minor and no penalty will be imposed.
2. The penalty must be imposed depending on the severity of the breach. The severity of a breach can be easily established by analyzing the situations, facts, and evidence.
3. Reason for imposing the penalty As per the laws stated under GST, the tax authority must provide all information before penalizing the taxpayer.
4. Voluntarily disclosure of a breach Under the GST law, if a taxpayer voluntarily discloses the breach then he/she will be penalized less. The GST officer may consider this act of such a taxpayer before penalizing him as per clause 68(5) of GST Law. However, in case if there is any law that prescribes any fixed amount of penalty to be charged than in that case the penalty amount can not be lowered.

Quantum of Penalty Prescribed under GST Law

• As per Section 66(1) any offence that leads to tax evasion then in such a case a taxpayer can be penalized with the amount which is higher than the evaded tax amount.
• As per Section 66(2) if a taxpayer pays less amount of tax then he/she can be penalized with the amount of 10,000 INR or 10% of deficit tax whichever is higher.
• In case if there is no penalty prescribed for an offence then in such a case the taxpayer can be penalized with up to amount 25,000 INR under section 67 of the GST Act.
• As per section 73 sub-section 1, if a taxpayer is convicted for any offence then he/she can be penalized depending upon the amount of tax evaded:

Types of Offences Not Attracting Any Penalty

Here is the list of offences that do not attract any penalty. However, these offences may attract interest:

Penalty for Helping Someone to Commit an Offence

In case if a person helps the taxpayer to commit any offence under GST then he/she is liable to pay the penalty of up to 25,000 INR.