Advisory for Waiver Scheme under Section 128A
Dec 29th, 2024
1. Taxpayer’s attention is invited to the advisory on the above subject issued by GSTN on 08.11.2024. The link for the said advisory is given here:https://services.gst.gov.in/services/advisoryandreleases/read/546
2. Under the waiver scheme, for a demand notice or statement or order which has been issued under Section 73 for the tax periods between July 2017 & March 2020, the taxpayers are required to file an application either in FORM GST SPL-01 or SPL02 in GST portal accordingly. Presently, Form GST SPL 02 is made available in the GST portal. Form GST SPL 01 will be available soon in the GST portal.
3. The process of filing SPL-02 electronically is detailed in below document:https://tutorial.gst.gov.in/downloads/news/help_document_on_filing_of_spl_02.pdf
4. Difficulty if any faced by the taxpayers may be reported to https://selfservice.gstsystem.in by raising a ticket under category “Issues related to Waiver Scheme”.
ADVISORY FOR WAIVER SCHEME UNDER SECTION 128A
Nov 8th, 2024
For reducing the tax disputes and to provide a big relief to the taxpayers, GST Council in its 53rd meeting held on 22nd June, 2024 had recommended for waiver of interest and penalties in the demand notices or orders issued under Section 73 of the CGST Act, 2017 (i.e. the cases not involving fraud, suppression or wilful misstatement, etc.) for the Financial years 2017-18, 2018-19 and 2019-20. To avail this waiver, the condition is that the full tax demanded is paid on or before 31.03.2025.
In view of the above, Rule 164 of CGST rules, 2017 was notified through Notification No. 20/2024 dated. 8th October 2024, effective from 1st November 2024. This rule provides procedural guidelines for the said waiver scheme. As per the waiver scheme, if a notice or order is issued under Section 73 for the financial years 2017-18, 2018-19 and 2019-20, the taxpayers are required to file an application in FORM GST SPL-01 or FORM GST SPL-02, respectively on the common portal within three months from notified date, which is 31.03.2025.
In this regard it is to inform that Form GST SPL-01 and Form GST SPL-02 are under development and same will be made available on the common portal tentatively from the first week of January 2025. In the meantime, taxpayers are advised to pay the tax amount demanded in the notice, statement, or order issued under Section 73 on or before March 31st, 2025, to ensure that they receive the waiver benefits by paying their taxes before the deadline.
Taxpayer can pay the demanded tax amount through the “payment towards demand” facility in case of demand orders and through Form GST DRC-03 in case of notices. However, if payment has already been done through Form GST DRC-03 for any demand order then taxpayer need to link the said Form GST DRC 03 with such demand order through Form GST DRC-03A, which is now available on the common portal.
Thanking You,
Team GSTN
Filing process of SPL-02
- Login into GST portal: Navigate to > Services > User Services > My Applications.
- On Navigating to ‘My Applications’ page, the taxpayer has to select ‘Apply for Waiver
Scheme under Section 128A’ option under ‘Application type’ dropdown. If the
taxpayer wants to file a new application for availing waiver on Interest and Penalty, the
taxpayer can click on ‘New Application’ button.
- On click of ‘New Application’, the taxpayer will be able to see two forms, i.e.
- SPL-01: Application for waiver of interest or penalty or both under Section
128(1)(a) in case of notice or statement (This form will be made available
soon). - SPL-02 : Application for waiver of interest or penalty or both under Section
128(1)(b) & Section 128(1)(c) in case of demand order.
On selection of SPL-02, the ‘CREATE APPLICATION’ button will be enabled
4. On click of “CREATE APPLICATION” button , a questionnaire will appear on the
dashboard as shown below.
Guidelines is given below to fill the above questionnaire carefully.
| Sr. No | Questions | Impact |
| 1 | Whether the demand order is issued through GST portal? * | If DRC 01/07/APL 04 is issued through GST portal, ‘Yes’ has to be selected. In case the demand order is not issued through GST portal i.e. issued manually by the tax department and DRC 01/07/APL 04 is not available in GST portal, the taxpayer will be required to select ‘No’. |
| 2 | Whether any appeal application filed against the order? * | If any appeal application is filed against the DRC 07/APL 04 order before the First Appellate authority or the High Court, then ‘Yes’ has to be selected. |
| 3 | Whether any application filed for the withdrawal of appeal? * | This question will be shown only if, ‘Yes’ is selected for Sl. No. 2 If Yes is selected for Sl. No. 2 and if the taxpayer has filed application for withdrawal of the said appeal filed against the demand order, then ‘Yes’ has to be selected. If the taxpayer has not filed any application for withdrawal of appeal, then ‘No’ has to be selected. |
| 4 | Whether the appeal or writ petition against the order been withdrawn before the appellate authority, Appellate Tribunal, High Court, or Supreme Court? * | This question will be shown only if, ‘Yes’ is selected for Sl. No. 3 If any appeal filed against the DRC 07/APL 04 and the same is withdrawn, then ‘Yes’ has to be selected. |
| 5 | Whether the order issued under either Section 73 and/or Section 74? * | Select Yes or No (As per the Original demand order) |
| 6 | Whether the order covered under Section 75? | Select Yes or No (As per the Original demand order) |
| 7 | Whether the Demand order includes any Erroneous Refund? * | Select Yes or No (As per the Original demand order) |
5. After answering all the mandatory questions, taxpayer has to click NEXT button to
proceed further.
6. The SPL-02 form will be displayed on the dashboard. There will be following tables
where the taxpayers have to enter or select the data:
Table 1: BASIC Details:
Mobile No. & E-mail ID are to be selected from the drop-down list.
Table 2: Details of Demand Order:
i. Order Id:
- Select Order Reference No. or Manual entry (in case of an offline/manual
order which is not available in GST portal): - The demand orders issued against the taxpayer through GST portal will be
available for selection in drop down menu. - In case, the demand order is issued offline and the demand order is not
available in the GST portal, then “Manual entry” has to be selected. The
taxpayer has to enter the reference number of manual order in “Order
number” field.
ii. Date of Issuance of Order:
This field will be auto-populated if the selected order is online. It is user entry field,
if the order is manual.
iii. Section under which the order has been issued:
User entry field. The section under which the demand notice/order is issued against
need to be selected.
iv. Whether any appeal or writ petition is filed against order before AA/ appellate
tribunal/ high court/ supreme court
If any appeal application is filed against the DRC 07/APL 04 order before the First
Appellate authority or the High Court, then ‘Yes’ has to be selected.
v. If yes, whether the order for withdrawal of appeal or writ petition is issued or
not
If the order for withdrawal of appeal or writ petition is issued by the appellate form,
then ‘Yes’ has to be selected.
vi. Whether demand order involves demand of erroneous refunds
vii. Financial year From & To
As per the demand order for Sl. No. vi and vii
Table 3A. Amount demanded in the Order.
For the online orders (orders available in GST portal), the details will be autopopulated.
For the offline orders, the taxpayer has to enter all the details.
Table 3B. Out of demand in table 3A, ITC denied as per Section 16 (4) & subsequently
eligible under Section 16(5) & Section 16(6) :
The amount pertaining to Ineligible ITC as per Section 16 (4) & subsequently made
eligible under Section 16(5) & Section 16(6) which is involved in the notice/order has
to be entered manually by the taxpayer. The taxpayer has to enter the amount against
IGST/CGST/SGST/Cess. This amount cannot be more than demand amount entered in
Table 3A.
Table 4: Amount paid through payment facility against demand order:
For the demand order (DRC 07/APL 04) issued through the GST portal and the payment is
made through “Payment towards Demand” option in GST portal:
The details of payment made against the demand will be auto populated and the user is
not required to make entries in the Table 4.
For the demand order (DRC 07/APL 04) issued through the GST portal and the payment is
made using DRC 03 under the causes of payment as “Voluntary” and “Others”:
- The taxpayer is required to map the payment made using DRC 03 (Cause of
payment is ‘Voluntary’ or ‘Others’) with the demand order using the Form GST
DRC 03A. The navigation link for filing DRC 03A in GST portal is Services >>
User Services >> My Applications >> FORM GST DRC-03A. - After mapping DRC 03 with a demand order (for which SPL 02 is being filed) using
DRC 03A, the details of the payment made will be auto populated in the Table 4 of
SPL 02 and the user is not required to make entries in the table.
For the demand order (DRC 07/APL 04) issued offline (manually) i.e. not issued through the
GST portal and the payment is made through DRC 03:
The DRC 03s filed by the taxpayer will be available in the dropdown of the field
“Acknowledge Reference Number”. The applicant has to select the relevant ARN of
DRC 03. Also, multiple DRC 03s can be selected.
The payment details related to the selected DRC 03 will be reflected in Table 4.
- Upload Supporting Documents: The taxpayer is required to upload the mandatory as well as other relevant supporting documents. A maximum of five documents, each with a size limit of 5 MB, can be uploaded. Upon uploading the documents, the taxpayer must complete the Declaration & Verification section in order to proceed with saving and previewing the form. Once the form is saved and previewed, the taxpayer may click the “File” button to submit the SPL-02 form.
- Upon clicking the ‘File’ button, a warning message will be displayed to the taxpayer: “Do you wish to proceed with filing the application?”
Select Ok to continue or Cancel to make modifications to the form. Upon selecting Ok, the application can be filed using either a Digital Signature Certificate (DSC) or an Electronic Verification Code (EVC). ARN will be generated upon the successful submission of the form.