If an eligible GST-registered taxpayer decides to apply for the GST Amnesty Scheme under Section 128A, thereafter, he or she would be mandated to apply for it on or before June 30, 2025. But an issue is that he/she would be required to file the whole principal amount of the tax demand on or before March 31, 2025.
Through a due date is there to apply for the scheme, i.e, June 30, 2025, and a due date is there to file the tax demand amount, i.e, March 31, 2025. Once all such formalities are completed and the application of amnesty is accepted under the GST authorities, the taxpayer shall be granted full relief from any due GST tax demand, along with the exemption of interest and penalties.
Technical issues are there with the amnesty scheme system, and specific issues among them can be circumvented, as per a Goods and Services Tax Network (GSTN) advisory.
Learn about the GST amnesty scheme, along with the application procedure and the solutions given via GSTN for those who are facing technical issues in applying.
What is the Deadline to Apply for the GST Amnesty Scheme?
Under an advisory dated March 21, 2025, GSTN cited that to apply for the GST Amnesty Scheme, tax payment is to be made on or before March 31, 2025. The due date to apply, following the tax payment, is June 30, 2025.
"Taxpayers are advised to make the payment on or before 31.03.2025 and file the waiver application on or before 30.06.2025. For any other issues faced, the taxpayers are advised to raise grievance tickets immediately so that they can be resolved," GSTN cited in its advisory.
Taxpayers will not be eligible to apply for the amnesty benefits if unable to file the outstanding tax by March 31, 2025, even if he/she shall tries to apply before June 30, 2025. Timely tax dues payments are a condition to claim the scheme benefits.
What Does GSTN Say About GST Amnesty Scheme U/S 128A?
GSTN in the advisory on March 21, 2025, mentioned that they are working on resolving the below-mentioned grievances-
Taxpayers raised grievances about the issues during the waiver application filing. When GSTN come to notice, their team is trying to solve the issue as soon as possible.
- Order details are not getting auto-populated after selecting a particular order in SPL 02.
- Payment details are not getting auto-populated in Table 4 of SPL 02.
- The order number is not available in the dropdown for selection in SPL 02.
- “Payment towards Demand” for that order. Also, taxpayers are not able to adjust the amount paid through DRC 03 against the same demand order using DRC 03A.
- After filing the SPL 02 for a demand order, the taxpayer is not able to make payment using
- Unable to withdraw the appeal applications (APL 01) filed before the first appellate authority against a particular order.
Important Solution Offered by GSTN for These Problems?
- SPL-02 form-related problems: If the information about the payment is not auto-populated in Table 4 of SPL 02, then it is recommended to validate it in the electronic liability ledger on the GST portal. Thereafter, the taxpayer can move by filing a waiver application. The navigation path to access the electronic liability ledger is Login» Services» Ledgers» Electronic Liability Register.
- DRC-03/DRC-03A-related problems: The taxpayers, on encountering issues, are told to make a voluntary payment using Form DRC-03 under category ‘Others’. After payment completion, they can submit the Form DRC-03A to link the payment made in DRC-03 with the appropriate demand order.
GST Notices Issued Under Section 73 Eligible for the Amnesty Scheme
The relief, like the amnesty scheme, applies merely to the demands issued u/s 73 of the CGST Act which is related to cases who does not have tax shortfalls for the financial years 2017-18, 2018-19, and 2019-20.
The cases that do not qualify for this amnesty include those with bogus activities, willful mis-statements, or suppression of facts (covered under Section 74).
U/s 74, the GST notices issued can be converted to Section 73 to be entitled to the amnesty scheme-
A taxpayer can receive their Section 74 (fraud cases) GST demand notices converted to Section 73 (non-fraud) cases. It can be accomplished if notices issued u/s 74 are remanded back to the proper officer for deciding the cases u/s 73 of the CGST Act by these three authorities:
- GST Appellate Authority
- GST Tribunal (this option can’t be used right now as the Tribunal is yet to be formed)
- Writ a petition in the High Court
If the authorities accept the application for the conversion of a GST tax demand notice, the taxpayer will have six months, starting from the date of the order issued under Section 73 of the CGST Act, to make the payment and apply for the amnesty scheme. This six-month deadline for tax payment is based on the date of the order, so it does not matter whether the deadlines for applying for the amnesty scheme in June 2025 or March 2025 have already passed.
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If the online application facility for the amnesty scheme is unavailable during this period, you should raise a ticket on GSTN. If the issue remains unresolved, you can submit your application either manually offline or online through the portal, following the guidance provided by GSTN.