To reduce tax disputes and provide significant relief to taxpayers, the GST Council, in its 53rd meeting on 22nd June 2024, recommended waiving interest and penalties in demand notices or orders issued under Section 73 of the CGST Act, 2017 (excluding cases involving fraud, suppression, or willful misstatement) for the financial years 2017-18, 2018-19, and 2019-20. To qualify for this waiver, the full tax demand must be paid by 31st March 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.

Accordingly, the GST Department has notified that Form GST SPL-01 and Form GST SPL-02 are under development and the same would 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.

The taxpayers 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 taxpayers 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.