The Madras High Court has maintained the charge of late fee and penalty on a GST-registered taxpayer for failure to submit the annual return in Form GSTR-9, holding that Section 47(2) of the CGST Act, 2017, allows such charges for continued non-compliance.
The case has arisen from a writ petition contesting an order dated 13 December 2023 passed u/s 73 of the TNGST Act, 2017. The tax authorities had levied a late fee and penalty for not submitting the annual return for FY 2017-18.
The applicant stated that the charge was not legal, citing that the deadline for submitting the GSTR-9 return had been extended and that the late fee is applicable for late filing rather than non-filing. It was claimed that once a late fee is charged, a separate penalty u/s 125 cannot be imposed for the same default.
The High Court denied such claims. It affirmed that Section 47(2) includes the situations where a registered person did not submit the annual return by the deadline and does not limit the late fee to cases of late filing. Hence, Rs 100 per day will be charged for non-filing, subject to the statutory cap.
The Court, concerning the penalty issue, noted that Section 125 of the GST law provides for a general penalty of up to ₹25,000 where no particular penalty is mentioned. Invocation of Section 125 was valid as no separate penalty provisions for failure to submit GSTR-9 are there.
The Court said that the tax authorities were justified in levying a late fee u/s 47(2) and a penalty u/s 125, as they function in different legal fields.
Important: How to File GSTR 9C Annual Audit Form via Gen GST Software
Subsequently, the HC said that no illegality exists in the impugned order. Also, refused to interfere under Article 226 of the Constitution. The writ petition was dismissed, hence keeping the demand of the late fee and penalty against the taxpayer.
| Case Title | Tvl. KPK Fuel Services Vs State Tax Officer |
| Case No. | WP No. 17421 of 2026 |
| For the Petitioner | Mr Raghunandan Sriram |
| For the Respondent | Ms Amirta Poonkodi Dinakaran |
| Madras High Court | Read Order |
