The monthly summary return, when it is due, and what a delay costs.
GSTR-3B is the return where you declare what you owe and pay it. Monthly filers file it by the 20th of the following month. If you are on QRMP it becomes quarterly, and the date depends on where you are registered — the 22nd in Gujarat, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and that group of states, the 24th everywhere else.
It is the return that most often goes late, because it is the one that requires money as well as paperwork. Two separate charges run from the day after the due date, and they behave differently.
GSTR-3B — miss it: ₹50 a day late fee (₹20 if nil), plus 18% a year interest on the tax you owe
GSTR-3B (quarterly) — miss it: ₹50 a day (₹20 if nil), plus 18% a year interest on unpaid tax
The late fee is ₹50 a day, or ₹20 a day if the return is nil. It stops growing once it hits the ceiling for your turnover: ₹500 for a nil return, ₹2,000 up to ₹1.5 crore, ₹5,000 between ₹1.5 and ₹5 crore, and ₹10,000 above that.
Interest is the part that keeps going. It runs at 18% a year — 1.5% a month — on the tax you have not paid, with no ceiling at all. On a ₹2 lakh liability that is ₹3,000 a month for as long as it stays unpaid. For most businesses the interest overtakes the capped late fee within a few weeks.
A late GSTR-3B does not only cost you. Until the return is filed and the tax paid, the input credit your customers are claiming on your invoices sits in a mismatch, and larger buyers increasingly hold payment until it clears. That commercial cost is usually larger than the late fee itself, and it is the reason a return worth ₹900 in penalties is worth filing today rather than next month.
The 20th of the month following the tax period. A return for October is due on 20 November.
It depends on your state. Gujarat, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, Goa, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Puducherry file on the 22nd of the month after the quarter. Every other state files on the 24th.
Only where the government notifies an amnesty, which has happened several times for older periods. There is no general discretion to waive it on request, and interest on unpaid tax has never been waived in those schemes.
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Ask on WhatsAppStandard statutory dates, computed from today. Extensions notified by the CBDT or CBIC, ROC dates that follow your own AGM, and state-administered levies can all differ. General information, not advice on your position — confirm with us before you rely on a date that is close.
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