Question

GST payment for August’18 is made on or before 20th September’2018 but the GSTR – 3B Return is filed on 25th September’18 i.e. delay of 5 days. Only late fee for late filing of return is required to be paid or interest on Gross GST amount also is also required to be paid since unless the Return – 3B is not filed, the GST amount paid is not getting debited to ‘Electronic Cash Ledger’?

Answer

Interest shall be charged till the date it is offset in return i.e. till the date GSTR-3B is filed offsetting the same rather than the date on which payment is made because the liability remains outstanding till the time you offset it through E Cash ledger in return.

In your case the return is filed on 25th, so you are required to charge interest upto 25th and not till 20th. (Reply dt.31/01/2019)