GSTN Advisory: Clarification on GSTR-3A Notices to Cancelled Composition Taxpayers

According to Section 39(2) of the CGST Act, 2017, read with Rule 68 of the CGST Rules, the taxpayers under the scheme, which is referred to as the composition scheme, have to file Form GSTR-4 once a year. In case it is not filed, the system issues a notice in Form GSTR-3A.

The GSTN has discovered that, due to a system-related glitch, certain notices were erroneously dispatched to taxpayers who had already filed the GSTR-4 or had their GST registration cancelled before the financial year 2024-25.

This misunderstanding caused confusion to those people who did not receive any notices, and they were the people who had paid their taxes in the past; they were not required to pay additional taxes on their composition.

Nevertheless, in the given case, notices were inadvertently issued to

• The taxpayers who have already filed form GSTR-4,
• Taxpayers who had previously had their GST registrations cancelled before the financial year 2024-25.

These categories of taxpayers were not meant to gain such kind of communication, and this created confusion among some of the previous taxpayers under the composition scheme.

Technical Team Initiates Corrective Measures

GSTN assured that the problem was solely technical, which is currently being actively looked into. The technical backup team has also been instructed to take corrective measures so that such errors cannot be replicated in the future.

The advisory said, Appropriate steps are being taken to enhance the integrity of the notices created by the system and to have no compliance implication.

Affected Taxpayers Need not Take any Action

In explaining this, GSTN clarified that there was no additional activity that taxpayers should take based on the following:

• Have already submitted their GSTR-4
• Their registration was cancelled before FY 2024-25.

They should disregard the notice; these are erroneously produced and have no compliance implication in their cases.

Steps for Other Taxpayers

To others who are yet not sure about their status or might want to feel that the notice could still be valid, GSTN has advised to follow the following course of action:

• Log in to the Self-Service Portal at official GST Portal
• Navigate to the Grievance Redressal section

Submit a grievance with supporting documentation, such as

• Filing confirmation
• Information about cancellation orders
• The GSTR-3A notice received

This would enable the officials of GSTN to give an effective solution in a short time.

GSTN’s Appeal to Taxpayers:

In repeating the pledge to protect the trust of taxpayers and achieve digital governance, GSTN reassured stakeholders that it is working to ensure that such hitches do not happen again by streamlining the system.

The advisory concluded with a message of reassurance

In the meantime, taxpayers who have either duly filed the relevant return or whose registrations were cancelled before the financial year 2024–25 are advised to ignore these notices, as no further action is required on their part in such cases.
 Sources: https://www.gst.gov.in/newsandupdates/read/618