GST late fee calculator
How much is the GST late fee? Enter your dates and see.
Pick the return, enter the due date and the day you will file. The late fee and the interest come out at once. The fee has a cap. The interest on tax paid late does not.
Nothing you enter leaves your phone. The sums run in your browser.
Every rate is the government's own. Confirm the current due date with us before you file.
The calculator
Late fee plus interest
Enter your dates
- Days late
- 0
- Late fee
- ₹0
- Interest on tax paid late
- ₹0
Pick a return and enter the dates to see the fee and how it was worked out.
Government rates, per return. The fee is charged at filing. Interest is computed by the portal when you pay. Rates and caps change by notification.
What changed
What is different now.
- A return older than three years cannot be filed.
- The Finance Act 2023 set a three-year limit on filing any GST return. Notification 28/2023 brought it in from 1 October 2023. It covers the monthly returns, the yearly return and the composition return alike. The portal began blocking old periods from the November 2025 return. Anything past three years is now locked.
- There is a way to ask for an old period to be opened.
- The portal added an Application for Unbarring Returns in February 2026. You find it under Services, then Returns. You name the periods and give the reason. Your GST officer decides. If it is allowed, you have 30 days to file.
- The portal fills in the interest itself.
- GSTR-3B is the monthly return where you pay your GST. On a late one, the interest now appears in table 5.1 on its own. You can raise the figure if your own working is higher. You cannot bring it down.
- The yearly return counts as filed only when both parts are in.
- A business above ₹5 crore also files GSTR-9C. It is the statement that matches the yearly return to your audited accounts. A circular in January 2025 settled how the fee runs. It runs until both parts are in, not until the first one.
The basics
What the late fee is, and who pays it.
The late fee is a charge for filing a GST return after its date. It is not a charge for getting the numbers wrong. It is counted per day and per return. You owe it even if you had no sales and no tax to pay.
A late fee and a penalty are different things. A late fee is the daily charge for filing after the date. A penalty is what an officer levies when something larger has gone wrong. This page is about the late fee.
It lands on the business, not on the person who was meant to file it. The fee sits against your GSTIN. If your accountant missed the date, the fee is still yours to pay.
Paying the tax on time does not stop the fee. The fee is for the return, not for the money. A business that paid its GST by the 20th and filed on the 28th still owes 8 days.
Half of it goes to the centre and half to your state. Your state has its own GST law with the same words in it. That is why ₹50 a day is really ₹25 plus ₹25.
You pay it at the moment you file. The portal adds it to the return, and the return will not go through until it is cleared. No bill arrives later.
How it is worked out
The rate, the cap and the interest.
Three things set the fee. The daily rate for that return. The number of days you are late. The cap for your turnover. You pay the lower of the daily total and the cap.
Days are counted from the day after the due date up to the day you file. A return due on the 20th and filed on the 21st is one day late. Turnover means your total sales in the previous year, counted on your PAN.
| Return | Every day late | Nil return | The most it can reach |
|---|---|---|---|
| GSTR-3B and GSTR-1, the monthly returns | ₹50 | ₹20 | Nil ₹500. Up to ₹1.5 crore ₹2,000. ₹1.5 crore to ₹5 crore ₹5,000. Above ₹5 crore ₹10,000. |
| GSTR-9, the yearly return, turnover up to ₹5 crore | ₹50 | No nil rate | 0.04% of your turnover |
| GSTR-9, turnover ₹5 crore to ₹20 crore | ₹100 | No nil rate | 0.04% of your turnover |
| GSTR-9, turnover above ₹20 crore | ₹200 | No nil rate | 0.5% of your turnover |
| GSTR-4, the composition scheme yearly return | ₹50 | ₹20 | ₹2,000. Nil ₹500. |
The cap is per return. Six late months means six fees, and each one carries its own cap. A nil return is one with nothing to report for the period.
The yearly return works differently. Its cap is a share of turnover, so it is different for every business. On ₹3 crore it works out at ₹12,000. On ₹50 crore it is ₹25 lakh.
Interest is separate and has no cap. It runs at 18% a year on the tax you pay in cash. It starts the day after the due date and stops on the day you pay. On ₹1 lakh of tax, 30 days costs ₹1,479 and 180 days costs ₹8,877.
There is no interest on the late fee itself. Only the tax carries interest.
Examples
Six worked examples.
- A monthly filer, 12 days late, with tax to pay.
- GSTR-3B for August was due on 20 August and filed on 1 September. That is 12 days, so the late fee is ₹600. On ₹85,000 of tax the interest adds ₹503. The total is ₹1,103.
- A nil return, 40 days late.
- Nothing was sold that month, so the return was nil. It was due on 20 July and went in on 29 August. That is 40 days at ₹20, which comes to ₹800. The nil cap is ₹500, so you pay ₹500.
- A quarterly filer, two weeks late.
- GSTR-3B for the June quarter was due on 22 July and filed on 5 August. That is 14 days, so the fee is ₹700. On ₹40,000 of tax the interest adds ₹276. The total is ₹976.
- A small trader, a year behind on six returns.
- Six months were skipped, the oldest due in September 2025. Filed on 15 September 2026, every one is past the ₹2,000 cap. Six GSTR-3B and six GSTR-1 returns come to ₹24,000. On ₹10,000 of tax a month the interest adds ₹8,398.
- A ₹3 crore business filing the yearly return in February.
- GSTR-9 was due on 31 December and filed on 16 February. That is 47 days at ₹50 a day, so ₹2,350. The cap is 0.04% of ₹3 crore, which is ₹12,000. The daily total is under the cap, so ₹2,350 is the fee.
- A composition dealer, filing in September.
- GSTR-4 was due on 30 June and filed on 12 September. That is 74 days at ₹50 a day, which comes to ₹3,700. The cap is ₹2,000, so the fee is ₹2,000. If the year had been nil, it would stop at ₹500.
If you are already late
What to do this week.
- List every open period. On the portal go to Services, then Returns, then Returns Dashboard. Write the months down, oldest first. Count GSTR-1 and GSTR-3B separately.
- Start with the oldest month. The portal works in order. A later month will not open until the earlier one is filed. One missed month becomes two, and then a notice.
- File GSTR-1 first each month, then GSTR-3B. A monthly filer cannot file GSTR-1 until the previous month's GSTR-3B is in. That rule has been on the portal since 1 January 2022. Work forward month by month, and each return opens in turn.
- Pay the tax and the fee together. The portal adds the late fee to the return when you open it. The return will not submit until the money is in your cash ledger. So the fee is charged at filing, and the interest is charged when you pay.
- Check the interest line before you submit. On GSTR-3B the interest fills in on its own in table 5.1. Raise it if your own working is higher. You cannot lower it.
- If a period will not open at all, ask for it. It is past three years, which the portal now blocks. Use Services, then Returns, then Application for Unbarring Returns. Give the periods and the reason. If your officer allows it, file within 30 days.
- Check that nothing else is open. The yearly return has its own date and its own fee. So does the composition return. Filing the monthly ones does not close those.
Next month
How to stay on the date.
- Keep both dates in one place.
- GSTR-1 goes on the 11th and GSTR-3B on the 20th, every month. A quarterly filer uses the 13th, and the 22nd or the 24th by state. Put both on the same calendar as your bank dates.
- Send your bills by the 5th.
- Sales bills, purchase bills and the bank statement. Bills that arrive on the 18th leave no time to check the numbers before the 20th.
- Keep the tax money ready before the 20th.
- The return will not submit until the cash is in your ledger. If the balance is short on the 20th, the return goes in on the 21st and the fee starts.
- Give the whole job to a finance team.
- Your GST returns are filed every month, before the date. Every return is checked before you approve it. You get a reply the same working day. If a filing date is missed because of us, that month is free.
Questions
About the GST late fee.
I had no sales. Do I still owe a late fee?
Yes, a smaller one. A nil return charges ₹20 a day and stops at ₹500. The return still has to be filed. Skip it and the next month gets blocked.
Can I file GSTR-1 if last month's GSTR-3B is pending?
No, not if you file monthly. The portal blocks GSTR-1 for a month when the previous month's GSTR-3B is missing. That rule came in on 1 January 2022. File the pending GSTR-3B and the portal opens GSTR-1.
My customer will not pay until I file. What do I do?
Your buyer sees your invoice only after your GSTR-1 for that month is filed. Until then they cannot claim the GST they paid you. File the pending GSTR-3B first, then GSTR-1 for that month. Send the buyer the date it went in.
Is the fee different for QRMP filers?
The rate and the cap are the same. QRMP is the scheme where a smaller business files GST returns once a quarter. What changes is how many returns you file. One GSTR-3B for the quarter means one late fee for the quarter.
I file quarterly. What is my due date?
For quarterly filers GSTR-3B is due on the 22nd or the 24th of the month after the quarter, depending on your state. GSTR-1 is due on the 13th. Enter the date that applies to you.
Does the late fee go to the centre or the state?
Both, in equal halves. A ₹50 a day fee is ₹25 under the central law and ₹25 under your state law. The caps work the same way. The portal splits it for you when you pay, so you enter nothing extra.
Is interest charged on the late fee too?
No. Interest runs only on the tax you paid late, at 18% a year. The late fee is a fixed amount per day with a cap.
Can I claim the late fee as a business expense?
It has been allowed. A tax tribunal held in 2024 that a late fee for filing late is compensation, not a fine for an offence. A fine for an offence cannot be claimed. Keep the payment record with that month's records.
Can the late fee be waived?
Only under a scheme announced by the government, which happens some years and not others. Do not wait for one. The interest keeps running while you wait.
The portal will not open an old period. What now?
It is past three years, and the portal blocks those now. Ask for it under Services, then Returns, then Application for Unbarring Returns. Give the periods and the reason. Your officer decides, and you get 30 days to file.
The department extended the date. Does the calculator know?
No. It uses the due date you enter. If a notification moved the date for your state or your month, enter the new date. We tell you the same day when a date moves.
More on your dates.
Next step
Behind on GST? Send us the months you missed.
One message with your GSTIN and the months. We reply the same working day with the exact fee and interest. We also tell you the order to file in and how fast we can bring you up to date.
Or fill in the short form and we reply the same way.
We reply the same working day. A real answer, not a calendar link.