GST Penalty: No Penalty if GSTIN not displayed outside business Premises; Says Businessman

No GST Penalty: To allay merchants’ and manufacturers’ fears, state goods and services tax (SGST) officials have assured them that individuals who have not displayed their GST identification numbers (GSTIN) outside their company premises will not face a Rs 50,000 penalty. Senior government officials kept the businesspeople updated on the situation.

“In recent days, rumours have surfaced that if any company premise is discovered to be lacking a signboard indicating its GST number during the checking by SGST or CGST personnel, a penalty of Rs. 50,000 would be imposed on the merchants. Despite the fact that no formal directive was issued, the stories created a panic scenario in the business. To minimise misunderstanding and persecution of businessmen, we decided to raise this problem with the SGST department’s senior authorities. The officials informed us that they had made no such decision.”, top official of Punjab Pradesh Beopar Mandal stated.

He also urged businesspeople to call PPBM immediately if any SGST or CGST officer or employee threatens them with such a penalty.

“We have already forwarded the names of certain officials who had threatened some businessmen with a Rs 50,000 penalty if GST numbers were not displayed outside their business premises,” he added.

PPBM district president Parveen Goel stated, “In the last few days, we have received a large number of calls and messages from traders and retainers.” They were questioning the authenticity of the stories. When some of the field officers were unable to clear the air on this subject, we decided to meet with the tax department’s top authorities. Businessmen no longer need to be concerned.”