Form DRC-03 enables the taxpayers to make voluntary payments. GST payments on the voluntary basis are a facility provided to the taxpayers so that they can make payments under Section 73 or 74 of the CGST Act, 2017. The required payment needs to be made within 30 days of issuance of the Show Cause Notice (SCN). Voluntary payment of Goods and Service Tax can also be made the taxpayers before issuing a Show Cause Notice (SCN).

In this article we will discuss the full fledge process for intimation of voluntary payment along with some important considerations.

What is schedule for voluntary payments?

Voluntary payment can be made before the issuance of notice under Section 73 or 74 of the CGST Act, 2017. Other than that a taxpayer can make the payment within 30 days of issuance of Show Cause Notice (SCN).

Note: A voluntary payment cannot be made after 30 days of the issuance of Show Cause Notice.

What are prior conditions for making Voluntary Payments?

Here are the prerequisites to make voluntary payment of GST:

1. If the voluntary payment is made before issuance of SCN

a.) The Show Cause Notice under the determination of the tax should not have been issued.

2. If the voluntary payment is made after the issuance of SCN or the statement

b.) 30 days time should not be lapsed since the issuance of SCN.

Can a taxpayer make partial payment against a liability raised in a SCN?

GST Portal does not allow a taxpayer for making partial payments against the liability raised in a Show Cause Notice. A taxpayer has to do complete payment of the amount demanded in an SCN.

Can a taxpayer save the intimation of voluntary payment application?

The application for intimation can be saved at any stage of completion for just 15 days. In case the application is not filed before time duration of 15 days, the saved draft gets purged from the database. The taxpayer can view his saved application by clicking on the ‘Services’ tab and then selecting ‘User Services’ and then click on ‘My Saved Applications’ option.

Service Tab> User services> My Saved Applications

What are the steps for Voluntary Payment before issuance of Show Cause Notice (SCN)?

Following are the steps you can follow to make the payments against the liability of tax based on self-assessment before the issuance of SCN or within 30 days of issuance of SCN under the determination of tax:

Step 1- Login the official GST portal:

First of all visit https://www.gst.gov.in/ and log in.

Step 2- Enter your details:

Enter your details accurately to move ahead.

Step 3- Select my applications:

Once you have enter your details then click on the ‘Services’ tab and select ‘User Services’ from there and then click on ‘My Applications’ command.

Step 4- Select intimation of the payment:

Now select the ‘Intimation of Voluntary Payment – DRC – 03’ from the drop down list of Application command.

Step 5: Click on “New Application” tab:

After that, taxpayer has to click on the “New Application” tab. The page displaying ‘Intimation of Payment made voluntarily or made against the Show Cause Notice (SCN) will appear.

The application for intimation can be saved at any stage of completion for just 15 days. In case the application is not filed before time duration of 15 days, the saved draft gets purged from the database. The taxpayer can view his saved application by clicking on the ‘Services’ tab and then selecting ‘User Services’ and then click on ‘My Saved Applications’ option.

Service Tab> User services> My Saved Applications.

Step 6: Select the Cause of voluntary Payment:

Now the applicant has to select the ‘Cause of Payment’ option from the drop-down list.

a.) For the Voluntary Payment, the date for payment is auto-populated and cannot be edited.

b.) For Show Cause Notice, select the option Manual Entry from the drop down list of the SCN Reference Number. Then you can select the SCN Issue Date using calendar.

Note: Show Cause Notice issue date should be within last 30 days.

Step 7: Select Section Number and Financial year:

Select the Section Number from drop-down list menu and then select the Financial Year ‘From date’ and the ‘To date’ for the overall tax period through the drop-down menu.

Step 8: Enter your payment details

Now you have to enter payment details including interest, penalty and others and click on the ‘Proceed to Pay’ button. Voluntary payment page will display on your desktop screen. Enter the amount.

Step 9: Click the Set-off button

Once the amount is entered, click on Set-off button and a confirmation message will be displayed on your screen click OK button.

Step 10: Success message and PRN:

Once you are done with all the above given steps, you will receive a success message along with the Payment Reference Number (PRN) on the screen.

Step 11: PRN generation:

In case the PRN is not generated, the taxpayer can generate it by click on ‘Services’ tab >‘Ledgers’ option > ‘Electronic Liability Register’. By clicking on the ‘Preview’ option, you can preview the draft in the PDF format.

Step 12: Upload the Documents

Upload your documents by clicking the “choose file” option. The file format that can be uploaded should be in PDF or in JPEG.

Step 13: Click the verification checkbox and select authorized signatory:

Now, click on verification checkbox and select the ‘Name of the Authorized Signatory’ from the drop-down list.

Step 14: select and appropriate File button:

Click on the ‘File with DSC’ or the ‘File with EVC’ button.

a.) For filing with the DSC, select the certificate and click on the ‘Sign’ button.

b.) For filing with the EVC, enter the OTP sent to the registered e-mail and mobile number of the Authorized Signatory and click the ‘Validate OTP’ button.

After that the taxpayer will receive a success message and ARN.

And here you are done with the process of voluntary payment before issuance of Show Cause Notice.