Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, who chaired the 42nd GST Council meeting on Monday, has announced that the Centre will disburse the compensation cess collected this year within the next few hours.

The finance minister said that the compensation cess, collected this year, amounts to almost Rs 20,000 crores. The cess will come as a relief to cash strapped states.

Another big announcement, made by the finance ministry on Monday, is that the companies with turnover less than Rs 5 crore are not required to file monthly return any more. They can file quarterly returns.

“From the first of January onwards, the taxpayers whose annual turnover is less than Rs 5 crores will not be required to file monthly returns ie GSTR 3B and GSTR1. They will only file quarterly returns,” Finance Secretary Ajay Bhushan Pandey said.

“The GST Council’s decision to make returns for small taxpayers on a quarterly basis rather than monthly basis will be a major relief to small taxpayers,” he said.

On the issue of pending GST compensation to the states, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said that when the GST law was formulated it did not take a Covid-19 like pandemic into account. “We have not denied compensation to the states,” she said.

“No one will be denied compensation, borrowing will need to be done. States need to decide how and when. The Centre is not sitting on funds I can’t deny the will of 20 states that have accepted the proposal for borrowing,” Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman told media at after the GST Council meet in New Delhi on Monday.

The deadlock over the borrowing continues as several Opposition-ruled states want the Centre to borrow as compared to the Centre’s proposal saying the states should borrow.

The finance ministry has now offered an eight-day window to further discuss the borrowing to meet the GST shortfall proposal.

The GST Council will meet again on October 12.