Section 62 deals with registered persons who do not file returns. After a notice under section 46, the officer may assess the tax on the best of his judgment. The assessment is a prompt rather than a final word: if the taxpayer files a valid return within the time allowed, the order falls away.
Key points
- Under section 62(1) of the CGST Act, 2017, notwithstanding sections 73, 74 and 74A, where a registered person fails to file a return under section 39 or 45 even after a notice under section 46, the proper officer may assess the tax to the best of his judgment on the material available.
- The order must be issued within five years from the due date of the annual return for the year concerned.
- If a valid return is filed within sixty days of service of the order (thirty days before 01.10.2023), the order is deemed withdrawn; from 01.10.2023 it may be filed within a further sixty days on payment of an additional late fee of Rs. 100 a day.
- Interest under section 50(1) and late fee under section 47 remain payable even if the order is withdrawn.
The provisions
62(1)Best-judgment assessment of non-filers
Statutory text
(1) Notwithstanding anything to the contrary contained in section 73 or section 74 3[or section 74A], where a registered person fails to furnish the return under section 39 or section 45, even after the service of a notice under section 46, the proper officer may proceed to assess the tax liability of the said person to the best of his judgement taking into account all the relevant material which is available or which he has gathered and issue an assessment order within a period of five years from the date specified under section 44 for furnishing of the annual return for the financial year to which the tax not paid relates.
*Enforced w.e.f. 1st July, 2017.
3. Inserted by section 130 of The Finance Act (No. 2) Act, 2024 No. 15 of 2024 dated 16.08.2024.
- Rule 100(1), CGST Rules; Form GST ASMT-13
62(2)Deemed withdrawal on filing a valid return
Statutory text
(2) Where the registered person furnishes a valid return within 1[sixty days] of the service of the assessment order under sub-section (1), the said assessment order shall be deemed to have been withdrawn but the liability for payment of interest under sub-section (1) of section 50 or for payment of late fee under section 47 shall continue.
2[Provided that where the registered person fails to furnish a valid return within sixty days of the service of the assessment order under sub-section (1), he may furnish the same within a further period of sixty days on payment of an additional late fee of one hundred rupees for each day of delay beyond sixty days of the service of the said assessment order and in case he furnishes valid return within such extended period, the said assessment order shall be deemed to have been withdrawn, but the liability to pay interest under sub-section (1) of section 50 or to pay late fee under section 47 shall continue.]
1. Substituted (w.e.f. 1st October, 2023 vide Notification No. 28/2023-C.T., dated 31st July, 2023.) by s. 148 of The Finance Act 2023 (No. 8 of 2023) for "thirty days".
2. Inserted (w.e.f. 1st October, 2023 vide Notification No. 28/2023-C.T., dated 31st July, 2023.) by s. 148 of The Finance Act 2023 (No. 8 of 2023).
What it means
A "valid return" is a return under section 39(1) on which the self-assessed tax has been paid in full (section 2(117)). Filing such a return within sixty days of the order — or, from 01.10.2023, within a further sixty days with an additional late fee of Rs. 100 a day — causes the order to be deemed withdrawn. Interest and the ordinary late fee survive.
Statutory text as published on the CBIC tax information portal, as on 03.10.2026; the numbered notes record each amendment. Official source
Common questions
- What happens if a GST return is not filed after a GSTR-3A notice?
- The officer may assess the tax to the best of his judgment under section 62 of the CGST Act (Form ASMT-13). The order is deemed withdrawn if a valid return is filed within sixty days of its service, or within a further sixty days with an additional late fee.
Commentary and case notes checked against the judgments and CBIC sources on 04.10.2026.
What it means
The order is in Form GST ASMT-13 (Rule 100(1)). It applies only to returns under section 39 and section 45, not to the annual return. Best judgment must be judgment: it should rest on relevant material — e-way bills, GSTR-1 filed, third-party data — and not be arbitrary. The section does not require a separate show cause notice: the section 46 notice and the deemed-withdrawal route give the taxpayer the opportunity to set the record straight by filing.