GST filing post cancellation

Aditi Bhardwaj (Practising Chartered Accountant & Mentor for CA students)   (659 Points)

16 July 2021  

Hello dear experts. Hope you can help give me some direction on this query of mine.

There is a photographer who took registration in Sep 2017 and filed returns only for two months. After that never he filed his returns due to practical difficulties in his life. His wife was diagnosed with cancer and he was essentially engaged with her treatment. He got a SCN in 2019 and post that the GSTN suo motto got cancelled in 2019 itself.

As per his ITR filings, turnover disclosed is as follows: 

FY 2017-18 : Rs 24 lacs 
FY 2018-19 : Rs. 15 lacs 
FY 2019-20 : Rs. 27.5 lacs

My question is: 

(i) Is there a requirement to make good previous filings by making use of the GST Amnesty which is available till August 2021?

(ii) If he doesn't file, will there be an issue later - i.e. notice by the tax dept. calling for details for the years not filed before cancellation? Can he take a decision to not file anything now since GST is already cancelled and it wont make a difference or is it advisable to file?

He is not keen on keeping the GST registration coz his wedding clients anyway prefer to have an invoice without GST for a lesser payout. 

Hope you can shed some light on this.