Section 126 - General disciplines related to penalty. - Kerala Goods and Services Tax Ordinance, 2017

126. General disciplines related to penalty .-(1) No officer under this Ordinance shall impose any penalty for minor breaches of tax regulations or procedural requirements and in particular, any omission or mistake in documentation which is easily rectifiable and made without fraudulent intent or gross negligence. Explanation . For the purpose of this sub-section, (a) a breach shall be considered a minor breach if the amount of tax involved is less than five thousand rupees; (b) an omission or mistake in documentation shall be considered to be easily rectifiable if the same is an error apparent on the face of record. (2) No penalty shall be imposed on any person without giving him an opportunity of being heard. (3) The penalty imposed under this Ordinance shall depend on the facts and circumstances of each case and shall commensurate with the degree and severity of the breach. (4) The officer under this Ordinance shall while imposing penalty in an order for a breach of any law, regulation or procedural requirement, specify the nature of the breach and the applicable law, regulation or procedure under which the amount of penalty for the breach has been specified. (5) When a person voluntarily discloses to an officer under this Ordinance the circumstances of a breach of the tax law, regulation or procedural requirement prior to the discovery of the breach by the officer under this Ordinance, the proper officer may consider this fact as a mitigating factor when quantifying a penalty for that person. (6) The provisions of this section shall not apply in such cases where the penalty specified under this Ordinance is either a fixed sum or expressed as a fixed percentage.