Goods And Services Tax Return

What is a Goods and Service Tax(GST) Return?

A GST Return is an official document that acknowledges all the details related to GST invoices, payments, and receipts for a period of given time. Taxpayers are responsible to submit/declare all transactions related to the revenue of the business, on the basis of the invoices submitted the authorities will calculate the amount of tax to be paid by the business.

Who Should File Goods and Service Tax(GST) Returns?

GST returns must be filed by every business whose turnover exceeds 20 or 40 lakh  annually which is optional. 

Types of GST

Who is a Regular Taxpayer Under Goods and Service Tax(GST)?

Regular taxpayers under GST are the persons who own a business in a state/UT and involve the supply of goods and services.

What is GST Return Form 1?

It is the first GST return form, every taxpayer is required to furnish 11th of the succeeding month for a given tax period. The GSTR-1 form is documented with outward supplies made by the taxpayers. 

How to File GST Return Form 1?

There are 13 different parts under the GST Form 1, which need to be filled properly by taxpayers with details related to the export supply of goods & services.

In part 1 to part 3 of GST Form 1, the taxpayers must fill the details like GSTIN, name, and gross turnover for the preceding financial year. Moving forward in part 4 of the GST Form 1, the taxpayers must provide details about all the taxable supplies done by the organization in three different sections 4(A), 4(B), and 4(C). Details regarding the outward inter-state supplies must be filed in part 5 whereas zero-rated supplies and all deemed exports need to be entered in part 6 of the GST return form 1 by taxpayers.

In part 7, details of taxable supplies to the unregistered person needs to be filled by taxpayers whereas filling part 8 require details about nil rated, exempted and non-GST outward supplies. In part 9 and part 10 of the GST Form 1, the taxpayers are required to provide information regarding any amendments made to the taxable outward supplies to an unregistered individual for the current and previous tax period respectively.

What is GST Return Form 2?

The GST return form 2 accumulates all the information of import supplies to the buyer and recipient of goods and services furnishes this information. The GSTR-2 is filed by every taxpayer before the 15th of the succeeding month for a given tax period. 

What is GST Return Form 3B?

This GST return consists of Summarized details of outward supplies & inward supplies plus the payment of an amount of tax data to be the file on or before 20th of the succeeding month. By filing GSTR-3B the taxpayer gets the information about provided the input tax credit and payable tax amount.

How to File GST Return Form 3B?

GST Return Form 3B must be filed mandatorily by all the registered taxpayers, which is a consolidated monthly return form. Recently, the filing procedure of GSTN-3B Form has been simplified by the GST council for taxpayers having no business as they have to file nil returns. 

In step 1, GSTIN ID and legal name must be entered by the taxpayer whereas step 2 requires the taxpayer to fill details of all outward and inward supplies liable to reverse the change.additionally, the taxpayers must fill details of inter-State supplies made to composition taxable persons, unregistered persons, and UIN holders in step 3.

At step 4, the ITC eligible box containing all the input tax credit demand from the taxes paid is available to taxpayers. In step 5, details regarding the nature of supplies, inter-state supplies, intra-state supplies, and its calculations must be filed. For taxpayers, step-6 is most important while filing GST return 3B Form as it requires details like integrated tax, central Tax, State/UT tax Cess from taxpayers. In the last step, the taxpayers must provide information about TDS/TCS credit in a proper format.

What is GST Return Form 9?

This covers the information of annual tax paid under GST by the taxpayer. GSTR-9 is an accumulation of all the tax paid so it is filed before 31st December of the next financial year related to a given tax period. It contains the information of GSTR-3 filed for all 12 months. For filing GST return GSTR-9 taxpayer must be having the information of inward or outward supplies, tax paid under various heads as under CGST, IGST, and SGST, and total turnover with audit details.

How to File GST Return Form 9?

GSTR 9 is an annual GST return form that must be filed by regular taxpayers before 31st December of a given financial year. Missing the due date of GSTR 9 may impose a penalty of INR 200 per day. The filing procedure of GSTR 9 can be done in six different parts with no revision facility on GST portal. 

In part 1, the taxpayer must submit basic details in three different sections under four tables. The basic details include GST IN, legal name, the trade name of the taxpayer. In part two, the taxpayers must provide details of inward supplies under 4A to 4N subsection whereas details of outward suppliers need to be filled under 5A to 5N subsection.

Further, part three of GST 9 return form require the taxpayers to fill details of ITC under 6A to 6O subsection for the given financial year. In part four, the details of tax paid as declared in returns for the preceding financial year must be filed. In part five, the taxpayer must show particulars of transaction that were made in a previous fiscal year whereas last part requires taxpayers to fill other important information 

What is GST Annual Audit Return Form 9C?

GSTR 9C Annual Audit form is for all the taxpayers having a turnover of more than 2 crores in a given financial year. The form is filed by on or before 31st December on a given FY. The GSTR 9C form is also accompanied by the certification of Audit and the reconciliation statement of all the tax liabilities and tax payment details of the financial year. It is mandatory for the taxpayers having turnover more than 2 crores to file the GST return 9C form along with the reconciliation statement and certification of an audit.

How to File GST Return Form 9C?

All the taxpayers must file GSTR 9C annual audit return form to avoid the penalty of INR 200 per day. For the filing of GSTR 9C annual return form, the taxpayers must complete the five steps properly.

In step one, the taxpayer’s needs to fill basic details like GSTIN number etc. in the form. For part two and part three, the taxpayers must provide reconciliation details of turnover declared in the audited annual financial statement and taxes paid .

Who is a Composition Taxpayer Under GST?

To provide relief to the small and medium enterprises the government has come up with a composition scheme where registered business under composition scheme needs to file GSTR-4 in an annual and GST CMP 08 in every quarter for payment deposition instead of multiple GST returns in a month like normal businesses. There is a criterion for registering under the scheme 

What is GST Return Form 4?

It is for the composition vendors .The form is furnished annually of a particular financial year. Taxpayer files the information of sales and purchases made in an annual and tax paid through GST CMP 08 form under composition scheme on the next 18th date of the quarter.

How to File GST Return Form 4?

All the registered taxpayers under the composition scheme must file the GSTR 4 form annually to avoid penalty (INR 50/per day) and interest (18%) due to late/non-payment. GST 4 return form is divided into 13 sections, but it is not mandatory to fill all sections.

For part 1 to part 3, the taxpayers must provide basic details like legal name, GSTIN etc. In part 4 and part 5, the taxpayers must provide information for taxable inward supplies and amendments made into them respectively. Similarly, the details for taxable outward supplies and amendments made into them should be submitted by taxpayers in part 6 and part 7 of the form.

The consolidated statement of advances paid/advance adjusted must be filled in part 8 by the eligible taxpayers. Details related to the tax credit received, paid, TDS interest, and refund claimed from electronic cash ledger must be filled by taxpayers in part 9, 10, 11, and 12 respectively.

What is GST Annual Return Form 9A?

GSTR 9A form is an annual GST return form for all the composition scheme dealers who have the annual turnover of less than 1 crore under the goods and service tax scheme. The GSTR 9A for composition scheme dealers includes all the yearly details of GST having transactions based on CGST, SGST and IGST. All the tax paid and liability details of that particular financial year is given in the GSTR 9A form for the composition scheme taxpayers

How to File GST Annual Return Form 9A?

It is mandatory for all the registered composition taxpayers to file GSTR 9A form on or before 31st December for the current year to avoid the penalty of Rs. 200 per day due to late payment. GST 9A return filing procedure consists of five different parts and subdivided into 17 sections.

For part one, the basic details like GSTIN, trade name etc. must be filled by taxpayers whereas part two require details of taxable outward and inward supplies. For part three, details of tax paid as declared in returns must be submitted for the given financial year by taxpayers.

Further, in part four, the taxpayers must provide particulars of the transactions

Who is a Non-resident Taxpayer Under GST?

The Non-resident taxpayer under the GST regime is the person/business not owning the business in India but supplying goods and services to the country for a short period of time. All these non-resident taxpayers will have to file their tax returns through the GSTR-5 form.

What is GSTR 5 Return Form?

The information in GSTR-5 is furnished by a non-resident taxpayer for the purchases and sales they made in India whether online or offline. GSTR-5 also avails the detailing about the available tax credit, tax paid and remaining stocks for the NRI. The form is needed to be furnished by the non-resident taxpayer before 20th of the succeeding month for a given tax period.

How to File GST Return Form 5?

All the registered non-resident taxpayers/foreigners must file the GST Return Form 5 on or before the 20th of the succeeding month for a particular tax period or seven days before the registration validity period, whichever is earlier to avoid the penalty (INR 50/per day) and interest (18%) due to late/no payment.

For filing GSTR 5 Form, the non-resident taxpayers have to fill important tax details in 12 different tables. In table 1 and table 2, the taxpayers must provide basic details like legal name, GSTIN etc. From table 3 to table 5, the taxpayers must fill information for imported goods, amendments to imported goods (if any) and B2B outward suppliers respectively.

For table 6 to table 8, the non-resident taxpayers must mention details about B2B inward suppliers, supplies to an unregistered person, and B2B & B2C interstate supply modifications (if any) respectively. In table 9 to table 12, the information related to total payable liability, total paid taxes, and interest & late fee payable/paid must be mentioned by the taxpayer.

Non-resident OIDAR service providers are required to file GSTR 5A. All the businesses which use the internet as a medium to carry their business operations come under the OIDAR services category. This type of businesses have to file GSTR 5A and are required to file the tax return on par with other business units. The due date for filing GSTR 5A is 20th of every succeeding month. It is mandatory for GSTR 5A registered to file the tax return and to get their GSTIN.

Who is the Input Service Distributor Under GST?

Input service distributor is an office of the supplier of goods and/or services which receives tax invoices issued by other suppliers towards receipt of input services and/or goods and issues a prescribed document for the purposes of distributing the credit of GST to its units. The input tax distributors have to select GSTR-6 for their GST filing.

What is GSTR 6 Return Form?

The GSTR-6 is filed by ISD on every 13th of the next month for a given tax period. It includes all the information regarding inward supplies made to the registered taxpayer. It also contains the information of input tax credit which is distributed among the organizations under ISD.

How to File GST Return Form 6?

The registered input service distributors (ISD) must file the GST Return Form 6 timely to avoid penalty (INR 50/day) and interest (18%) due to late payment. There are 11 different sections/tables in GSTR 6 Form that must be filled by the ISD properly. In table 1 and table 2, the ISD must enter basic details like GSTIN, name of taxpayer, etc.

ISD must also provide details for the input credit received, eligible/ineligible ITC for the given tax period, and available credit under CGST, SGST, and IGST in table 3 to table 5 respectively. Further, any changes made in table 3 must be mentioned in table 6.

Who is a TDS Taxpayer Under GST?

TDS taxpayers are persons/authorities eligible to deduct TDS on payment made to registered vendors or businesses towards purchases made from them. Every TDS taxpayer has to file their taxes through the GSTR-7 form.

What is GST Return Form 7?

Every tax deductor should file the GSTR-7 form on 10th of the succeeding month for a given tax period. It covers all the details of TDS made under IGST, CGST, and SGST along with the supplier information and details of the source where tax is deducted.

How to File GST Return Form 7?

Every registered TDS taxpayer must file the GSTR 7 timely to avoid the 18% interest on the payable tax and a penalty of INR 50 per day (with a maximum cap of INR 5000). The filing procedure of GST Return Form 7 is simple and includes eight different tables/sections that must be furnished with required details. The taxpayers must provide basic details like trade name, legal name of the deductor, etc. in table 1 and table 2.

Further, the information related to tax deducted at source, amendments in TDS, TDS deducted & paid, interest & late fee, returns claimed from electronic cash ledger (ECL), and debit entries in ECL must be filled separately in table 3 to table 8 by TDS payers.

Who is a TCS Taxpayer (E-commerce Operator) Under GST?

E-commerce operators are online business operators registered under Model GST law and provide the platform for vendors and customers for the supply of goods and services. For TCS taxes, they should file the GSTR-8 form on Indian government GST portal.

What is GSTR 8 Form?

The form details are furnished by an e-commerce operator for the tax collected at source information. The e-commerce operators are registered under the GST regime for tax collection at source. It has to be filed by every e-commerce operator before 10th of the next month for a given tax period. It is required to file all the details of supplies made to a registered or unregistered person through an e-commerce portal along with tax paid and payable information.

How to File GST Return Form 8?

The registered TCS taxpayers/e-commerce companies may have to face a penalty of INR 50 per day (CGST + SGST) along with 18% interest on the payable GST tax if they fail to file GST 8 return Form on the due date, i.e.,10th of the succeeding month. There are nine different parts/tables under GSTR-8 that must be filled accurately by the TCS taxpayers. In table 1 & 2, the basic details like GSTIN must be filled.

Further, the details of suppliers through an e-commerce portal, any amendment to supplies, TDS interest details, TDS interest payable/paid, refund claims, and debit entries in cash ledger for TCS/interest payment must be filled separately in table 3 to table 9 respectively.

GSTR-10

GSTR-10: It is furnished by the registered taxpayer in a particular situation such as cancellation or surrender of GST registration. The reason for the GST cancellation can be anything like the closing of business voluntarily or by the government order. The taxpayer is needed to file the final return form within 3-months of cancellation order with the details of tax paid, payable, and input tax credit information.

How to File GST Return Form 10

The GSTR-10 Form must be furnished by only the taxpayers, whose registration is cancelled or voluntarily surrendered. Details like GSTIN, legal Name, business name, address are auto-populated while filing the GST 10 return Form.

Who is a UIN Holder Under GST?

UIN holders own a unique number assigned by GST Council and the UIN status is given for specialized agencies of UNO or organization registered under UN act 1947, multilateral financial institutions, and the person who is granted the status of UIN on commissioner’s consent.

What is GSTR-11 Form?

The GSTR-11 is furnished by UIN holders (registered under the GST regime and having Unique identification number) when they purchase products during the month. By filing GSTR-11 for inward supplies made by UIN holders, they get the refund for the taxes they paid on purchases made in India. UIN holders file the GSTR-11 before 28th of the succeeding month for a given tax period.

How to File GST Return Form 11?

UIN holders, e.g., an agency part of United Nations Organizations must file the GSTR-11 Form on time to avoid 10% interest on payable taxes as well as a penalty of INR 50 per day starting from the due date. GST 11 return form comprises four different parts/tables.

In table 1 & 2, basic details like UIN, name, etc., need to get filled by taxpayers. In table 3, the taxpayers must submit information about inward supplies whereas details regarding refund amount should be filled in table 4. After furnishing all such information, the taxpayers must verify their authenticity by signing the form electronically on GST portal.

10 Steps to File GST Return Online

1.if you are registered under GST and have the 15-digit GST identification number with you based on your state code and PAN. In case you do not have this number, first register online to get it.

2.visit the GST portal or DocsPlanner.com.

3. Click on the ‘Services’ button.

4. Click on ‘Returns dashboard’ and then, from the drop-down menu, fill in the financial year and the return filing period.

5. Now select the return you want to file and click on ‘Prepare online’.

6. Enter all the required values including the amount and late fee, if applicable.

7. Once you have filled in all the details, click on ‘Save’ and you will see a success message displayed on your screen.

8. Now click on ‘Submit’ at the bottom of the page to file the return.

9. Once the status of your return changes to ‘Submitted’, scroll down and click on the ‘Payment of tax’ tile. Then, click on ‘Check balance’ to view cash and credit balance, so that you know these details before paying tax for respective minor heads. Next, to clear your liabilities, you need to mention the amount of credit you want to use from the credit already available. Then click on ‘Offset liability’ to make the payment. When a confirmation is displayed, click on ‘OK’.

10. Lastly, check the box against the declaration and select an authorised signatory from the drop-down list. Now click on ‘File form with DSC’ or ‘File form with EVC’ and then click on ‘Proceed’. Make the payment in the next step for your respective GST.

Points to look at before filing the GST returns

• GSTR-1 is an outward supply return which has to be furnished via the information section on the GST Common Portal (GSTN) by the 10th of the following month.
• The supplier may or may not accept modifications of the details of inward supplies given by the recipient in GSTR-1A.
• The supplier has to furnish & make available the details of outward supplies in GSTR-2A to the recipient.
• The details of outward supplies have to be verified, validated and modified by the recipient, followed by filing the details of credit or debit notes.
• The details of inward supplies of taxable goods and services have to be furnished by the recipient in GSTR-2 form.

Benefits of GST Return Filing

Elimination of the cascading effect

The introduction of GST into the Indian tax system has done away with several other taxes like central excise duty, service tax, customs duty and state level value added tax. 

Higher threshold benefits

Before GST was introduced, VAT or value added tax was applicable for any business that had an annual turnover of 20 lakhs. Services that saw a turnover of less than 10 lakhs did not have to pay service taxes.

E-commerce for quick supply of goods

Startups are making a strong presence online offering their services and products through their websites. Under VAT, there were many types of VAT laws, and the supply of goods through online, that is, E-commerce was never a well-defined one. For instance, if you need to deliver goods to various states, then you will have to file the VAT declaration first. After that, you will need to provide registration details about the trucks which deliver the goods. In many instances, goods end up being seized by the authorities due to lack of proper documents. GST has now removed all such confusing processes.

Regulations and accountability

The pre-GST period witnessed a disorganized tax filing system. Presently, all taxes are paid online and major hassles that were a part of tax filing have been eliminated in the process of introducing GST. This has resulted in industries becoming more accountable and tax filing laws are better regulated than before.