Basics of GST, GST Return and GST Filing

A tax return is a form filed with a tax authority reporting on a person’s or business incomes, expenses and other important related information. This return is thus used to calculate a tax payer’s (either an individual or a business.  tax payments, tax payment schedule  , deductions and refunds with the reported income. After reporting income, deductions and credits calculated, the tax payer’s return is ended, and thus identifying the amount of tax owed to the government by that taxable person with the timings/ due dates for such to be paid.

To simplify the process of GST return the GST Council have come up with a solution to record all invoices in one place and collate data for the taxpayer. The processes have been simplified, and many taxes have been removed.

GST returns filing is mandatory irrespective of any transaction made or not, as any non-compliance towards the same may lead to disallowance of input tax credit, apart from attracting penalties and interests, etc.

GST returns are designed so that all transactions are in sync with each other and hence no transaction is left unattended between the buyer and the seller. All the data is stored in GSTN, which can be accessed by the users/taxpayers at any point of time online. While filing GST returns the registered dealer should include the details of Purchase, sales, output GST (on sales), and Input tax credit (GST paid on purchases)

Who should file GST Returns?

In the GST regime, any regular business who has obtained the GST registration has to file two monthly returns and one annual return.

There is a clear system that one has to manually enter details of one monthly return – GSTR-1.

The other returns GSTR 3B will get auto-populated by deriving information from GSTR-1 filed by you and your vendors.

What are GST Return Filing Dates?

Here is a list of all the returns to be filed as prescribed under the GST Law along with the due dates:

1. GSTR-1

Details of outward supplies of taxable goods and/or services affected to be filed by a registered taxable supplier. The buyer has to validate the auto populated information on the form, and make any modifications as are necessary

To be filed by 11th of the next month (with effect from October 2018) every month.

2. GSTR-3

Simple Return in which details that are auto populated in GSTR-1 & 2 return forms v

Monthly verifying details such as input tax credit, liability,& cash ledger. Details of tax paid under CGST, SGST, &IGST,& claiming a refund of excess TAX payment to either be paid or to carry forward.

To be filed 20th of the next month

3. GSTR-4

Return for a taxpayer registered under the composition levy. Taxpayers with small business turnover of up to 75lakh can opt for the composition levy wherein they have to pay tax at a fixed rate based in the type of business. Under this scheme the taxpayer will have no ITC facility.

To be filed Quarterly

@18th of the month succeeding quarter

4. GSTR-5

Return for a Non-Resident taxable person containing details such as name, address & GSTIN & period of the return of the taxpayer. Details of outward & inward supplies. Details of credit/debit notes, closing stock and refund claimed.

To be filed Monthly@ 20th of the next month

5. GSTR-6

Return for all Input Service Distributor, containing details such as name, address, GSTIN, details of input credit distributed, receiver of input credit their GSTIN, details of credit & debit notes, & ITC reverted & ITC distributed as SGST, CGST&IGST

To be filed Monthly @ 13th of the next month

6. GSTR-7

To be filed by all taxpayers who are required to deduct TDS. This contains name,address,GSTIN, period of return of the tax payer. TDS details Z& liability including any TDS interest & penalties.

To be filed Monthly @10th of the next month

7. GSTR-8

Details of supplies effected through e-commerce operator and the amount of tax collected. The form includes details such as name,address, GSTIN & period of return of the tax payer. Details of TDS liability auto populated.

To be filed Monthly @ 10th of the next month

8. GSTR-9

Annual Return for a Normal Taxpayer with details of all income and expenditure for the year. This will be regrouped with monthly returns. This is also an opportunity to make any modifications that has to be filed by 31^st December of the following financial year along with the audited copies of the annual accounts.

To be annually @ 31st December of next financial year.

9. GSTR-9A

Annual Return a taxpayer registered under the composition levy (i.e. registered taxpayer whose turnover does not exceed rs.75lakh) anytime during the year

To be filed annually @ 31st December of next financial year.

10. GSTR-10

To be filed by any taxpayer who opts for cancellation of GST registration. It will contain the date of cancellation,date of cancellation order, unique ID of cancellation order,& details of closing stock including any tax payable on such.

Within three months of the date of cancellation or date of cancellation order, whichever is later?

11. GSTR-11

Details of inward supplies to be furnished by a person having UIN and claiming a refund on the taxed paid on his inward supplies. This will contain the name of the government entity, UIN & period of return. All inward purchases from GST registered supplier will be auto – populated.

To be filed Monthly @ 28th of the month following the month for which statement is filed

How to file GST returns online?

Since all tax payers have to file their tax returns, from consumers to dealers to manufacturers and suppliers, the new GST regime has been automated for ease of filing GST returns

The Goods and Service Tax Network will store information of all GST registered sellers and buyers, combine the submitted details, and maintain registers for future reference. Companies have to file 3 monthly returns every 3 months and one annual return in a financial year (37 returns in total). GSTN has launched a simple excel based template to make filing of returns easier for businesses. This excel workbook can be downloaded from the GST common portal free of charge. Taxpayers can use this template to collate invoice data on a regular basis. The details of inward and outward supplies can be uploaded on the GST portal on or before the due date. The data preparation can be done offline. Only while uploading the prepared file on the GST portal will the taxpayer need Internet...

Following are the steps of filing the returns with the GST department:

Visit the GST portal (gst.gov.in), where you would be issued a 15 digit number for GST based on your pan card& state code.

You will have to upload all your invoices on that portal, for which for each invoice you will be issued a reference number.

You would also need to take care of filing returns as per their due date as stated above. Therecipient has to verify, validate & modify any details of supplies and credit & debit notes too. The supplier can accept or reject any such modifications made available through GSTR-1A form

 How to check the GST Return Filing Status?

There are different types of GST Return Application status which relies on the action of the taxpayer and they are as following:

• In case the return is due but it has not yet been filed then it will show the status “TO BE FILED.”
• When the return has been validated but shows the filing status pending than the status would show “SUBMITTED BUT NOT FILLED.”
• In case the return has been filed without any pending status than it shows “FILED-VALID” status.
• When the return has been filed but tax is not paid or less/short paid than the status would show “FILED-INVALID.”