GST Return Filing - A Detailed Guide

GST refers to the goods and services tax. It is a form of indirect tax levied on the supply of goods and services. The GST Act was passed in 2017 to simplify the tax payment process, whereby taxpayers must file for just one tax under GST.

Earlier, the indirect tax was levied in services tax, excise duty and VAT. Introducing GST allowed for a single domestic indirect tax law across the country. Every business must file for GST returns annually and every two months.

What is the GST Return?

Goods and Services Tax (GST) Return is a document that contains all the income details a taxpayer needs to file. Every individual or business registered under the GST Act has to furnish the details of all sales and purchases involving goods and services, including the tax collected and paid. There are 11 forms of returns applicable under GST. Each form serves a different purpose and has a different due date.

The date for filing GST annual returns is usually December 31st each year. Given the pandemic and its difficulties in meeting this deadline, the Government extended the date to February 28th and again to March 31st 2021. It means the GSTR-9 and GSTRC-9C for the financial year 2019-20 have to be furnished by this date.

With effect from January 1st, 2021, GST taxpayers having an aggregate annual turnover of up to Rs. 5 crores will be required to fill only four GSTR 3B forms as against the 12 previously. This scheme, referred to as Quarterly filing of Return with Monthly Payment (QRMP), would significantly reduce the taxpayers' professional expenses for filing returns.

Who Should File a GST Return?

Under the GST Act, all registered businesses must file for a GST return. Taxpayers operating their businesses and firms across India, interstate or intrastate, are liable to follow the GST registration process.

GST return is filed monthly, quarterly and/ or annually based on the type of business and registration obtained.

For example, businesses with an annual aggregate turnover of more than five crores are liable to file one annual return and two monthly returns.

Types of GST Returns Filing

Depending on the type of business, one needs to do a monthly or quarterly GST return filing in addition to annual filing in accordance with the Central Goods and Services Tax (CGST) Act, 2017. Following is the list of returns applicable that need to be filed as per the Act:

GSTR-1

A GSTR-1 return is filed monthly or quarterly by registered businesses to provide information regarding their sales or outward supplies. Depending on your business' turnover, if your sales amount up to Rs. 1.5 crore or less, then you can do GST filing every quarter. If your sales incurred are above Rs. 1.5 crore, then monthly return filing is required.

GSTR-2

This type of GST return filing provides details of your purchases, transactions, or inward supplies for a month, including purchases with applicable reverse charges. The monthly GSTR-2 return filing done by registered dealers helps validate sellers' GSTR-1 for invoice matching or ensuring that taxable sales by the seller tally with the taxable purchases of the buyer for the month.

GSTR-3

GSTR-3 provides the summarized details of all monthly purchases and sales, along with the GST amount to be paid. This monthly return is auto-generated based on the data provided in GSTR-1 and GSTR-2 filing.

GSTR-4

GSTR-4 return is to be filed annually by the taxpayers, usually referred to as composition dealers, opting for Composition Scheme, by April 30^th every financial year.

GSTR-5

As per the CGST Act, all registered non-resident foreign taxable people, or suppliers not having a business establishment in India and visiting India for a business contract, are required to do a GSTR-5 return filing. The filing return provides details of sales and purchases of the non-resident business people.

GSTR-6

This is to be filed monthly by an Input Service Distributor to provide details of invoices where there has been a credit.

GSTR-7

GSTR-7 return is to be filed by all those who are required to deduct tax deducted at source (TDS) under GST. These include Central or State Government institutions, local authorities, governmental agencies, or entities authorized by the Central or State Government. This type of GST return filing includes the details of TDS deducted, TDS liability payable and paid, TDS refund claimed, if any etc.

GSTR-8

All e-commerce operators mandated to deduct tax collected at source (TCS) must file GSTR-8. It contains the details of supplies carried out through the e-commerce platforms and the TCS amount collected on such supplies.

GSTR-9

GSTR-9 return filing includes details of the inward and outward supplies made or received during the financial year. It thus provides consolidated data of all the monthly or quarterly returns (GSTR-1, GSTR-2A, GSTR-3B) filed during the year.

GSTR-10

All the registered taxable persons who have opted for surrendering or cancelling the GST registration need to file a GSTR-10 return. It is also referred to as the final return.

GSTR-11

Those who have received a Unique Identity Number(UIN), i.e. special classification number assigned for foreign diplomatic missions and embassies exempt from Indian taxes, can file a GSTR-11 return to avail of GST refund for the goods and services purchased by them in India.

How To Calculate GST?

GST can be calculated by following the below-mentioned formula. Apply the following formula to calculate the net price of the product/service after adding GST:

GST Calculation Example

Assuming that a product is priced at Rs. 10,000 and 12% GST is applicable to that product.

Then, the net price of the product becomes 12% of 10,000+ 10,000, which would be 1200+10,000 = 11200.

Documents Required for GST Return Filing

GST return filing can be done through the GST portal. The following documents are essential for the GST return filing process:

• Customer GSTIN
• Type of Invoice
• Place of Supply
• List of Invoices including B2B & B2C Services
• Invoice Number
• GST Rate
• Total Amount of SGST, IGST, CGST, and GST Cess that is applicable
• Summary of Debit & Credit Notes
• Combined Intrastate and Interstate Sales
• Taxable Value
• HSN-wise Summary Details

A Step-by-Step Guide to file GST Return

If you are wondering how to file a GST return online, here's a quick step-by-step guide.

Step 1:

Firstly, ensure that your business is registered under GST and you have a 15-digit GST identification number. If you do not have this number, you can register online to get it.

Step 2:

Next, visit www.gst.gov.in

Step 3:

Click on the 'Services' button.

Step 4:

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

Step 5:

Next, you need to click on 'Prepare online' after selecting the return you want to file.

Step 6:

Enter all the requisite values, including the amount and late fee, if any.

Step 7:

Once these details are filled in, click 'Save'. A success message will be displayed on your screen.

Step 8:

Next, click 'Submit' at the bottom of the page to file your return.

Step 9:

You will notice the status of your return has changed to 'Submitted'. Now scroll down and click on the payment of tax tile. After that, click on 'Check balance' to view your cash and credit balance so that you know these details before paying tax under the respective heads. Next, to clear your liabilities, mention the amount of credit you want to use from the available credit. After that, click on 'Offset liability' to make the payment. When confirmation is displayed, click on 'OK'.

Step 10:

Finally, check the box against the declaration and select an authorized signatory from the drop-down list. Then click 'File form with DSC' or 'File form with EVC'. Next, click on 'Proceed'. In the next step, make the payment for your respective GST.

How to check GST Returns Status?

There are three ways to check the GST returns status. Let us have a look at these different ways.

Track status using the 'Return Filing Period' option

Before tracking the GST returns status, the taxpayer needs access to their GST account. The following steps can then be followed to track the status:

• Access the common GST portal - www.gst.gov.in
• Log in with your credentials
• Move the cursor, select Service, click on Returns and finally select Track Return Status.
• Select the Return Filing Period.
• In the drop-down list, select the concerned financial year for which the return is filed.
• In the end, click on the Search button.

Track status using the 'ARN' option

Taxpayers are assigned an 'ARN', which means the Application Reference Number. This number is assigned through the taxpayer's email address or contact number. The below-mentioned steps can be followed to track GST return status using the ARN.

• Access the common GST portal - www.gst.gov.in.
• Fill in your credentials and login
• Move the cursor, select Service, click on Returns and finally select Track Return Status.
• Type in your ARN number in the dedicated ARN space.
• Finally, click on the Search option to track the status.

Track status using the 'Status' option

To determine the GST return status by using the 'Status' option, follow the steps cited below:

• Log into the portal www.gst.gov.in
• Enter your login page credentials
• Click on the Service tab, go to Returns and select the Track return Status
• From the drop-down list, select the Status of Return option
• Then click on the Search button to know the status

How to Download GST Returns?

Now that you know about GST return filing and checking its status on the portal, let's find out how to download the GST returns from the portal.

Here's a quick stepwise guide on how to download the GST returns:

Step 1:

Visit the portal (www.gst.gov.in) and log into your account using the credentials

Step 2:

Go to Services and navigate to Returns and click on View e-filed returns

Step 3:

Select the Financial Year (i.e., GST return filing year), Return filing period (i.e., annual, quarterly, or monthly), Period (i.e., the GST return filing period), and Return type (i.e., the GSTR form you wish to download).

Step 4:

Once you fill in the required details, click on view/download to view the acknowledgement number and date of GST return filing

Step 5:

Click on Download Filed GSTR to download your GST return in PDF format

Penalty for Late Filing GST Returns

As per the new GST laws, a late fee is charged for late GST return filings. This late fee would depend on how late the individual files the return past the due date. Also, the taxpayer cannot use the Input Tax Credit (UTC) in the electronic credit ledger to pay the late fee. The late fee is also applicable for nil returns.

Presently the late fee for GST return filing is applicable only on GSTR-3B, GSTR-4, GSTR-5, GSTR-5A, GSTR-6, GSTR-8, GSTR-7 and GSTR-9. For different types of GST returns, the late fee would vary. For instance, late fee charges per day of delay for GSTR-3B and GSTR-1 are as follow:

25(CGST)+25(SGST) = 50

And for Nil returns,

10(CGST) + 10(SGST) = 20

However, for GSTR-9, the late fee charged per day of delay is as follows:

100 (CGST) + 100 (SGST) = 200

The 43^rd GST council meeting has reduced the maximum late fee based on the types of return in GST and turnover slab click here for more information.    

Important GST Return Due Dates

Here's a quick reference to the important GST return filing due dates to keep in mind:

Challenges Faced

Though GST was implemented in 2019 in India, there was some ambiguity in some of the provisions of the law. To address such ambiguities, the GST Council implemented the new GST return system with effect from April 2020. However, there are still some challenges in implementing this new system.

Educating the taxpayers on this new law and its system is one of the challenges as they take time to understand the changes pertaining to the GST system. Taxpayers have to be educated on real-time uploading of invoices and what actions need to be taken to claim an input tax credit (ITC) and report missing invoices.

Taxpayers have to upload their invoices continuously in real-time in GST ANX-1. This annexure contains details of all outward and inward supplies liable to reverse charge and import of goods and services. Individuals and businesses registered under GST must match the supplier's invoices with the book of accounts to claim ITC. The pain point here is that taxpayers have to devote time to these activities, or he has to dedicate personnel to carry out these activities. For instance, if a business wants to match invoices at the time of filing their return, they will not have adequate time to follow up with the supplier, leading to an incorrect or inaccurate claim of ITC.

There may be cases where the recipient has a physical invoice, but it is not available in the GST portal. In such a case, the recipient must track these missing invoices and continuously check whether the supplier has uploaded invoices on the portal. This is again an additional responsibility on the recipient despite having paid the tax amount to the supplier.

These challenges can impact the relationship between the recipient and the supplier. In such circumstances, a B2B marketplace like Amazon Business has helped small and medium businesses ease their GST compliance issues.

Benefits of partnering with Amazon Business

The biggest benefit of partnering with Amazon Business is that businesses make all their B2B purchases compliant with the GST bill. At the time of registering with Amazon Business, one needs to fill in their GST number. After registering using the GST number, one can use the GST Invoice Filter to view items with GST compliant invoices. The GST filter allows businesses to connect with only registered GST vendors leading to seamless business transactions. Businesses can also compare GST inclusive and exclusive prices to calculate discounts from input tax credit from the GST invoice. They can look for a GST Invoice badge on the product detail page to ensure the product comes with a GST compliant invoice.

By updating their GST number with Amazon, Business customers can explore lakhs of products with GST Invoices offered by Business sellers. They can file the GST Invoices for returns through the GST portal and claim the input tax credit on their business purchases. Furthermore, they can save up to 28% on business purchases by claiming GST input tax credit.

Most items on Amazon Business come with a downloadable invoice. Items that have a downloadable invoice will contain a text that reads: GST invoice on their product detail page. For items that do not have the downloadable invoice, they can be requested from the seller. Invoices become available 24 hours after the order is shipped. To view the invoice for an individual order, go to the "Your Orders" section and select invoice. The Business Analytics Feature of Amazon Business also helps to track orders and create reports based on the business needs. With this feature, one can also download invoices and other order documents.

Overall, Amazon Business plays an important role in easing the pain points experienced by small and medium businesses with their GST compliance. Amazon Business allows businesses to take advantage of its features and benefits for a seamless experience without dedicating specific personnel to handle GST-related documentation. Create a free Amazon Business account now and enjoy a hassle-free buying experience.

Conclusion

We hope this extensive blog was helpful in building your understanding of the GST return filing process, types of GST returns, important GST returns filing dates, benefits of GST return filings, etc. Timely GST return filings will not only aid the business and enhances the reputation of your business. Amazon Business offers an additional 28% discount on GST invoices during bulk purchases encouraging and insisting on the importance of GST invoices and tax credits. So don't forget to fill the reruns regularly and mark your calendars for the important GST return filing dates in August!

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