File GST Return Online

 “If you have been following the financial news closely, you would already be aware that the due dates for Filing of Annual GST Returns have been deferred thrice – once from December 2018 to March 2019 then from March 2019 to 30 th June 2019 and again from 30th June 2019 to 31st August 2019. 31 st August 2019 goes to be a key date for taxpayers as this is often the Judgment Day not just for filing GST returns but also to submit their GST Audit report. The latter may be a key document because it may be a reconciliation of the File GST Return Online with a taxpayer’s Financial Statements. The audit needs to be done for each & every taxpayer whose turnover is more than 2 crores. There are a couple of key aspects that taxpayers should bear in mind while filing these two documents. Let’s start from the very basics here-

GSTR-9 form is an annual return to be filed once during a year by the registered taxpayers under GST. It consists of details regarding the supplies made and received during the year under different tax heads i.e. CGST, SGST and IGST. It consolidates the knowledge furnished within the monthly or quarterly returns during the year.

Late fees for not filing the GSTR 9 within the due date is Rs. 100 per day per act up to a maximum of an amount calculated at 1 / 4 percent of the taxpayer turnover within the state or union territory. In addition to GSTR-9, there are three other sorts of annual returns –

1. GSTR 9A: This form should be filed by people registered under composition scheme under GST.

2. GSTR 9B: this type should be filed by the e-commerce operators who have filed GSTR 8 during the fiscal year .

3. GSTR 9C: GSTR 9C should be filed by the taxpayers whose annual turnover exceeds Rs 2crores during the financial year.

Key point to notice about GSTR 9C is that it's a reconciliation statement, duly verified and signed by a accountant or a price accountant, and required to be furnished along side filing of annual return by the taxpayer whose turnover is above Rs 2 crore during a fiscal year .

The good news is that GSTN has now made available the offline utility of GSTR-9C which may be filled up by taxpayer and uploaded on the portal. Timely availability of the utility for filing GST annual audit report is a great assistance to taxpayers, especially those having business at multiple locations.

The Kanakkupillai team hereby shares few key pointers for taxpayers in touch in mind while filing their GST returns and compiling their audit reports-

1) Filings should be correct – Since this is often the primary time that returns are going to be filed, it's important that there's adequate back-up of monetary data to make sure accurate filings.

2) Data Reconciliation with Audit Report– Since the financial data in GST returns are going to be thebasis for the audit report, the 2 should match and tally with same figures.

3) Data Completion – the info contained in annual returns must be complete because it will format he basis for submission of an accurate audit report.

Following are the key details that require to be furnished during a GSTR – 9A form-

1) Basic Details like GSTIN, Legal Name, brand name of the taxpayer.

2) Details of outward and inward supplies declared in GSTR-4 filed during the fiscal year . This input consists of summary from all quarterly returns filed during the FY.

3) Details of tax paid as declared in returns filed during the fiscal year . Tax paid under different heads like IGST, CGST, SGST etc. comes in here.

4) Particulars of the transactions for the previous fiscal year declared in returns of April to September of current FY or up so far of GST Return filing whichever is earlier.

5) Particulars of Demands and Refunds, Details of credit reversed or availed and Late fee payable and paid.

Please do remember that all information disclosed in GSTR – 9 must be cross-checked with the books of accounts and the Form GSTR – 4 filed for the period.