A Guide to GSTR-9

The GSTR 9 is a yearly tax return that includes information about the supplies you made and received over the year.

What is GSTR-9?

A registered taxpayer must submit the GSTR 9 yearly as a statement or document. This record will include all purchases made and receipts made during the entire year under the various tax headings (CGST, SGST, and IGST), as well as details on turnover and audits for those purchases.

The government has implemented a GSTR-9C audit form, which taxpayers must submit annually with a turnover of more than Rs. 2 crores. It is a fundamental reconciliation between the taxpayer's audited yearly financial statements and the annual returns filed in GSTR 9.

What is the due date for filing GSTR9?

GSTR-9 for the fiscal year 2018–2019 must be filed by November 30, 2019, per the 37th GST Council Meeting. This return must be submitted by the deadline on the 31st of December of the following year, the deadline.

Who needs to submit GSTR-9?

GSTR-9 must be filed by all taxpayers who have registered for GST. However, the following individuals are exempt from filing GSTR-9:

• Taxpayers choose the composition scheme

• A Temporary Taxable Person

• Input service distributors

• Non-resident taxpaying entities

• Those who pay TDS

Types of GSTR 9

Under the GST law, there are four different types of annual returns. They are:

1. Regularly registered taxpayers filing GSTR-1 and GSTR-3B are required to file GSTR 9. 

2. Registered composite dealers are required to file GSTR-9A. (composition scheme).

3. E-commerce businesses that collect tax at source and submit GSTR-8 for the fiscal year must file GSTR-9B.

4. All taxpayers with combined yearly revenue of more than Rs. 2 crores and must have their annual reports audited must file the GSTR 9C audit form.

Format for GSTR-9

The GSTR-9 format consists of 6 sections where the information about supplies made or received must be recorded. The information necessary for the GSTR-9 format's six parts is only at the consolidated level.

The six sections of the GSTR-9 format, as announced by the CBIC, are as follows:

1. The first section entails the basic details of taxpayers. 

2. The second section contains details of outward and inward supplies declared during the financial year.

3. Part three of GSTR-9 entails details of ITC as declared in returns filed during the financial year. 

4. Part four of the GSTR-9 entails details of tax paid as declared in returns filed during the financial year. 

5. Part five contains the information about transactions from the prior fiscal year (FY) that were disclosed in reports from April to September of the current FY or up until the filing of the annual return from the prior FY, whichever came first.

6. Part six entails other information such as demands and refunds, HSN summary, Late fee supplies received from composition taxpayers, deemed supplies, etc. 

Prerequisites to file GSTR-9?

The following are the prerequisites while filing a GSTR-9 form: 

• A taxpayer must be registered under GST as a regular taxpayer for at least one day throughout a fiscal year.

• Because GSTR-9 is a compilation of information provided in GSTR-1 and GSTR-3B, a taxpayer must have filed GSTR-1 and GSTR-3B for the financial year before filing the annual return.

• Please be aware that table number 6A will be automatically populated based on GSTR-3B and cannot be modified.

• Similar to table number 2, table number 8A will be automatically filled based on the information pre-populated in GSTR-2A and is not changeable.

• Based on the information you submitted in Form GSTR-3B for the relevant financial year, whole table number 9 - Details of Tax paid as declared in returns filed during the financial year - will be automatically filled in. The columns "Paid through Cash" and "Paid through ITC" cannot be edited.

How to file GSTR-9?

The following is a step-by-step guide on how to file a GSTR-9 form:

Step 1: Login and navigate to GSTR-9 on the GST portal. Go to the Returns dashboard and click on Annual Returns. Select the Financial Year on the File Annual Returns Page. An important notice will appear, including instructions for submitting GSTR-9 online or offline. Then select "Prepare Online."

Step 2: Answer a list of questions to choose between a NIL Return or an Annual return. Choose whether you want to file for a NIL Return or an Annual Return by clicking on ‘Yes’ or ‘No.’ if you select ‘yes,’ make sure the following criteria are met:  

• No outward supply

• There is no receipt of goods or services 

• There is no other liability to report

• There isn’t any credit claimed

• No refund claimed

• There is no demand order received

• Late fees are paid

If you want to submit NIL returns, click "Next" to compute liabilities and submit a NIL GSTR-9.

If you select "No" to NIL returns, then click "Next," the page "GSTR-9 Annual Return for Normal Taxpayers" will appear. It will have a variety of tiles where information must be entered.

To download, click on each of the three tabs:

• System Computed Summary for GSTR-9

• GSTR-1 Summary

• GSTR-3B Summary

The summary that will be downloaded will aid taxpayers in providing the information required in various GSTR-9 tiles.

Step 3: Enter the required details in the various tables provided for the financial year.

• Table 4: Details of advances, inward and outward supplies made during the financial year on which tax is payable.

Once you click on the tile, the details will be auto-populated based on information provided in GSTR-1 and GSTR-3B.

Edit the tiles or enter the tax values. The cells will be highlighted, and a confirmation prompt will appear asking if you want to continue despite the deviation if the details differ from the auto-populated details.

Click ‘yes’ to accept the details. A confirmation message reading "Save request is accepted successfully" will appear.

Return to the "GSTR-9 Dashboard" page. It will be updated on the 4N tile. Similarly, complete the necessary fields in the other tables listed below, then follow the same procedures to save the data:

• Table 5(M): Details of the outward supply made during the financial year on which the tax is not payable. 

• Table 6(O): ITC availed details during the financial year.

• Table 7(I): Details of ITC Reversed and Ineligible ITC for the financial year.

• Table 8(A): Other ITC-related information.

• Table 9: Details of tax paid as declared in the returns filed during the financial year.

• Table 10,11,12,13: Details of the previous Financial Year’s transactions reported in the next financial year.

• Tables 10 and 11: Differential tax paid on account of declaration.

• Table 15: Particulars of demands and refunds.

• Table 16: Supplies received from Composition taxpayers, deemed supply by job workers, and goods sent on an approval basis.

• Table 17: HSN-wise summary of outward supplies.

• Table 18: HSN-wise summary of inward supplies. 

Step 4: Preview draft GSTR-9 in excel or PDF format. 

• For a preview in PDF format: On the GSTR-9 dashboard, click on Preview GSTR-9 (PDF).

The taxpayer will download a draft, and after reviewing it, if any changes are felt necessary, they can be made by editing GSTR-9 online, which will then regenerate the document.

• For a preview in excel format: On the GSTR-9 dashboard, select Preview GSTR-9 (Excel).

A URL will be shown, along with a downloaded draft. You can extract the summary GSTR-9 excel file from the zip file you obtain by clicking the link. If, after seeing the draft, the taxpayer decides that any modifications are necessary, they can make them online in GSTR-9 and regenerate the draft.

Step 5: Compute liabilities and late fees. 

The GST portal will process all the information from the different tables after clicking "compute liabilities." If a return filing deadline is missed, it also determines late fees. A confirmation notice will appear, allowing you to continue filing. The taxpayer can use the available funds in the electronic cash ledger to make payments. If the cash ledger runs low on funds, an additional payment can be made using Netbanking, in person, or NEFT/RTGS by generating an additional payment challan.

Step 6: Proceed to file GSTR-9.

Select the "Authorised Signatory" option after checking the declaration box.

Then click on "File GSTR-9." There will be two alternatives for filing on a page for submitting applications: 

1. File with DSC: The taxpayer must search for and choose the certificate. Sign and submit.

2. File with EVC: The registered email address and mobile number will receive an OTP. Verify the OTP. When validation is successful, the status of the return becomes "Filed."

To know more about filing GST Returns, refer to our detailed article here. For a seamless and automated process of filing returns, you can take a free trial of Busy Accounting Software.