Ten Ways To Introduce GST Return Filing

In 2017, the Goods And Services Tax (GST) Act was passed and has been implemented since then. GST is an indirect tax for the whole nation, which makes India one unified common market. It came as the biggest indirect tax reform in India and now is a single tax on the supply of goods and services. With the motive of “One Nation One Tax”, this tax provision made the compliance procedure more transparent, seamless, and intuitive.

Before GST, taxes such as service taxes, state VATs, entry taxes, luxury taxes were applied on goods.GST has replaced a total of almost 17 local levies of this kind. Now there is only a single tax, that is, GST which is levied directly at every point of sale.

Introduction to Online GST return filing

1. A GST return is a document or report that needs to be filed by every GST registered person. Once You become eligible for registration under GST, you must apply for a unique GSTIN from the GST Portal. Currently, the eligibility is turnover of above Rs.40 lakhs (Rs 10 lakhs for special category states present in hill states and North-Eastern states).

2. All the Registered individuals have to get their GST Return filing done irrespective of the type of business or turnover or profitability during the return filing period. Under the GST Regime, even a dormant business that has obtained GST registration must file the GST return.

3. Every business whether it be small or large has to get online GST return filing done. These returns are filed to pay taxes as well as to provide data to the government relating to the transactions made by the business during the period under consideration.

4. The Return contains all the details of sales, purchases, tax collected on sales and tax paid on purchases that need to be filed compulsorily by all registered taxpayers. Such details are submitted by online GST return filing and on the basis of this, the tax authorities calculate tax liability.

5. Every return Form has been designed to ensure complete disclosure of transactions made between buyers and sellers. Once you file GST returns, you will need to pay the resulting tax liability i.e money that you owe the government.

6. The number of returns to be filed may vary for different registration types. Usually, two monthly returns and one annual return are to be filed by a regular business having more than Rs.5 crore as annual aggregate turnover which amounts to 26 returns in a year. This number varies for quarterly GSTR-1 filers which are 9 annually, including the GSTR-3B and annual return. There are separate returns that are required to be filed in certain special cases, like for composition dealers who have to carry out online GST return filing 5 times in a year.

7. The entire process of GST return filing is online via the portal created by the authorities. It requires a list of receipts, invoices, and bills to be kept handy.

8. The rate for online GST return filing usually falls into 4 slabs, namely, 5%, 12%, 18%, and 28%. The parameters like type of business, as well as on the type of products and services that the business is providing determine the rates applicable for that particular business.

9. Late online GST return filing will lead to hefty fines and penalties. As per the GST Law, the late fee is Rs.100 for each day for each CGST and SGST. Thus, the total fine amount will be Rs.200 per day with a maximum of Rs.5,000. However, this is subject to changes as notified by the government.

10. Apart from late fines, you will also be denied certain facilities if your online GST return filing is not done. For instance blocking of GSTR-1 return filing facility, penalty @10%, restriction of E-Way bill, and cancellation of GST registration in certain cases, are few.

Types of GST Returns

 

Return Form	Description	Frequency	Due Date
GSTR 1	Statement of Outward Supplies made	Monthly         Quarterly (If opted under the QRMP scheme)	11th of the next month.       13th of the month succeeding the quarter.
GSTR 2 (Suspended)	Statement of Inward supplies made	Monthly	---
GSTR - 2A	Read-only documents for the recipient, to verify the details uploaded by the seller in GSTR-1.	Monthly	15th of the next month
GSTR 3 (Suspended)	Auto populated document based on the details filled in GSTR-1, GSTR-2 and tax liability of any preceding period.		---
GSTR - 3B	Inward and Outward supply summary	Monthly             Quarterly	20th of the next month from the month of January 2021 onwards       22nd or 24th of the month next to the quarter
GSTR 4	Quarterly return for composition traders.	Annually	30th of the month succeeding a financial year.
GSTR 5	Monthly return for Non-Resident taxable people.	Annually	20th of next month.
GSTR 6	Monthly return for Input Tax Distributor	Annually	13th of next month.
GSTR 7	Monthly Return for Tax Deductor.	Annually	10th of next month.
GSTR 8	Monthly return for E-Commerce Operators.	Annually	10th of next month.
GSTR 9	Annual GST return	Annually	31st December of next financial year.
GSTR 9A (Suspended)	Annual Return for Composition Scheme taxpayer	Annually until FY 2017-18 and FY 2018-19	---
GSTR 9B	To be filed by the E-Commerce operator	Annually	31st December following the financial year-end.
GSTR 9C	Reconciliation Statement	Annually	31st December following the financial year-end.
GSTR 10	Final GST Return	Once, when GST registration is cancelled or surrendered.	Within 3 months of the date of cancellation or date of cancellation order, whichever is later.
GSTR 11	GST Return for UID holders	Monthly	28th of the next month in which the inward supplies are received.

CMP 08

18th of the month succeeding the quarter.

Final Thoughts

GST implementation was a very significant step in the field of indirect tax reforms in India. Previously, many taxes were levied on the same product that increased the price of the product which are now eliminated due to GST. GST has mainly removed the tax on tax or the cascading effect on goods and services that decreases the cost of goods to great extent. The introduction of GST has also made our products competitive in the domestic and international markets.

Online GST Registration | Online GST Return Filing | Online Company Registration | Online Sole Proprietorship Registration