ICAI has compiled/ shared a set of 53 FAQs on important issues relating to filing of Annual GST Return in Form GSTR-9, as under:
ICAI’s 53 FAQs on Annual GST Return Form GSTR-9
Q1. What is Legal provision for filling GST Annual Return?
Ans. Legal requirement of filing Annual return hereafter called GSTR-9 is governed by section 35(5) and section 44(1) of CGST Act. Section 44(1) of CGST Act read with Rule 80(1) of CGST Rules requires that every Registered person other than
– an Input Service Distributor,
– a person paying tax under section 51 (TDS) or section 52 (TCS),
– a casual taxable person and
– a non-resident taxable person,
Shall furnish an annual return for every financial year electronically in Form GSTR9 through the common portal (www.gst.gov.in) either directly or through facilitation center on or before the thirty-first day of December following the end of such financial year.
Further, as per section 35(5) of CGST Act, every registered person whose turnover during a financial year exceeds the prescribed limit (Rs. 2 cr.) shall get his accounts audited by a chartered accountant or a cost accountant and shall submit a copy of the audited annual accounts, the reconciliation statement (GSTR-9C) under sub-section (2) of section 44 and such other documents in such form and manner as may be prescribed. Reconciliation statement–GSTR-9C is reconciliation of data as per books of accounts and data as reported in GSTR-9.
Q2. Who is required to file GSTR-9? Is there any threshold limit of Turnover for exemption to file GSTR-9?
Ans. As per Legal provision of Section 44(1) of CGST Act, every registered person shall be required to file GSTR-9. Hence, irrespective of the Turnover, every registered person under GST is required to file GSTR-9.
Q3. Who is not required to file GSTR-9?
Ans. Following persons are not required to file GSTR-9:
– an Input Service Distributor,
– a person paying tax under section 51 (TDS) or section 52 (TCS),
– a casual taxable person and
– a non-resident taxable person.
Person paying tax under section 52 (TCS) is required to file GSTR-9B but since, provision of section 52 is applicable from 01st October 2018 only, they are not required to file GSTR-9B for the year 2017-18.
Q4. What is Form GSTR-9A and who is required to file it?
Ans. GSTR-9A is Annual return for a supplier who was under composition scheme as per section 10 of CGST Act anytime during the relevant financial year.
Q5. What is Form GSTR-9B and who is required to file it?
Ans. GSTR-9B is Annual return for person paying tax under section 52 which is person who is required to collect tax. Since provision of section 52 is applicable from 01st October 2018 only, such persons are not required to file GSTR-9B for the year 2017-18.
Q6. Which Annual return is to be filed by taxable person if he was earlier registered as composition taxpayer but later he switched over from composition scheme and his status as on 31st March 2018 is a regular taxpayer?
Ans. In such case, he shall be required to file GSTR-9A for the period he was registered as composition taxpayer and for the remaining financial year, he shall be required to file GSTR-9. Hence, he shall be required to file both the Annual Return GSTR-9A and GSTR-9.
Q7. Whether a Taxpayer shall be required to file GSTR-9 even though his registration has been cancelled before 31st March 2018? Whether answer remains the same if his application for cancellation was pending as on 31st March 2018?
Ans. As per Legal provision of Section 44(1) of CGST Act, every registered person shall be required to file GSTR-9. Hence, even if the status of taxpayer is not registered as on 31st March 2018 but he was registered between July-17 to March-18, he shall be required to file GSTR-9 providing details for the period during which he was registered.
Similarly, if a taxpayer had applied for cancellation of registration but the application was pending as on 31st March 2018, he shall be required to file GSTR.
Q8. Whether Taxpayer shall be required to file GSTR-9 even though he was having Nil Turnover during the year 2017-18?
Ans. Yes, every registered person is required to file GSTR-9 irrespective of Turnover. However, facility to file GSTR-9 on single click may be provided in such case.
Q9. What is the Due date of filling GSTR-9?
Ans. As per section 44(1) of CGST Act, every registered person is required to file annual return on or before 31st December of the year succeeding the financial year in form GSTR-9. For the FY 2017-18, due date of filling GSTR-9 is 31st December 2018.
Q10. Whether transactions for the period April-17 to June-17 are also to be included in GSTR-9 for FY 2017-18?
Ans. No, instructions forming part of GSTR-9 which was notified by Notification No. 39/2018 dated 04th September 2018, clearly mentions that only details for the period July 2017 to March 2018 are to be provided in GSTR-9.
Q11. If a Taxpayer has obtained more than one GST Registration even though he has a single PAN, then whether GSTR-9 is to be filed at Entity level or GSTIN wise?
Ans. As per Legal provision of Section 44(1) of CGST Act, every registered person shall be required to file GSTR-9. Hence, if a Taxpayer has obtained multiple GST Registrations whether in one state or more than one state, it shall be treated as a distinct person in respect of each such registration as per section 25(4) of CGST Act. Hence, GSTR-9 is required to be filed separately for each such GSTIN.
Q12. What is the difference between GSTR-9 and GSTR-9C?
Ans. As per section 35(5) of CGST Act, every registered person whose turnover during the financial year exceeds prescribed limit (Rs. 2 cr.) shall get his accounts audited by a chartered accountant or a cost accountant and shall submit a copy of the audited annual accounts, the reconciliation statement under sub-section (2) of section 44 which is called GSTR-9C and such other documents in such form and manner as may be prescribed. Hence, requirement of GST Audit u/s 35(5) would arise only if prescribed limit of turnover exceeds Rs. 2 cr. and certified reconciliation statement -GSTR-9C shall require to be submitted.
On the other hand, GSTR-9 is an Annual return which is required to be filed by every registered person irrespective of threshold limit of turnover.
Q13. Which are the parts of information sought in GSTR-9?
Ans. GSTR-9 contains total 6 parts spread out within 19 Tables. Details required in each part is as below:
Part-I: Basic information of Tax payer from Table 1 to 3
Part-II: Details on which tax is to be paid in Table 4 & 5
Part-III:Details of Input tax credit from Table 6 to 8
Part-IV: Details of tax paid and payable in Table 9
Part- V: Details of transactions of 2017-18 reported during April-18 to Sep-18 in Table 10 to 14
Part-VI: Other information from Table 15 to 19
Q14. What will be source of information for filling up GSTR-9?
Ans. GSTR-9 is merely a compilation of data filed in GSTR-3B and GSTR-1. As per the instructions of the form GSTR-9, it is stated that information of outward supplies ‘may’ be derived from Form GSTR 1. Hence, so far as Outward supplies and tax payable in the annual return is concerned, the same are to be extracted from Form GSTR 1 only.
Inward supplies, input tax credit and the net tax paid in cash are to be gathered from Form GSTR 3B.
But before filing GSTR-9, Value as per GSTR-3B and GSTR-1 must align. If there are any differences, then the same must be adjusted to subsequent returns filed up to September-18 as per circular 26/26/2017-GST dated 29th December 2017.
It seems that the inherent assumption that has been taken while drafting the form is that Form GSTR 3B and Form GSTR 1 are in consonance with each other which may not be always true.
In case the values as per Form GSTR 3B and GSTR 1 are not matching with each other, one may arrive at a differential value of tax payable and tax paid as per annual return. A clarification may be expected from the Government regarding the manner of payment of any additional liability (if any). However, if one faces such a situation, then the additional tax liability may be paid through Form GSTR 3B of the subsequent month/Form DRC-03.
Q15. If taxpayer has identified some information which are missed to be reported in GSTR-3B or GSTR-1, whether the same can be added while filing GSTR-9?
Ans. As discussed above, it seems that GSTR-9 is a merely compilation of data filed in GSTR-3B and GSTR-1 and no other information can be incorporated in GSTR-9. GSTR-9 requires details from monthly/quarterly returns on ‘as is’ basis. Even if a taxpayer has identified data fed in GSTR-1 / GSTR-3B as incorrect, still the same data is to be taken for reporting in annual return. The actual data present in the financial statements and the books of accounts of the entity is not to be considered at all for the purpose of reporting in annual return. So, the intent of the form is not to allow rectification of data filed in the monthly/Quarterly returns but only aggregation of such data in respect of the financial year.
Q16. If no other information can be furnished in GSTR-9 over and above what is stated in GSTR-1 and GSTR-3B, then how can the taxpayer pay the tax liability in case he identifies certain liabilities which are missed to be reported?
Ans: If there is any additional liability missed to be reported in GSTR-1 / GSTR-3B pertaining to 2017-18, the same will be reported in subsequent GSTR-1 / GSTR-3B up to September 2018. However, if the same is missed to be reported in GSTR-1 / GSTR-3B up to September 2018, as of now there is no clarity provided by Government whether the same can be paid through GSTR-3B or DRC-03.
Q17. If GSTR-9 is a compilation of the earlier returns (GSTR-1 / GSTR-3B) filed, then whether GSTR-9 will be auto-populated?
Ans: No clarification in this regards has been received from Government but it seems that system computed GSTR-9 in PDF format will be available auto populating figures to the extent possible which can be used to prepare GSTR-9 on portal.
Q18. What is difference between Legal Name and Trade Name?
Ans. Legal name is a name given by statue which is generally found in PAN. Trade name is a name from which entity is known generally brand name. Person may have legal name which is different from Trade name e.g. “Maggi” could be a trade name while its legal name is Nestle Limited. Legal name and trade name will be auto populated from GST Registration. (contd… please refer above attachment for detailed info)
Related Posts:
ICAI’s Technical Guide on Annual GST Audit (Form GSTR 9C)
ICAI’s Handbook/ Guide on GST Annual Return (Form GSTR 9/ 9A)
ICAI’s 49 FAQs on GST Audit Report (GSTR-9C: Reconciliation Statement and Certification)
If turnover exceeds 2 cr then only gstr-9 compulsory or what?
Every person registered under gst is required to file gstr-9 whether his turnover is less than 2 crore or more than 2crore
If Turnover Exceeds Rs.2 Crores, then GSTR-9 and GSTR 9C both are required to be filed along with the audited accounts and Reconciliation Statement.
CAN I CHANGE TRADE NAME..?
yes but same will be effective only after you get approval from tax authorities.
Yes every registered person is liable to file Gstr 9 whether turnover less or more than the amount of 2crore
NOTE FOR OPINION ON ITEMS NOT SHOWN IN GSTR1 BUT ADJUSTED IN GSTR3B:
There are various issues in current GST laws and one issues arises from a deviation from earlier GST provision in treating general discounts in trade (which are related to many invoices) as sales promotion instead of reversal of purchase for buyer and sales for seller. Here are facts of case:
1. This is related to distributor and FMCG company.
2. They usually ask distributor to pass on discounts in market and make claim (based on supporting) periodically monthly/ quarterly or so.
3. As per earlier practice of VAT there was no VAT involved and there was no reversal of input VAT by distributor and output VAT by FMCG company(supplier).
4. But with GST being in force. Companies have been giving GST 18% in their credit notes and accordingly they reverse the GST in output GST and distributor reverses it in input VAT and distributor in effect ends up paying GST so reversed to government.
5. No one (neither company nor distributor) is showing it in their GSTR1 return but only adjusting in GSTR3B.
This is resulting in mismatch in annual return of year 2017-18 to the extent of credit notes of company(supplier) not coming through GSTR1 return and only adjusted in 3B.
Now the opinion is sought on how to treat it in annual return:
A.1 Can the distributor show the input GST without adjusting GST in credit notes? If done so it results in sizeable refund.
a.2 Will GST authorities refund big amount immediately? If agreed to do so company is going to debit distributor immediately.
B. Can distributor show the annual return as it is that is input GST after adjusting GST in credit notes(which he has been doing in 3B) so there would not be any refund. Then can Auditor under GST audit show the Input GST detailed computation by showing the input GST on purchases and input GST reversed on account of credit notes of company and giving all details of credit notes for period from 1st July 17 to 31st March 18. Can this become basis for FMCG company to claim out put reversal which they can show in their audit report as well?
Tax liability is difference between GSTR-1 and GSTR-3B. How I pay the Difference amount? whats the procedure of payment?
MY TURNOVER 45 LAKHS AND I FILED GSTR 9 AND I NEED TO FILE GSTR 9C OR NOT?
I have claimed some ITC of 2017-18 in the GSTR-3B of March 2019. Should I have to declare this in the annual return GSTR-9 of 2017-18? If yes then where?
If at the time of reconciliation of GSTR 9 there is a differences in GSTR3B and GSTR1, then how to proceed? what should we do?
What if auto-populated gst 2 in the system doesn’t match with your inward invoices I.e. your supplier hasn’t furnished complete or correct details, how can that be corrected?