FORM GSTR-9 ANNUAL RETURN FILING INSTRUCTIONS
The
Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017 came into force in India with effect from
1.7.2017.
All
taxpayers (except Casual Taxable Persons, Input Service Distributors,
Non-resident Taxable Persons and Persons paying TDS under Section 51 of CGST
Act, 2017) will have to file Annual Return in FORM GSTR-9 and FORM GSTR-9A
before 30.6.2019 as per Press Release dated 22.12.2018.
The
details of transactions from 1.7.2017 to 31.3.2018 (only for 9 months) were to
be disclosed in the Annual Returns for the year 2017-18 as per Notification No.
39/2018 dated 4.9.2018.
In
FORM GSTR-9 there are 6 parts as shown below:
I) Basic Details
(Auto-populated)
II) Details of
Outward and Inward supplies declared during the financial year
III) Details of ITC
as declared in returns filed during the financial year
IV) Details of tax
paid as declared in returns filed during the financial year
V) Particulars of
transactions for the previous year declared in returns of April to September of
current Financial Year or upto date of filing of annual return of previous
financial year whichever is earlier
VI) Other
Information
The
recipients of Goods or Services or both have filed their FORM GSTR-3B and FORM
GSTR-1 well in advance or within the stipulated time.
But
the suppliers of Goods or Services or both to the recipients have
furnished their returns belatedly and hence the recipients were not able to
take Input Tax Credit. In some cases auto-populated details were not readily
available in FORM GSTR-2A for adjustment of ITC even though the recipients were
having Tax Invoice issued by the recipients.
In
some cases the taxpayers has not filed the requisite details such as PAN Card
Details, Proprietor details, Partners details, Bank Account details, Owner /
Rent / Lease agreement details, e-mail iD details, Mobile Number details, Power
of attorney details and hence the applications are incomplete without 100% and
in certain cases ARN not received for some other reasons. For such taxpayers,
the Government has extended time limit to complete the migration process till
31.1.2019 and such taxpayers were allowed extension of time till 31.3.2019 to
file FORM GSTR-3B and FORM GSTR-1 for the return period from July 2017 to
December 2018.
Certain
suppliers of Goods or Services or both have furnished their GST returns for the
period July 2017 to March 2018 only during April 2018 to March 2019 belatedly
(after December 2018) as per the 31st GST Council meeting held on
22.12.2018.
As
the time limit has been extended to the late migrated taxpayers till 31.3.2019
(July 2017 to December 2018) the recipients who have effected inward supplies
from such taxpayers were not able to adjust the ITC in time and hence there are
practical difficulties experienced by recipients.
In
order to adjust the ITC by the recipients the Government has allowed to
auto-populate the above details available as on 1.5.2019 (FORM GSTR-2A).
The
Government has issued clarifications regarding furnishing of such details in
FORM GSTR-9. The relevant Press Release is given below for ready reference:
Press Release
Clarifications on filing of Annual
Return (FORM GSTR-9)
The last date for filing
of Annual return in FORM GSTR-9 is 30th June 2019. The
trade and industry have raised certain queries with respect to filing of this Annual return which are being
clarified as follows:
a) Information
contained in FORM GSTR-2A as on 01.05.2019 shall be auto-populated in Table
8A of FORM GSTR-9.
b) Input tax credit on inward supplies
shall be declared from April 2018 to March 2019 in
Table 8C of FORM GSTR-9.
c) Particulars of the transactions for FY 2017-18 declared in returns between April 2018 to March 2019 shall be
declared in Pt. V of FORM GSTR-9. Such particulars may
contain details of amendments furnished
in Table 10 and Table 11 of FORM GSTR-1.
d) It may be noted that irrespective of when the supply was declared in FORM GSTR-1, the principle of declaring a supply in Pt. II or Pt. V is essentially driven by when was tax
paid through FORM GSTR-3B in respect of such supplies. If the tax on such
supply was paid through FORM GSTR-3B between July 2017 to March 2018 then such supply shall be declared in Pt. II and if the tax was paid through FORM
GSTR-
3B between April 2018 to March 2019 then such supply shall be declared in Pt. V of
FORM GSTR-9.
e) Any additional outward supply which was not declared by the registered person in FORM
GSTR-1 and FORM GSTR-3B shall
be declared
in Pt.II of
the
FORM GSTR-9. Such additional liability
shall be computed in Pt.IV and the gap between the
“tax payable” and
“Paid
through cash” column
of FORM
GSTR-9 shall be paid through FORM DRC-03.
f) Many taxpayers have reported a mismatch between auto-populated data and the actual entry in
their
books
of
accounts or returns.
One
common
challenge
reported
by
taxpayer is in Table 4 of FORM GSTR-9 where details may
have been missed in FORM
GSTR-1 but tax was already paid
in FORM
GSTR-3B and
therefore
taxpayers see a mismatch between auto-populated data and data in FORM GSTR-3B.
It
may be noted that auto-population is a functionality
provided to taxpayers for
facilitation
purposes, taxpayers shall report
the data as per their books of account
or returns filed during the financial year.
g) Many taxpayers have represented that Table 8 has no row to fill in credit of IGST paid at the time
of import of goods but availed in the return of April 2018 to March 2019.
Due to this, there are apprehensions that credit which was availed between April 2018 to
March 2019 but not reported in the annual return may lapse. For this particular entry, taxpayers are advised to fill in their entire credit availed on import of goods from July
2017 to March
2019 in Table 6(E) of FORM GSTR-9 itself.
h) Payments made through FORM DRC-03 for any supplies relating to period between July 2017 to March 2018 will not be accounted for in FORM GSTR-9 but shall be reported during reconciliation in FORM GSTR-9C.
2. All
the taxpayers are
requested to
file their Annual Return (FORM GSTR-9) at
the
earliest to avoid last
minute rush.
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