GSTR 9/9C FAQs

GSTR-9 is an annual return. All the regular taxpayers including the SEZ units & SEZ Developers must file this return once every year.

Form GSTR-9 contains all the details of sales, purchase, ITC claims, etc. for the entire year.

All regular taxpayers registered under GST in the financial year, including the SEZ units & SEZ Developers, OIDAR Service Providers & the taxpayers that changed from composition taxpayers to regular taxpayers.

Composition taxpayers do not have to file Form GSTR-9, they must declare there annual returns in the Form GSTR-9A.

The government declared the due date to file the Annual Returns to be December 31st of the subsequent year. However, ever since the Form came into existence the due date has kept extending to later dates to help taxpayers comply with the system.

Yes, GSTR-9 is mandatory for all Registered regular Taxpayers.

To file your Form GSTR-9, login to the GST Portal > Services > Returns > Annual Returns.

Yes, the difference between the two forms is that GSTR-9 is to be filed by all the regular taxpayers. Whereas Form GSTR9C is to be filed by the taxpayers with annual turnover Rs. 2 Crore & above, in the financial year.

In GSTR-9C the taxpayers need to get their account audited by a CA & submit the copy of the audited annual accounts & reconciliation statements, under section 44(2) of CGST Act.

No, if you have opted for composition Scheme you need to file GSTR-9A, but you also need to file GSTR-9 for the period when you were a regular taxpayer in the financial year (if, any).

Yes, the prerequisites are as follows-

The taxpayer must have an active GSTIN as a regular taxpayer for even a single day in the financial year.

In such cases, you need to file both GSTR-9 & GSTR-9A, for the respective periods when you were registered as a regular & a Composition Taxpayer.

A Taxpayer can file their Nil Return if they have-

• Not made any outward Supply
• Not made any inward Supply
• Not claimed any ITC
• Not claimed any refunds
• No liability to report
• No pending late fees
• Not received any demands

GSTR-9 is filed on the GSTIN level and not on entity level, meaning if a taxpayer has multiple GSTINs under 1 PAN, he must file each one's GSTR-9s separately, given that their GSTINs are registered as regular taxpayers for part or whole financial year.

No, you cannot file Form GSTR-9 if you have any pending GSTR-1 & GSTR-3B for any tax period in the financial year. High penalties shall be levied on non-compliance with these rules.

Following are the fields that the taxpayer must furnish however these are not mandatory fields-

• 4. Details of advances, inward and outward supplies made during the financial year on which tax is payable
• 5. Details of Outward supplies made during the financial year on which tax is not payable
• 6. Details of ITC availed during the financial year
• 7. Details of ITC reversed and Ineligible ITC for the financial year
• 8. Other ITC related information
• 9.Details of tax paid as declared in returns filed during the financial year
• 10,11,12&13 Details of the previous Financial Year's transactions reported in next Financial Year
• 14. Differential tax paid on account of declaration in table no. 10 & 11
• 15. Particulars of Demands and Refunds
• 16. Supplies received from Composition Taxpayers, deemed supply by job worker and goods sent on approval basis
• 17. HSN wise summary of Outward Supplies
• 18. HSN wise summary of Inward Supplies

No, you are only required to update details of the tables relevant to your Business.

Following are the details that are auto-populated from GSRT-1 & GSTR-3B-

• 4. Details of all tax payable- advances, inward and outward supplies made during the financial year
• 5. Details of Non-tax payable- Outward supplies made during the financial year on which
• 6A Total amount of ITC availed through FORM GSTR-3B
• 6G- Input Tax credit received from ISD
• 6K- Transition Credit through TRAN-I (including revisions if any)
• 6L- Transition Credit through TRAN-II
• 9. Details of the paid taxes declared in returns filed during the financial year

Following are the details that are auto-populated from Form GSTR-2A -

• Table no. 8A: ITC as per GSTR-2A

Yes, you can edit the auto-populated details from GSTR-1 & GSTR-3B except details related to, availed ITC, Total ITC, & total tax paid in the financial year.

If you have paid the tax against these transactions in FY 2017-18 then you will have to declare them in Pt.II - Table 4 or Table 5 of the Form GSTR-9

And if you have paid the tax through GSTR-3B in the FY 2018-19, then you will declare such transaction in Pt.V – Table 10 or Table 11 of GSTR-9

Any available ITC in GSTR-2A but not claimed in GSTR-3B shall be reported in Table 8D of GSTR-9.

The amount of Table 8D may be bifurcated in - 8E- ITC available & eligible but not availed or

8F- ITC available but not eligible (eg. blocked ITC)

You can enter the correct Turnovers in the Form GSTR-9.

GSTR-3B prevails GSTR-1, if you have entered wrong values in GSTR-3B then naturally you have paid less GST. First of all, declare the amendment in Form GSTR-9 & then discharge the pending Tax liability along with any late fees, interest or penalties, if there are any.

Any ITC pending could only be claimed till March 31st, 2019. The ITC will collapse after the FY ends & you will not be able to claim it.

All the three are forms to be filed on an Annual Basis, however, they serve different purposes-

GSTR-9: This is the annual declaration of the SGST, CGST & IGST paid throughout the Financial Year, it is a consolidated summary of all these taxes paid.

This form is mandatory for all the registered regular Taxpayers other than a few exceptions

GSTR-9A: This is the annual declaration form for all the taxpayers registered under Composition Scheme. Though it is only mandatory for the Composition Taxpayers, it is very similar to GSTR-9. It is a consolidated summary of all the SGST, CGST, IGST paid throughout the year.

GSTR-9C: This is an annual reconciliation & audit return to be filed by all the registered & regular Taxpayers having annual turnover more than Rs. 2 Crores.

This form includes the Reconciliation statement of all the ITC claimed & Taxliability paid in the particular year and the Audit report of the accounts by a CA.

If your turnover in the Year was more than Rs. 1.5 Crores, then the declaration of all inward & outward supplies in the HSN Summary in Table 18 & Table 17 respectively, is mandatory.

HSN is responsible for the systematic classification of goods, & their tax rates.

With an HSN Summary it becomes easier to understand the transactions on the basis of their Tax Rates.

Since you calculate ITC & Tax Liabilities and actually discharge them through GSTR-3B, hence GSTR-3B is the form on the basis of which GSTR-9 is filed.

GSTR-1 & GSTR-2A are supporting documents to validate all the transactions that have taken place during the year.

You can claim the Reversal of such ITC claimed in the FY 2017-2018 that reversed in 2018, in Part V Table 12 of Form GSTR-9

There is a class of taxpayers who are exempted from filing the annual return GSTR-9-

• Input Service Distributor
• Non-residential taxpayer
• TCS Collector
• TDS Payer and,
• Casual Taxpayer.

So it can be said that if you pay TDS then you do not need to file GSTR-9.

Table-6 will contain all of the details related to ITC availed during the whole financial year in form GSTR-9

Table 7 contains details of ITC reversed during the year whereas Table 8 contains miscellaneous details of ITC like ITC availed in the next year or ITC lapsed, etc.

You can claim the Reversal of such ITC claimed in the FY 2017-2018 that reversed in 2018, in Table 12 of Form GSTR-9

ITC as per GSTR-2A for the whole Financial Year will be declared in Table 8A of Form GSTR-9.

No, there is only aggregate value-wise & HSN Summary wise declaration of data in the Form GSTR-9. But you must ensure that these values are precise, as even a minute & negligible difference may cost you penalties.

There are two modes of digital signing Form GSTR-9-

DSC- Digital Signing Certificate issued by authorized Certifying Authorities can be used to prove one's identity & be used to sign documents digitally.

EVC- Electronic Verification Code, a unique OTP is sent to the taxpayer on their registered Mobile Number, which is used to authenticate the identity of the user.

If your records are under process from the back-end you must wait for the processing to end. And if the records are processed with errors you can go back to Form GSTR-9 & rectify those errors and try again.

You can declare the additional Tax Liabilities that you missed in GSTR-3B, in Form GSTR-9, these additional taxes can be paid through Form GST DRC-03.

Tax liability mentioned in Form GST DRC-03 can be discharged either using ITC or cash balance. However, any interest amount payable through this form has to be discharged in cash only.

You can download the system computed values for GSTR-9 in the PDF form & can refer to it later while filling details in the form GSTR-9.

There are two modes of digital signing Form GSTR-9-

DSC- Digital Signing Certificate issued by authorized Certifying Authorities can be used to prove one's identity & be used to sign documents digitally.

EVC- Electronic Verification Code, an OTP is sent to the taxpayer on their registered Mobile Number, which is used to authenticate the identity of the user.

If your records are under process from the back-end you must wait for the processing to end. And if the records are processed with errors you can go back to Form GSTR-9 & rectify those errors and try again.

GSTR-9 is the annual return form for all the regular taxpayers. In this form, the Taxpayer must declare all the transactions carried out all year-long, the Tax liabilities paid or payable, & ITC claimed.

No, you will have to manually calculate your additional liabilities & pay them before or after filing form GSTR-9 through Form GST DRC-03, if any.

ITC can only be claimed in a specified time frame and not after that. Also, you cannot claim any ITC in Form GSTR-9, it is rather a declaration & additional tax discharging form.

No, if you have an annual turnover less than Rs. 2 Crores you need not file form GSTR-9 for FY 17-18 and FY 18-19.

You can declare your Demands & Refunds in Part 6- 'Other Information' of Form GSTR-9.

The prerequisites to filing the Form are as follows-

• The Taxpayer must be registered on the GSTR Portal
• The Taxpayer should have filed their GSTR-9 Form for the Tax period.
• Taxpayers must get their Accounts audited as prescribed by the Government.
• The annual aggregate turnover of the Taxpayer must be at least Rs. 2 Crores.

Only after the successful filing of Form GSTR-9 can a taxpayer enable their File GSTR-9C option.

The following details shall be derived from Form GSTR-9 :

• Declared Turnover in GSTR-9
• Taxable turnover as per liability, declared in Form GSTR-9
• Total Tax liability paid as per GSTR-9
• ITC claimed in GSTR-9

In simple words, GSTR-9C is a reconciliation statement of all the accounts of the Business. It must be filed annually along with the form GSTR-9, by all taxpayers having annual turnover of Rs. 2 Crores during the financial year. In Form GSTR-9C the accounts are audited & signed by a CA and furnished in the Government Portal.

All normal & regular Taxpayers having an aggregate turnover of Rs. 2 Crores in the financial year must get their accounts audited to file Form GSTR-9C.

All taxpayers who file their Form GSTR-9 must mandatorily file their GSTR-9C as well.

The due date to file Form GSTR-9C is the same as that of Form GSTR-9 i.e. December 31st, 2020, however, dates are subject to changes as per new notifications & updates.

The Accounts are verified, audited & signed by the Cost Accountants/CA & sent to the Taxpayer in JSON format. The Taxpayer then checks it & uploads the same in the GST Portal, along with supporting documents such as Balance Sheet, Profit & Loss statement, Expenditure account, etc.

The Taxpayer must submit their Balance Sheet, Profit & Loss Statement, Expenditure Account & 2 more relevant documents in PDF form only. Each of these files must not be bigger than 5MB in size.

 The Taxpayer must ensure to click the 'SAVE' button after uploading each document to save them.

No, you can only file your GSTR-9C if you have filed Form GSTR-9 for the Tax period.

Following are the details that need to be furnished in Form GSTR-9C:

• Reconciliation of Turnover declared in GSTR-9C & Turnover declared in Form GSTR-9
• Reconciliation of Tax paid
• Reconciliation of Input Tax Credit

The Taxpayer must not tamper with the file audited by the CA. In case you do then while uploading the file the system will show you the error that the sign is invalid & that you must get your filed re-signed by the Auditor for the sake of authenticity.

In case there are any errors displayed while uploading the File, you can download the error file & share it with the Auditor, who can then make the rectifications & revert back to you.

Yes, the file can be rectified N number of times before you finally submit it by clicking on 'File GSTR-9C' button.

At any step before this final step, you can revise or get the rectifications done from the Auditor.

Once you upload the following documents (at least) the 'Process to File' button shall be enabled-

• Signed Audit File in JSON format.
• Balance sheet in PDF (or JPEG form)

Yes, You can preview your GSTR-9C before filing it, by clicking on 'Preview Draft GSTR-9C(PDF)'

After clicking on the 'Proceed to File' button & entering correct details in the 'Verification' Section, you will be able to click on the 'File GSTR-9C' button.

Yes, you can track the status of your filing by logging into your account on the GST Portal.

No, you cannot revise or make any changes to the Form once filed. Although before clicking the 'File GSTR-9C' button, you can make the changes N number of times.

You do not need to file your GSTR-9C if your Businesses' turnover is less than Rs. 2 Crores for the given Financial Years. The limit for filing GSTR 9C is 2 crores.

No, for nil transactions you need not file the Form GSTR-9C.

Yes, Audit shall be required for the same & you need to file Form GSTR-9C if the turnover exceeds INR 2 crores

You need not disclose any VAT & CST. But you need to declare GST Credits.

There is no such notification on this matter however we can expect something from the Government, but nothing official has been said or done to validate it.

GSTR-9C cannot be filed without the Audit Report. In fact, the Chartered Accountant or Cost Accountant must file the Audit Reports themselves with their digital signatures.

Taxpayers cannot & should not make any amendments to the Audit Reports & instead share the details with the CAs who can add the same to the Audit Report.

Since GSTR-9C is a combination of Reconciliation Statement & Audit Report, following are the details to be kept handy while filing the Audit Return-

• Total Sales as per Book of Accounts
• Total Sales as per the GSTR-1 & GSTR-3B filed in the entire year
• Total Tax Liability
• Total Tax Liability discharged
• Total ITC available
• Total ITC availed
• Reconciliation of the data mentioned above.

You do not need to declare the Interest Income anywhere in GSTR-9C.

You need to declare the Membership number while filing Part A Point V and Part B of the Form GSTR-9C. Make sure that you mention the number without prefixes such as 0.

To say, your Membership number is 089, then you must mention only 89.

DRC payment will be accounted for in the reconciliation of GSTR-9C instead of in GSTR-9.

The payment made through DRC-03 shall be deemed as paid in GSTR-9C.

GSTR-9C Consists of 2 Parts, namely-

Part A- Reconciliation Statement

Part A or The Reconciliation State is made of 5 parts, namely-

• Part-I: Basic Details (FY, GSTIN, Legal & Trade Name)
• Part-II: Reconciliation of Turnover- declared in GSTR-9 & in the Audited Statement of the Accounts.
• Part-III: Reconciliation of the Tax paid
• Part- IV: Reconciliation of ITC availed
• Part- V: Additional Tax Liabilities identified by the Auditor, usually due to non-reconciliation due to errors or pending unpaid taxes

DRC-03 is the form available after filing of the said return to release any tax liability that has been identified by the auditor while conducting the audit.

When you release your Tax Liabilities through Form DRC-03 while filing GSTR-9C you can pay the additional GST through your Electronic Cash Ledger.

However, you you can also pay the additional GST offline by generating a Challan.

You must declare this information in Part-A Reconciliation Statement > under Part-I Basic Details.

Follow the given steps to download the GSTR-9C Offline Utility-

1. Go to GST Portal
2. Downloads > Offline Tools > GSTR-9C Offline Tool
3. Unzip the file that contains GSTR_9c_Offline_Utility.xls excel sheet
4. Read the instructions & fill the sheet accordingly.

You must have Windows-7 & above and MS EXCEL 2007 & above to use the Offline Utility Tool.

Follow the steps given below to upload the generated JSON File using GSTR-9C Offline Utility Tool-

Log in to GST portal > Annual return > Select Financial year and click on Search > Click on ‘Prepare Offline’ option in GSTR-9C tile > Go to the ‘upload’ tab.

On uploading the revised JSON File, all new entries will be added as new entries, meaning the existing will remain the same & the new entries will be updated.

You cannot send the signed JSON file via the GST Portal. You can share the file with your client over e-mail or on external storage etc.

Follow the given steps to download the GSTR-9C Offline Utility-

1. Go to GST Portal
2. Downloads > Offline Tools > GSTR-9C Offline Tool
3. Unzip the file that contains GSTR_9c_Offline_Utility.xls excel sheet
4. Read the instructions & fill the sheet accordingly.

You must have Windows-7 & above and MS EXCEL 2007 & above to use the Offline Utility Tool.

GSTR-9C is an annual form of reconciliation of the accounts with the details entered in GSTR-9, as to detect if the correct amount of tax liabilities have been paid & reported. The Accounts are audited & signed by a CA or Cost Accountants.

Form GSTR-9A is an annual return form to be filed by Taxpayers under the Composition Scheme. GSTR-9A is more like GSTR-9 form but for Composition Scheme Taxpayers.

You need not file GSTR-9C for FY 2017-18 but you must file it for the FY 2018-19.

There is no specified penalty for non-filing GSTR-9C hence it falls under the general category of a penalty worth Rs. 25,000.

Filing Form GSTR-9C is important, first of all, because it is mandatory for Businesses having an annual turnover of more than Rs. 2 Crores. Secondly, with the help of GSTR-9C the Tax Authorities will be able to identify if any tax liabilities are missing or if there are any errors in Form GSTR-9.

The filing of Form GSTR-9C is mentioned under Section 35 Subsection (5) of the CGST Act, 2017.