Every registered person has to file a monthly return for every calendar month or part thereof in form GSTR-3B by 20th day of the month succeeding the relevant calendar month or part thereof. To de-stress the GST system, the government of India has staggered the last dates of filing GSTR-3B. Now due to this change, instead of 20th of the following month, three dates are introduced based on categories of taxpayers.
We now have three dates, 20th, 22nd and 24th of every month. If the taxpayer’s annual turnover is Rs 5 crore and above in the previous financial year then, the date of filing is on or before 20th of the following month.
Now the taxpayers having annual turnover of below Rs 5 Crore in the previous financial year has been divided into following two categories;
- If the taxpayer is from Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Daman and Diu, Dadra and Nagar Haveli, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Goa, Lakshadweep, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Puducherry, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Telangana and Andhra Pradesh then, the last date of filing GSTR-3B return is 22nd of the following month without late fees.
- Taxpayers from Jammu and Kashmir, Ladakh, Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, Chandigarh, Uttarakhand, Haryana, Delhi, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Sikkim, Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram, Tripura, Meghalaya, Assam, West Bengal, Jharkhand and Odisha with annual turnover below Rs 5 crore in previous financial year, are required to file their GSTR-3B on or before 24th of the following month without late fees
If your aggregate turnover is less than Rs 1.5 Crore, then return in GSTR-1 can be filed quarterly, but GST has to be paid monthly on or before the due date as discussed above.
For instance, if you are filing for the month of January, the GSTR-1 has to be filed on or before 10th February and GSTR-3B has to be filed on or before the 20th/22nd/24th February.
However, filing of GSTR-3B is not applicable to following persons;
- Input service distributor or ISD.
- Non-resident taxable person.
- A person who has opted for a composition scheme.
- Person deducting tax at source or TDS.
- Person collecting tax at source or TCS.
- Supplier of online information and database access or retrieval (OIDAR) service.
In case of composition scheme taxpayers, quarterly return has to be furnished in form GSTR-4 instead of GSTR-3B. Such quarterly return has to be filed within 18 days after the end of such quarter. Quarter shall mean a period comprising 3 consecutive calendar months, ending on the last day of March, June, September and December of a calendar year.
Similarly every registered person who is required to deduct tax at source, registered as an input service distributor, non-resident is required to furnish their return electronically through a common portal.
If the commissioner wants to extend the time limit for furnishing the return, then he/she can do so for reasons to be recorded in writing.
While filing monthly or quarterly returns as discussed above, the registered person is required to pay to the government the tax dues as per the return not later than the last day on which he is required to furnish such return. While filing your monthly return in form GSTR-3B or GSTR-4 or in any other prescribed form as the case may be, you have to pay taxes before completing the filing. Either payments will be settled from your electronic credit ledger or electronic cash ledger. If you don’t have sufficient balance, then you can pay taxes from your net-banking account online.
GSTR-3B and GSTR-4 has to be furnished for every tax period whether or not any supplies of goods or services or both have been made during such tax period.
Please note, as per GST law, the registered person shall not be allowed to furnish a return for a tax period if the return for any of the previous tax period has not been furnished by him.
Details to be furnished in GSTR-3B
Here are all the details that a registered taxpayer has to submit in GSTR-3B;
- GSTIN
- Legal name of the registered person
- Tax period
- Summary of outward supplies
- Summary of inward supplies liable for reverse charge
- Summary details of inter-state supplies made to unregistered persons, composition taxable persons and UIN holders.
- Eligible input tax credit or ITC
- Values of exempt, nil-rated and non-GST inward supplies.
- Payment of tax
- TDS/TCS credit
While furnishing details in GSTR-3B, as per section 41, you are entitled to take credit of eligible input tax as self assessed in the return. After taking input tax credit in GSTR-3B, it will automatically get credited to your electronic credit ledger. Amount in your electronic credit ledger can be used for payment of self assessed output tax liability as per return in form GSTR-3B. If the amount in electronic credit ledger is higher than the output tax, then you need not pay anything while filing GSTR-3B. Balance left out will be carried forward to the next tax period to settle output tax liability.
Errors or omission in monthly summary GST Return
After furnishing return, if any omission or incorrect particulars found therein, other than as a result of scrutiny, audit, inspection or enforcement activity by the tax authorities, the registered person shall rectify such omission or incorrect particulars in the return subject to payment of interest under this act.
However, such rectification of any omission or incorrect particulars shall be allowed after the due date for furnishing of the return for the month of September or second quarter following the end of the financial year, or the actual date of furnishing of relevant annual return, whichever is earlier.
