How to File India GST Returns Online!

GST Returns

As a newly registered business, you need to acquaint yourself with several new terms and concepts.

As compared to every other term around, GST is arguably the most important one to take note of, not just due to payable nature but due to the fact that GST returns must be filed religiously for the authorities to determine your tax liabilities and the final sum that is to be paid.

What Do You Mean by GST Returns?

Before enlisting the steps, it is appropriate to shed some more light on GST return, as a concept. Primarily a document, the GST return is to be filled or rather filed by every taxpayer having a GSTIN number. If a business is eligible to levy tax on its services and products, it needs to file GST returns to declare the same to the government.

 Also, if you are new to this space, it is important to note that GST returns need to be filed each month, quarter, or year, depending on the nature of the business. 

How to File GST Returns, Online?

GST returns can be filed either online or offline. However, we shall now talk about the steps relevant to the online, portal-based filing process to make life simpler for you.

Step 1: Head over to the official portal i.e., www.gst.gov.in

Step 2: Once there, fill in the state code, along with the PAN card number

Step 3: Next, you will get a 15-digit number assigned to you, which needs to be kept safely for future reference

Step 4: If you have multiple invoices with you, upload each one and subsequently get a reference number to show, in case of a discrepancy

Step 5: Once the docs are uploaded, file the inward, outward, and cumulative returns, calculated monthly. In case you make an error, you can rectify the same any time before submission

Step 6: If your business has sent over or offered service or product, file returns for outward supply as per the GSTR 1, before the 10th of each month

Step 7: Next, if you, as a business, have made purchases, you need to file the inward supplies return as per GSTR 2. 

Step 8: GSTR 2 is further segregated into GSTR-2A that focuses on dynamic entries and GSTR-2B that concerns static purchases and immutable entries. 

Step 9: Also, GSTR-2A lets you in on the outward returns furnished, at the supplier’s end. 

Step 10: Once filed, you need to verify and validate the returns for outward supply by clearly mentioning the debit and credit notes

Step 11: Also, GSTR-1 and GSTR-2 are interconnected and can be rejected or accepted by the supplier or you, as the business owner respectively, depending on the authenticity of the statements.

Once all these steps are followed to the T and you can even download the GST returns document from the portal by simply heading over to the Service and then the Returns section. Once there, head over to the month or rather the return timeframe, select ‘Prepare Offline’, and then click on ‘generate file’ to get the same as a Zip file.

You can use the downloaded document to file the GSTR-1 and GSTR-2 return forms, offline.

Wrapping Up

GST Return filing  is important for the government to ascertain your tax-paying liabilities in India, as a business consortium. Also, once filed, you need to keep checking the status of the return to keep a tab on the pending payments or discrepancies if any.

GST Returns article and permission to publish here provided by Aditya Roy Kapur. Originally written for Supply Chain Game Changer and published on February 22, 2022.