Last Date for Filing GSTR-9 and GSTR-9C extended

The CBIC extends the last date for filing GSTR-9 and GSTR-9C for the FY 2017-18 and 2018-19

A taxpayer will not have to provide the HSN level of information of outputs or inputs etc

The Finance Ministry of India has recently extended the due dates of filing of Form GSTR-9 (Annual Return) and Form GSTR-9C (Reconciliation Statement). For the Financial Year 2017-18, the due date has been extended to 31st December 2019, and for Financial Year 2018-19, the last date has been extended to 31^st March 2020. Moreover, the government has also decided to simplify these forms by making various fields of these forms as optional.

What is GSTR-9

It is an annual return to be filed yearly by taxpayers registered under GST. This document contains the details of all supplies made and received during the relevant previous year under various tax heads i.e CGST, SGST and IGST along with audit and turnover details for the same.

Who should file GSTR-9

Following are the pre-requisites to file GSTR-9 :

• You should be a registered taxpayer under GST with 15 digit PAN based GSTIN
• Your business turnover should be more than Rs 20 Lakhs.
• This return does not apply to those who have a Unique Identification Number (UIN) and to Non-Resident taxpayers.
• You need to capture the details of all your transactions at the invoice level for the entire year.

Amendments notified by CBIC for simplification of GSTR-9 and GSTR-9C

• To simplify these forms, CBIC informed that from now on, taxpayers will not have to provide a split of Input Tax Credits availed on inputs, input services and capital goods. Before this notification, GSTR-9 required the bifurcation of all Input Tax Credits availed. This process needed a complete and thorough analysis of the books of accounts of a taxpayer, as well as verification from the concerned auditor.
• To reduce the unnecessary hassle for taxpayers, CBIC^[1] has notified that taxpayers will not have to provide HSN (Harmonized System of Nomenclature) level information of outputs or inputs for the financial year 2017-18 and 2018-19.

The last date for Annual GST Return has been extended because of the continuous demands of taxpayers. A number of petitions were filed to the Finance Ministry, all of which focused on the complexity of the GST Return Filing process. As per the petition, more time was spent on correcting the returns rather than filing them

After extending the deadline for filing GSTR-9 and GSTR-9C, CBIC expects that all the GST taxpayers would be able to file their Annual Return in time. Following the recommendations mentioned above, CBIC believes that now taxpayers would be able to submit their Reconciliation Statement as well for FY 2017-18 and 2018-19 without any hassle.

Prior to this notification, the last date for filing of GSTR-9 and GSTR-9C for Financial Year 2017-18 was 30^th November 2019 while that for Financial Year 2018-19 was 31^st December 2019. Now after the implementation of the decisions, given above, taxpayers took a sigh of relief and are expected to file their GST returns before the newly mentioned last date.