Introduction
All those who are in the business of selling and purchasing of goods and services must be aware of the GST and the GST Compliances. For those unaware of it, here is the article you must go through in order to get information about GST and other related things connected with GST.
GST came into existence on 1st July 2017 and is termed as an Indirect tax. It is a tax that is replaced with many indirect taxes in India. The Goods and Services Tax (GST) is applicable on the supply of goods and services. The other name or term for GST is “Destination based tax”.
GST has been proved to be really beneficial for India. The reason being, that GST has removed the cascading effect of tax and has eventually made all the compliances covered under GST really easy with the emergence of the online GST Portal.
Cascading effect is also identified as “tax on tax” which was earlier a major drawback faced by final consumers due to the heavy price charged from them. All thanks to GST which has eliminated the cascading effect.
With everything being technology-oriented, GST also introduced its GST Online Portal which has reduced the burden of GST Compliance and also made it easy.
Let us move ahead with GST Compliances covered under GST.
GST Compliance Requirements
- First and foremost is the GST Registration Compliance
Registration under GST Department becomes necessary where the business turnover exceeds the threshold limit of Rs. 40 Lakh or Rs. 20 Lakh as the case may be. To know for whom all, GST Registration is mandatory, read the below points.
Who is required to apply for GST Registration?
- The taxpayers already registered under Pre-GST Law (i.e. Excise, VAT, Service Tax)
- Businesses exceeding the turnover limit of Rs. 40 or Rs. 20 Lakh
- Casual taxable person/ Non-resident taxable person
- Agents of a supplier and input service distributor
- Taxpayers falling under the reverse charge mechanism
- Person who supplies e-commerce aggregator
- E-Commerce Aggregator
- Person supplying online information and database access or retrieval services from a place outside India to a person in India, other than a registered taxable person
Where the GST Registration Compliances are not being fulfilled, strict penalty shall be applied as issued by the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC). The penalty of Rs. 100 per day shall be applied. In addition to it, further delay in registration will include a fine of Rs. 200as prescribed in Section 122 of the CGST Act Non-Compliance rules.
- After that comes the GST Tax Invoice Related Compliance
Section 31 of the CGST Act mandates issuance of invoice or bill of supply for every supply of goods or service. The GST law mandates that any registered person buying goods or services from an unregistered person needs to issue a payment voucher as well as a tax invoice.
One must note, tax invoice is considered as an important and primary document evidencing the supply and vital for availing input tax credit.
Therefore, all the GST Tax Invoice Related Compliances must be timely complied with. May it be: –
- Issuing the Revised Invoice
- Invoice and payment voucher under Reverse Charge Mechanism
- Invoice in case of continuous supply of goods
- Invoice in case of continuous supply of services
- Issue of invoice in case, where the supply of service ceases under a contract before the completion of supply
- Manner of Issuing Invoice
- Tax Invoices in special cases
- Transportation of goods without an invoice
All of these compliances must always comply in order to stay away from penalties.
- And then most important one is the GST Return Compliance
Filing GST Returns is an important aspect as well as compliance. The GST returns are nothing but a kind of document containing details of all income, sale, expenses, purchase etc. In total there are 13 returns. Namely, GSTR-1, GSTR-3B, GSTR-4, GSTR-5, GSTR-5A, GSTR-6, GSTR-7, GSTR-8, GSTR-9, GSTR-10, GSTR-11, CMP-08, and ITC-04. Every GST Return has its own significance and not all are applicable to be paid by a taxpayer.
- GSTR-1:
- Details of outward supplies of taxable goods and/or services affected.
- Need to be filed monthly or quarterly (if opted under the QRMP scheme).
- The due date of the monthly filed GSTR 1 is 11th of the next month
- The due date of quarterly filed GSTR1 is the 13th of the month succeeding the quarter
- GSTR-3B:
- Details of B2B supplies of taxable goods and/or services affected.
- GSTR-4:
- Return for a taxpayer registered under the composition scheme under Section 10 of the CGST Act.
- GSTR-5:
- Return to be filed by a non-resident taxable person.
- 5. GSTR-6:
- Return for an input service distributor to distribute the eligible input tax credit to its branches.
- GSTR-7:
- Return to be filed by registered persons deducting tax at source (TDS).
- GSTR-8:
- Return to be filed by e-commerce operators containing details of supplies affected and the amount of tax collected at source by them.
- GSTR-9C:
- GSTR9C is an audit form for taxpayers that is similar to a tax audit report. It includes gross and taxable turnover. Ideally, taxpayers who are liable to get their annual income returns audited have to file Form GSTR 9C.
- GSTR-10
–Where the taxable person wants to cancel the GST Registration or surrender the GST No, this form shall be required to file, which is also termed as Final Return.
-This form is required to be filed by that taxpayer who wants to cancel or surrender GST Registration. However, there are some of the specified persons who are not required to file GSTR-10, namely: –
- Input Service Distributors
- Composition Taxable Persons
- Non-resident Taxable Person
- Persons required to deduct TDS under Section 51 of the CGST Act
- Persons required to collect TCS at source under Section 52 of the CGST Act
- GSTR-11
-GSTR-11 is a form that needs to be filed by every registered person who has been issued the Unique Identification Number (UIN) to get a tax refund by the GST department.
-Due date of GSTR-11 is before the 28th of the following month
- CMP-08
-Form CMP-08 is a form prescribed that requires to contain details of the self-assessment tax payable by the composition taxable person who opted for composition levy for a quarter.
-The due date for filing the Form GST CMP-08 prescribed is the 18th of the month following the quarter.
-This form is to be filed by all the taxpayers who have opted for the composition scheme
- ITC-04
-ITC-04 is a form that is a declaration form required to be furnished by the person registered under GST, mentioning details of inputs or capital goods dispatched to or received from a job worker in the applied time.
-It is a mandatory return that needs to be filed every quarter and if not filed in the given time period then, the general penalty of Rs. 25,000//- may be levied.
-Due date of filing ITC-04 is on or before the 25th day of the month succeeding the quarter.
- Lastly, Other GST Compliances which include e-Way Bill and e-Invoicing
The person responsible for the movement of goods is required to carry E-Way Bill. It is generated either by supplier or consignor or transporter or recipient of goods on the nationwide e-Way Bill common portal.
To pass on the Input Tax Credit (ITC), it is necessary for businesses to comply with invoicing compliance. Whenever there is the sale of goods or services, it becomes necessary to produce a performa invoice. In order to be Invoice Compliant, the mandatory fields must be filled, namely:-
- Invoice number and date
- Customer Name
- Shipping and billing address
- Customer and taxpayer’s GSTIN
- Place of Supply
- HSN Code
- Item details i.e. description, quantity, unit, total value
- Taxable value and discounts
- Rate and amount of taxes
- Whether GST payable on reverse charge basis
- Signature of the supplier
Non-adhering to the GST tax invoice compliances would incur a penalty of Rs. 10,000 or 100% tax due whichever is higher for not issuing invoice. And, where the incorrect invoice is generated then, Rs. 25,000 shall be applicable.
Stay cautious and prevent yourself from the heavy penalties by consulting a GST Consultant for the betterment of your business.
Where the GST Compliances are not being fulfilled, various penalty or fine is charged. Also, who doesn’t adhere to GST Compliances is officially termed as an Offender under the GST Act.
How to stay GST Compliant?
Here are some of the suggestions advised by our EAdvisors expert that you can adopt in order to be fully Compliant.
- File GSTR 1 and GSTR 2 Return timely
- Paid all due taxes before filing next month’s return
- Submit Annual Return before the due date
Regarding GST Compliance solution, please feel free to reach us at info@eadvisors.in
Be GST Compliant!
Cheers!