According to rule 80 of the CGST Rules, 2017, all businesses that are registered must submit their GST Annual Returns for each fiscal year before December 31 of the following year. Hence, if you are a taxpayer, you must submit your GSTR- 9.

If you want to know more about what is GSTR 9, continue reading!

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Every registered taxpayer must submit GSTR 9, a GST annual return form, in each financial year following the implementation of the GST regime. All monthly or quarterly consolidated summaries performed by any taxpayer have been included in GSTR 9 forms.

Also, the summary essentially contains all the information that the ITC declared, specifically on outbound and incoming shipments.

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The GSTR 9 must be submitted by all GST-registered taxpayers and taxable individuals. However government hai waived the taxpayer having less than ₹2 crore Annual Aggregate Turnover in concerned financial year form filling of annual return.

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 The following, however, are NOT necessary to file GSTR 9:

• Taxpayers choose the composition plan (They must file GSTR-9A)
• Non-resident taxpaying entities
• Casual Taxable Person
• TDS payers in accordance with Section 51 of the CGST Act.

The GST Annual Return Form GSTR-9 must then be filed in the GST Portal after being prepared. The steps to file GSTR-9 are as follows:

Step 1: Access Form GSTR-9 - Annual Return for Normal Taxpayer after logging in from the official website.

Step 2: Download the GSTR-9 form.

Step 3: Put information in the various tiles to complete the application form.

Step 4: Preview the form and calculate liabilities and pay late fees (if any).

Step 5: Preview the form one final time and submit it with DSC or EVC.

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A few of the documents that are required for GSTR–9 filing:

• Information on the total inbound and outbound supplies throughout the planned financial year.
• Ledger for Income Tax Credits for the appointed financial year.
• GSTIN of the buyer or seller.
• Reconciliation of GST statement.
• Information about the capital goods, block credit, and related documentation.

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Unless otherwise specified by CBIC, the deadline for submitting GSTR 9 is the 31st of December of the year after the applicable financial year.

The recent amendment of GSTR-9 are:

• Revisions, credit notes, and debit notes from Table 4 are no longer possible to be shown as net figures in B2B, B2C, etc. From FY 21–22, Tables 4I–4L must be disclosed separately.
• Exempted and Nil-rated values in Table 5 would be combined in the "Exempted" column. From FY 21–22, Table 5F – Non- GST will be mentioned separately.
• Table 17: HSN outward data required starting in FY 2021–22. (Table 17 may be based on consolidated GSTR 1 data.)
• HSN disclosures must be made at a 6-digit level (where T/o exceeds ₹ 5 crores) and a 4-digit level (for B2B only) when T/o is less than₹ 5 crores.
• Clarification that the GSTR 9 tables 10 and 11 must contain the disclosures from GSTR 1 tables 9A, 9B, and 9C.

Those who fail to file the GSTR 9 before the due date are charged ₹200 per day as penalty. The charges are divided into two parts, ₹100 as CGST and ₹100 as SGST. Nevertheless, the total amount of penalty that can be charged from a person is 0.285% of their annual turnover.

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Benefits of filing GSTR–9 include:

1. Keeps Lenders Satisfied

Most banks and other financial institutions require borrowers to submit GST annual accounts along with the statutory balance sheet and other reports for the full fiscal year. For the annual renewal of their credit facilities, the borrowers must provide a declaration of their compliance status to their lending institutions.

Similar to the submission of yearly income tax returns, GSTR-9 and GSTR-9C GST annual returns serve as helpful evidence of your business's health and compliance status.

2. You Could Still Receive GST Notices Even if You Take Advantage of This Waiver

The taxpayers will not be exempt from receiving any potential notices for errors in GSTR-1 or GSTR-3B if they decide not to file GSTR-9. The department can make use of this information as these returns have already been filed and sent. There is a chance that a taxpayer will also be contacted for an investigation and examination.

Therefore, companies shouldn't think that skipping a financial year's GSTR-9 filing will spare them from problems down the road.

3. Data Reconciliation for a Complete FY is Still Required

Many taxpayers exhaled a breath of relief when GSTR-9 was made optional, allowing them to now opt out of the annual reconciliation. However, it shouldn't be the case. Taxpayers should continue to gather and compare data for the whole 18 months. Also, the identification of underpaid, unpaid, or overclaimed ITC taxes is crucial.

4. Prevent Possible Tax Litigation

The taxpayers may use GSTR-9 as important supporting documentation in any ensuing legal action. This includes the account of all of the filed returns, including GSTR-2A, the GSTR-9 collects annual statistics on GST liability, ITC claimed, and turnover made.

5. Increases Your Compliance Rating

A compliance rating is used by several large companies to evaluate their suppliers. One of the criteria taken into account for a higher compliance rating is the timely filing of GST returns. This compliance rating is a crucial factor in the vendor shortlisting process.

Large organisations pick providers based on criteria and favour those who have a higher compliance rating. It enables them to make sure that their suppliers declare their purchases so they can easily and quickly claim input tax credits without a lot of follow-ups.

Every taxpayer is required to submit the GSTR 9 form within the allotted time frame. A heavy fine of ₹ 200 each day will be imposed if he disobeys that, and he may also face further penalties.

This late payment penalty includes ₹ 100 of CGST and ₹ 100 of SGST each day; IGST is not subject to a late payment penalty. Penalty payments will not be made more than the taxpayer's quarterly revenue.

Hence, if you want to know what GSTR 9 is, it is a yearly return form, which must be submitted by taxpayers who are regular taxpayers each fiscal year. Also, SEZ developers and units are included in this. The taxpayers must disclose information on the sale, any requested refunds, demand-based credits for input tax, etc.

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