GST Annual Return : a detailed note on major change made by CBIC vide Notification no. 29, 30 & 31 -CT dated 30.07.2021

[Ganeshan Kalyani]

CBIC has published Notification No. 29, 30 & 31 – Central Tax on 30.07.2021. All these three notifications are related to GST Annual Return.

Amendment vide Notification No. 29/2021

Section 110 & 111 of the Finance Act, 2021 (13 of 2021) dated 28.03.2021 omits sub-section (5) of section 35 of the Central Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017. The effective date was, however, not given in the Finance Act and thus now vide Notification no. 29/2021-CT dated 30.07.2021 the same is notified as 01.08.2021. Thus, w.e.f. 01.08.2021 the requirement of audit of books of account by a Chartered Accountants or a Cost Accountant for the purpose of filing GST Annual Return is done away with. The extract of the omitted sub-section (5) of section 35 is given below for the sake of ready reference:

(5)Every registered person whose turnover during a financial year exceeds the prescribed limit shall get his accounts audited by a chartered accountants or a cost accountant and shall submit a copy of the audited annual accounts, the reconciliation statement under sub-section (2) of section 44 and such other documents in such form and manner as may be prescribed:

Provided that nothing contained in this sub-section shall apply to any department of the Central Government or a State Government or a local authority, whose books of account are subject to audit by the Comptroller and Auditor-General of India or an auditor appointed for auditing the accounts of local authorities under any law for the time being in force.

Further, section 111 of aforesaid Finance Act, substitutes Section 44 which up to 31.07.2021 provides for filing of annual return along with reconciliation statement duly certified by a Chartered Accountant or a Cost Accountant. The effective date of substituted section 44 is notified as 01.08.2021 vide Notification no. 29/2021-CT dated 30.07.2021. The extract of substituted Section 44 is given below for reference.

"44. Every registered person, other than an Input Service Distributor, a person paying tax under section 51 or section 52, a casual taxable person and a non-resident taxable person shall furnish an annual return which may include a self-certified reconciliation statement, reconciling the value of supplies declared in the return furnished for the financial year, with the audited annual financial statement for every financial year electronically, within such time and in such form and in such manner as may be prescribed:

Provided that the Commissioner may, on the recommendations of the Council, by notification, exempt any class of registered persons from filing annual return under this section:

Provided further that nothing contained in this section shall apply to any department of the Central Government or a State Government or a local authority, whose books of account are subject to audit by the Comptroller and Auditor-General of India or an auditor appointed for auditing the accounts of local authorities under any law for the time being in force."

From the above amendment it is clear that the registered person shall continue to file annual return in Form GSTR-9 and GSTR-9C and the only change is that the requirement of audit of books of account by a Chartered Accountant or a Cost Accountant is not required. Thus the onus of filing correct annual return and reconciliation statement is of the registered person

Amendment vide Notification No. 30/2021 with respect to provision.

Vide this notification the Central Goods and Services Tax (Sixth Amendment) Rules, 2021 is made to be effective from 01.08.2021 to further amend the Central Goods and Services Tax Rules, 2017 as explained below:

Rule 80 which provides for the manner of filing annual return is substituted. The extract of the substituted rule is given below for reference :

"80. Annual return - (1) Every registered person, other than those referred to in the second proviso to section 44, an Input Service Distributor, a person paying tax under section 51 or section 52, a casual taxable person and a non-resident taxable person, shall furnish an annual return for every financial year as specified under section 44 electronically in FORM GSTR-9 on or before the thirty-first day of December following the end of such financial year through the common portal either directly or through a Facilitation Centre notified by the Commissioner:

Provided that a person paying tax under section 10 shall furnish the annual return in FORM GSTR-9A.

(2) Every electronic commerce operator required to collect tax at source under section 52 shall furnish annual statement referred to in sub-section (5) of the said section in FORM GSTR-9B.

(3) Every registered person, other than those referred to in the second proviso to section 44, an Input Service Distributor, a person paying tax under section 51 or section 52, a casual taxable person and a non-resident taxable person, whose aggregate turnover during a financial year exceeds five crore rupees, shall also furnish a self-certified reconciliation statement as specified under section 44 in FORM GSTR-9C along with the annual return referred to in sub-rule (1), on or before the thirty-first day of December following the end of the financial year, electronically through the common portal either directly or through a Facilitation Centre notified by the Commissioner."  

Rule 80 is substituted to make it in line with the change in sections viz omission of sub-section (5) of section 35 and section 44.

Up to 31.07.2021, rule 80 provided for the requirement of audit of books of accounts as specified under sub-section (5) of section 35 for every registered person whose aggregate turnover during the financial year exceeds two crore rupees and for the financial year 2018-19 and 2019-20 the turnover limit was 5 crore and above. And file audited annual accounts and a reconciliation statement duly certified by a Chartered Accountant or a Cost Accountant on or before 31st December following the end of such financial year .

Now the substituted rule 80 provides for the filing of annual return and a reconciliation statement on a self-certified basis. The rule also provides that the reconciliation statement in Form GSTR-9C is not required to be filed by the taxpayer whose aggregated turnover during the financial year does not exceeds five crore rupees. Thus, a taxpayer having turnover up to 5 crore need to file only annual return in Form GSTR-9 and not 9C.

In nutshell, the taxpayer shall continue to file GSTR-9 and 9C (subject to turnover limit) as he was doing earlier and the only difference is that the requirement of audit of books is done away with.

As regard the type of Forms for filing annual return as was given in earlier Rule 80 is same as given in the substituted rule 80 i.e. –

Form GSTR-9: Every registered person, other than those referred referred to in the second proviso to section 44 (i.e. any department of the Central Government or a State Government or a local authority, whose books of account are subject to audit by the Comptroller and Audit-General of India or an auditor appointed for auditing the accounts of local authorities under any law for the time being in force), an Input Service Distributor, a person paying tax under section 51 or section 52, a casual taxable person and a non-resident taxable person, shall furnish an annual return in Form GSTR-9.

Form GSTR-9A: a person paying tax under section 10 i.e. composition scheme shall furnish the annual return in Form GSTR-9A.

Form GSTR-9B: every electronic commerce operator required to collect tax at source under section 52 shall furnish annual statement in Form GSTR-9B.

Form GSTR-9C: A reconciliation statement to be filed by taxpayer whose turnover exceeds five crore rupees.

Amendment vide Notification No. 30/2021 with respect to form and instruction so as to provide an option to the taxpayer to furnish information in certain tables.

i) Instructions to Form GSTR-9

1. Paragraph 4 is amended to include FY 2020-21. Para 4 provides instruction to table 4A to 5N and clarifies that additional liability for FY 2020-21 which was not declared in GSTR-1 and GSTR-3B may be declared in this return. However, taxpayers cannot claim input tax credit through this annual return.
   • para 4 includes table 4I & 4J which requires to furnish details of Credit and Debit note against taxable supplies. For FY 2020-21 a taxpayer can either show it separately under 4I & 4J table or show them by netting of from turnover to be furnished in table 4A to 4G.
   • Table 4K & 4L requires to declare additional turnover or reduce turnover. For FY 2020-21 a taxpayer can either show it in 4K & 4L or show it by netting of the additional or reduce turnover under 4A to 4G.
   • Exempt supply is furnished in table 5D, Nil Rated in 5E and Non-GST supply in 5F. For FY 2020-21 a taxpayer can either show the supply under respective table 5D, 5E, 5F or show all under table 5D as exempt.
   • Table 5H & 5I requires to furnish credit and debit note against exempt supplies. For FY 2020-21 a taxpayer can either show under table 5H and 5I or show the turnover in 5A to 5F net of credit and debit note.
   • Table 5J & 5K requires to furnish amendments to supplies furnished in 5A to 5F i.e export, sez supply and exempt supply. For FY 2020-21 a taxpayer can either show the same in 5J and 5K or show the turnover in 5A to 5F net of amendments.
2. Paragraph 5 provides instruction to table 6A to 8K. Table 6 is amended to include FY 2020-21 by which an option is given to either show ‘input’ & ‘input services’ separately or as ‘input’ only, in the following tables. The ‘capital ITC’ shall be furnished separately.
   • Table 6(B) for furnishing ITC under ‘all other ITC’. For this table 4(A)(5) of GSTR-3B may be referred.
   • Table 6(C) for furnishing ITC under ‘ITC on inward supplies liable to RCM from unregistered supplier’. For this table 4(A)(3) of GSTR-3B may be referred.
   • Table 6(D) for furnishing ITC under ‘ITC on inward supplies liable to RCM from registered supplier’. For this table 4(A)(3) of GSTR-3B. may be referred.
   • ITC in table 6(C) and 6(D) can be shown their respective table or both can be clubbed together and furnished in table 6(D) only.
   • Table 6(E) for furnishing ITC under ‘Import of goods including supply from SEZ’. For this table 4(A)(1) of GSTR-3B may be referred.
   • Table 7 is amended to include FY 2020-21 so as to give an option to either furnish the ITC reversal under Sec.37 , 39, 42 & 43 under table 7A to 7E separately or furnish all under 7H only. However, ITC reversal on account of TRAN-1 must be shown in table 7F and TRAN-2 under table 7G mandatorily
3. Paragraph 7 provides instructions to table 10, 11, 12 and 13. Para 7 is amended to include FY 2020-21 in Part V so as to allow to provide the details of outward supply and ITC pertaining to FY 2020-21 of which amended or reversal was made between April 2021 to September 2021.
   • Table 10 & 11 to furnish addition or amendment in outward supplies furnished in GSTR-1 under Table 9A, 9B and 9C. This table is not made optional.
   • Table 12 to furnish details of ITC reversed under table 4(B) of GSTR-3B. However, for FY 2020-21 table 12 is optional.
   • Table 13 to furnish details of ITC reclaimed under table 4(A) of GSTR-3B. And, ITC reversed u/s 16(2) in FY 2020-21 but reclaimed in FY 2021-22 need to be shown in GSTR-9 of FY 2021-22 only. However, for FY 2020-21 this table 13 is made optional.
4. Paragraph 8 provides instructions to table 15A to 19. Para 8 is amended to include FY 2020-21 to given an option to furnish the details in table mentioned below:
   • Details of refund claimed, sanctioned, rejected and pending to be disclosed in table 15A, 15B, 15C, 15D. For FY 2020-21 these tables are made optional.
   • Details of demand raised etc. to be disclosed in table 15E, 15F, 15G. For FY 2020-21 these made tables are optional.
   • Details of inward supplies from composition dealers to be furnished in table 16A. For FY 2020-21 this table is made optional.
   • Details of deemed outward supplies i.e. the case where the input was sent to job worker by principal but the input was not received back within 180 days and capital goods within 3 years then in such case it is considered as deemed outward supplies and that detail need to be furnished in table 16B. For FY 2020-21 this table is made optional.
   • Details of deemed outward supplies i.e. the case where goods was sent on ‘approval and return basis’, but the goods was not received back with 180 days then in such case it is considered as deemed supply and that need to be furnished in table 16C. For FY 2020-21 this information need not be furnished.
   • Table 17 requires the HSN summary of outward supplies to be furnished. For FY 2020-21 this table is made optional.
   • Table 18 requires the HSN summary of inward supplies to be furnished. For FY 2020-21 this table is made optional i.e. no need to furnish HSN summary of inward supplies. If, however, a taxpayer want to submit the details of inward HSN, then only those inward supplies which independently account for 10% or more of the total value of inward supplies need to be shown.

ii) Amendment to Form GSTR-9C

• Table 9 which require the details of ‘reconciliation of rate wise liability’ is amended to include ‘K-I’‘ as “Others” for furnishing liability other than 5%, 12% etc. rate category.
• table 11 which require to furnish the details of additional liability to be paid is amended to include ‘K-I’ as ‘Others’ for furnishing liability other than 5%, 12% etc. rate category.
• in Point V the liability category as “Others” is included to furnish liability in addition to 5%, 12% etc rate category.
• Point V heading is amended to substitute “Auditor’s recommendation on additional liability due to non-reconciliation” with “Additional Liability due to non-reconciliation” Here, the word “Auditor’s recommendation” is being omitted.
• After the table there is verification clause which is substituted as, “Verification of registered person: I hereby solemnly affirm and declare that the information given herein above is true and correct and nothing has been cancelled there from. I am uploading this self-certified reconciliation statement in FORM GSTR-9C. I am also uploading other statements, as applicable, including financial statement, profit and loss account and balance sheet, etc.

iii) Amendment to Instructions to Form GSTR-9C

1. Paragraph 4 provides instructions to table 5A to 8. Para 4 is amended to include FY 2020-21, so as to give option to furnish following tables:
   • Table 5A requires to disclose total turnover as per financial statement. Then deduction from total turnover on account of:
     • unbilled revenue in 5B,
     • unadjusted revenue in 5C,
     • deemed supply in 5D,
     • credit note in 5E,
     • trade discount in 5F,
     • turnover from Apr2017 to Jun2017 in 5G,
     • unbilled revenue at the end of the year in 5H,
     • unadjusted advances at the beginning of the year in 5I,
     • credit note not permissible in 5J,
     • adjustments on account of supply of goods by SEZ units to DTA units in 5K,
     • turnover for composition scheme in 5L,
     • adjustment in turnover u/s 15 and rules thereunder in 5M and
     • adjustments in turnover due to foreign exchange fluctuations in 5N
   • need to be show in their respective tables as shown above or all such adjustments can be furnished in 5O.
2. Paragraph 6 provides instruction to table 12A to 16. Para 6 is amended to include FY 2020-21, so as to give option to furnish following tables:
   1. Table 12B requires to furnish ITC booked in last year but claimed in current year. For FY 2020-21 this table is made optional.
   2. Table 12C requires to furnish ITC booked in current year but claimed in next year. For FY 2020-21 this table is made optional.
   3. Table 14 requires to furnish the reconciliation of ITC claimed with their respective expense head in the financial statement. For FY 2020-21 this table is made optional.
3. Paragraph 7 is amended to substitute the declaration to Form GSTR-9C as below:
   • Part V of 9C requires to pay additional liability due to non-reconciliation as per auditor’s recommendation. Now, the declaration is substitutes as below:

"7. Part V consists of the additional liability to be discharged by the taxpayer due to non-reconciliation of turnover or non-reconciliation of input tax credit. Any refund which has been erroneously taken and shall be paid back to the Government shall also be declared in this table. Lastly, any other outstanding demand which is to be settled by the taxpayer shall be declared in this table.”

Part B is omitted. It contained CERTIFICATION by the auditor in following manner.

I. Certification in cases where the reconciliation statement (FORM GSTR-9C) is drawn up by the person who had conducted the audit: and

II. Certification in cases where the reconciliation statement (FORM GSTR-9C) is drawn up by a person other than the person who had conducted the audit of the accounts:

Amendment vide Notification No. 31/2021

This notification exempts the registered person whose aggregate turnover in the financial year 2020-21 is up to two crore rupees from filing of annual return. This notification is effective from 01.08.2021.

Source:

Notification No. 29/2021-Central Tax dated 30.07.2021.

Notification No. 30/2021-Central Tax dated 30.07.2021.

Notification No. 31/2021-Central Tax dated 30.07.2021.

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[KASTURI SETHI]

Sh.Ganeshan Kalyani Ji,

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