Error/limitation of annual return (GSTR 9)

Sr No

Part/Section

Heading

Errors/Limitations

1

PART II - 4 (E)

Deemed Export

The Government has notified the category of deemed export in the month of Dec 2017 and it is very difficult for many suppliers to find out the actual status of the recipient as they may not be availing the benefit of refund on supplies made to recipient covered under deemed export

2

PART II - 5 (H, I, J & K)

Credit/Debit Notes issued against exempted, Nil rated & Non-GST supply and Amendments of invoices issued for exempted, Nil rated & Non-GST supply

In Annual Return consolidated figures of monthly amendment of the invoices, debit/credit notes declared for exempted, nil-rated & Non-GST supply in respective monthly returns is required to be furnished here.

However, the problem is that there is no provision in monthly return to declare amendments, debit/credit notes issued for exempted, Nil-rated & Non-GST supply. Therefore, either the said fields may not be insisted upon or suitable clarifications may be provided to fill such details as it was not declared in the monthly return filed on GSTN portal

3

PART III - 6 & 7

Details of ITC availed as declared in the return filed during the financial year

 In the Annual Return the ITC availed needs to be bifurcated into inputs, input services & capital goods whereas no such bifurcation is required in the GSTR - 3B return where a consolidated amount of ITC availed needs to be reported. This exercise is a very time-consuming and tedious task and will put a tremendous burden on the trade. Further in the absence of the proposed digital environment for filling the returns, the bifurcation needs to be done on an individual level basis each inward supply received.

4

PART III - 8

Other ITC related information

It is amply cleared by CBEC that form GSTR - 2A is not the basis for availing ITC under GST, however despite this the Annual Return under the said column requires reconciliation of GSTR 2A with ITC availed in GSTR - 3B return.

Further, it is also mentioned in the instruction sheets to the Annual return that details of ITC availed in GSTR - 2A will be auto-populated based on Table 3 & Table 5 thereof. The reference provided in the instruction sheet is not linked in the Annual Return and as such the veracity of the information cannot be checked. Also, it is not clear whether the auto populated GSTR - 2A pertains to the period July 2017 to March 2018 or the same will also consider details of transactions subsequently uploaded by vendors. This will primarily depend upon the period for which GSTR - 2A is auto populated.

In addition to the above it is also required to reconcile the ITC paid on import of goods including inward supply of goods received from SEZ during the period July 2017 to March 2018 with the ITC availed on import of goods including inward supply of goods received from SEZ during the said period. In terms of Annual Return, the difference on account of the same is to be treated as lapsed. This provision needs clarity for the reason that in some cases ITC on such transaction may have been availed subsequently i.e. during the period April 2018 to September 2018 and therefore there is no question of the same getting lapsed.   

5

PART - V (10 & 11)

Particulars of transactions for the previous FY declared in returns of April to Sept of current FY or upto date of filing of Annual return of previous FY whichever is earlier

In the Section, taxpayers are required to provide the details related to outward supply pertaining to the period from July 17 to March 18 in the return filed for the period from April 18 to Sept 18.

In terms of the instructions provided, any amendments by way of issue of Debit/Credit notes issued pertaining to invoices already declared in the returns for the month of July 17 to March 18 needs to be provided. However, this Section does not provide an opportunity to the taxpayer to declare any transactions/invoices not declared in the returns filed during the period July 17 to March 18 due to various reasons 18.

Further, any amendments made during the month of April 2018 to September 2018 pertaining to B2C (small) supplies/invoices declared in the returns filed during the period July 17 to March 18 is also not considered in the Annual return which will again create ambiguity about filing of Annual Return