GSTR 9A : Meaning and How to File It?

Under the Goods and Services Tax (GST), the Government of India had eased certain regulation mechanisms to safeguard the small business industry of the country from the cascading effects of taxation. As a result, a GST composition scheme has come into effect, so that the MSMEs do not face any additional financial liability.

Therefore, if you are a taxpayer under this composition scheme, you have to adhere to specific tax return filing procedures. Subsequently, learning what is GSTR 9A is a quintessential measure for small enterprise owners.

GSTR-9A was the annual return form applicable to taxpayers who had opted for the Composition Scheme under GST, for the period they remained under that scheme during a financial year. 

It consolidated the quarterly / periodic returns (like GSTR-4 or CMP-08) into an annual summary of outward/inward supplies, taxes paid, and other details. However, this is no longer applicable / has been discontinued for the years from FY 2019-20 onwards, as the system was changed. 

This GSTR 9A form consists of several crucial details about your business. Some of prerequisite that the form which is important to fill up contain include:

• Details of the outward supplies of your business
• Data on the inward supplies of your business
• Amount of taxes that you have paid for your enterprise
• Whether you have claimed any refunds
• Whether there was any demand creation
• Information on the Input Tax Credit [ITC] received or reversal due to entering or exiting the GST composition scheme

Every GST-registered taxpayer enlisted under the composition scheme or one who had opted out of it during an ongoing financial year is eligible to file this return. However, some of the individuals who are exempted from the purview of this record include:

• A A taxpayer who is non-residential
• Input service distributors
• Individuals complying with tax deduction at source as per section 51 of India’s Income Tax Act
• E-commerce operators who are complying with tax collection at source as per section 52 of India’s Income tax Act
• Regular taxpayers
• A casual taxable person under GST

Filing GSTR 9A via online mode can be done without any hassle by adhering to a few simple steps which have been described below:

Step 1: Log in to the official portal of Goods and Services Tax’s website

Step 2: Navigate to the tab titled ‘Services’ 

Step 3: Select the option of ‘Returns’

Step 4: Click on ‘Annual Return’ 

Step 5: Visit the ‘File Annual Returns’ page 

Step 6: Select the adequate financial year from the drop-down menu as shown on your screen 

Step 7: Click on the ‘Prepare online’ button in the dialogue box displayed on screen 

Step 8: Answer the questionnaire shown with factually correct information

Step 9: Download the GSTR 9A System Computed Summary 

Step 10: Download the PDF of GSTR 4 Summary 

Step 11: Put in the details of your business’s outward supply 

Step 12: Provide the company’s inward supply details 

Step 13: Enter the taxation details 

Step 14: Provide the additional transactional details 

Step 15: Enter relevant data on the availed or reversed ITC

Step 16: Offer the necessary demand or refund claim-related details 

Step 17: On the dashboard, click on ‘Preview GSTR 9A PDF” to recheck all the aspects of the form. Please note that it is crucial to review this preview summary thoroughly, as you cannot make any changes once you have filed a return. 

Step 18: Click on “Compute Liabilities”

Step 19: If you have missed the deadline of this form’s submission date, click on “Late fees payable and paid” to settle your account

Step 20: Tick the declaration check box after thoroughly going through all the details once again

Step 21: Choose the option of “Authorised Signatory” 

Step 22: Click on the button “File GSTR 9A” 

Step 23: File the return with your authenticated digital signature. For this, you can either use a Digital Signature Certificate [DSC] or an Electronic Verification Code [EVC].

Consequently, the return status will be displayed as ‘Filed’.

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Some of the details you must provide in your GSTR 9A filing are:

• Goods and Services Tax Identification Number or GSTIN
• Your legal and trade name as a taxpayer
• Annual turnover of your business for the previous financial year
• The composition scheme’s period during this financial year
• Supply information as reported in GSTR 4 or CMP 08
• Your IGST, SGST, CGST, cess, and interest details

On the other hand, some of the documents that you must keep within your reach during this filing include the following ones:

• Records substantiating your claim of total inward and outward supplies
• Income tax credit ledger for the specific financial year
• A Goods and Services Tax reconciliation statement
• Documents about block credit details
• Paperwork about the capital goods

The due date of filling GSTR 9A is 31st December of every upcoming financial year. This annual return needs to be filed every year before the due date to avoid any penalty.

During your GSTR 9A filing, please keep in mind certain mandatory prerequisites so that this whole endeavour can be done without any delay. These rules state that:

• In order to file this return, you must have availed of the facilities of the GST composition scheme for at least a single day of the given financial year
• You must file all the GSTR 4 returns of a specific financial year before doing the same for this GSTR 9A form.
• In a single year, the aggregate turnover of your business has to be below the threshold of ₹75 lakhs to make you eligible for this filing. Moreover, if your business is based in specific states, this upper ceiling has a limitation of ₹50 lakhs in one year.
• Detailed records of all the purchases, imports, and all other types of transactions that your business had overseen during each quarter of a financial year have to be adequately maintained

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Per every day of delinquency of payment, a charge of ₹200 will be levied against a defaulting taxpayer. This amount is a sum total of two different penalty fees:

• ₹100 charged under Central Goods and Services Tax
• ₹100 charged under State or Union Territory Goods and Services Tax

Some of the benefits of filing GSTR 9A had been mentioned below:

• It offers a comprehensive summary of supplies and the taxes levied on these items for a business
• Filing the form on time can deem your business to be a reliable borrower to financial institutions. So, applying for a new line of credit can become less burdensome
• Avoiding filing this form can eventually lead to discrepancy notices in
• This way, you can safeguard your business from unnecessary tax litigations down the line
• Filing your GST returns on time can also increase your compliance score exponentially 

• If under certain circumstances, you are unable to file your GSTR 9A return within the date set by the concerned authorities, they are eligible to charge a late fee of one hundred rupees per day on your total amount payable.
• However, please note that the laws regarding this scenario have clearly stated that the total penalty amount must not exceed the limit of 0.25% of the total turnover on which it is getting charged.

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In fine, it is understandable from the discussion above that knowing all about what is GSTR 9A and its online filing process can benefit your enterprise significantly. So, if you are a composition dealer, ensure you remain up-to-date with your tax deadlines so the necessary paperwork can be done in minimal turn-around time.