GSTR-9A: Overview, Due Dates, and Format

As is a commonly known fact, all the taxpayers registered under GST must pay the tax monthly and in case of the taxpayers under the composition scheme, the returns must be filed once for the year. The people registered under GSTR-9 are the regular GST taxpayers and the ones registered under GSTR-9A pay GST under the Composition Scheme.

The formats of both these forms were notified initially by the CBIC, now the form GSTR-9A has been replaced by the form GSTR 4. This change was brought into effect from the FY 2019-20.

This article depicts the details of the form GSTR-9A, along the following lines:

What is GSTR-9A?
When was GSTR-9A due?
Who Had to File GSTR-9A?
Penalty for the late filing of GSTR-9A?
Details to be provided in GSTR-9A
How to prepare GSTR-9A?
Latest Information

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What is GSTR-9A?

For a specific fiscal year up until FY 2018-19, taxpayers who opted for the GST composition scheme were required to file Form GSTR-9A. These quarterly returns contain all the information that the composition taxpayers provided during the financial year.

When was GSTR-9A due?

For a given financial year, the form GSTR-9A was due by 31 December of the following year. For instance, in such a scenario, the composition taxpayer would have been required to file his annual return by 31 December 2018 if they were filing the returns for the FY 2017-18.

Who Had to File GSTR-9A?

GSTR-9A was required to be filed by all taxpayers registering under the composition levy scheme. Taxpayers who were exempt from filing were as follows:

Taxable non-residents
Input service distributor
Casual Taxable Person
A person who pays TDS pursuant to Section 51 of the Act
An operator of an e-commerce website who pays TCS pursuant to Section 52 of the Act

Penalty for the Late Filing of GSTR-9A?

The penalty for defaulting the payment of GSTR-9A was charged as follows:

Under CGST: Rs. 100 per day
Under UTGST/SGST: Rs. 100 per day
Total: Rs. 200 per day of default.

It must be noted that the total penalty cannot go beyond the 0.25% of the turnover in the State or Union Territory under CGST or SGST or UTGST.

Details submitted in GSTR-9A

No.	Parts of GSTR 9A	Information to be provided in the Form
1	Part-I	GSTIN, Legal Name, Trade Name of the taxpayer are automatically populated, as well as the previous year's turnover and the time period for composition schemes.
2	Part-II	Information about outward and inward supplies declared during the financial year in reports filed in the regular quarterly cycle (either quarterly GSTR-4/CMP-08). This input consists of a summary from all quarterly returns filed during the FY.
3	Part-III	Information on tax paid as reported in returns filed during the financial year. We need to mention here all the taxes paid, including IGST, CGST, SGST, Cess, Interest, Late Fee, and Penalty.
4	Part-IV	Detailed information about the previous fiscal year's transactions declared in the annual reports of April to September, or up to the date when the annual return was filed, whichever is earlier. There are various amendments and corrections to entries from previous fiscal years in this section, which include omissions or additions.
5	Part-V	This includes information as listed here: The specifics of demands and refunds: Detailed information about any tax requests from tax departments, taxes paid on those requests, and any balances still owing must be included here. Additionally, the refund claimed, the refund received, and the pending refund need to be specified. Information on reversed or added credits: When taxpayers switch from a regular to a composition scheme, ITC is reversed or added to the account. This information should be included as part of the ITC statement. Late fee payable and paid: In this section, the late fee payable in case of late tax payment or late filing of returns will be described.

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How to Prepare GSTR-9A?

A revision to the format of Form GSTR-9A was published in CGST Notification No. 74/2018 - Central Tax on December 31, 2018.

Taxpayers' annual return contains the data used by the Department of Revenue to assess them. Using the annual return, you can also correct mistakes made when filing the quarterly GSTR-4 or CMP-08 form up to FY 2018-19. Cross-check all information disclosed in GSTR-9A with the books of accounts and your regular returns/forms for the entire financial year. The annual report must contain accurate and true information.

In addition, additional tax liabilities not reported in quarterly GSTR-4 or CMP-08 can be reported in GSTR-9A, and tax can be voluntarily paid along with interest on Form DRC-03.

Latest Information on GSTR-9A

9th March 2021
From FY 2019-20 onwards, the Form GSTR-9A will no longer be used by composition taxpayers since GSTR-4 (Annual return) will replace it. A GSTR-9A is optional, however, and can be filed for FY 2017-18 as well as FY 2018-19.

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Key Takeaways

Let’s quickly look back at the highlights of the article:

The form GSTR-9A has been replaced by the form GSTR 4.
This change was brought into effect from the FY 2019-20.
For a specific fiscal year up until FY 2018-19, taxpayers who opted for the GST composition scheme were required to file Form GSTR-9A.