Prepare GSTR-1 and 3B

The return is a view of invoices that already exist. The work is checking it rather than building it.

Steps

1. Go to Accounting → GST.
2. Choose the period.
3. GSTR-1 is broken into its sections: B2B, B2C large and small, exports, credit notes to registered customers (CDNR) and to unregistered ones against a large B2C sale or an export (CDNUR), and the HSN summary. A credit note against a small B2C sale is netted into B2C small, by state and rate, as the return asks. A debit note to a customer is listed with them as note type D, or netted into B2C small the same way. An invoice or credit note with lines at more than one rate is listed one row per rate, as the portal takes it, and bills of supply and exempt lines on a tax invoice are in Nil rated, exempt and non-GST (Table 8).
4. Check the totals. Click any section to see the invoices behind it.
5. Fix anything wrong on the document, not on the return: edit a draft, or raise a credit note against a sent invoice. The return follows.
6. Export in the format the portal expects.

GSTR-3B

The summary return: output tax against input credit, section by section, with the net payable. Input credit comes from purchase bills, which is why entering bills promptly matters more than it seems.

Table 4 shows input credit as IGST, CGST, SGST and cess, as the portal asks for it: each bill’s own tax, and an expense’s by where the supplier is registered. 3.1(c) shows nil rated and exempt supplies, exempt lines on tax invoices included.

Advances (Table 11)

Money received ahead of a service is listed in Advances received for services (Table 11A), by place of supply and rate, with the receipts behind each row. What an invoice this month used, or a refund paid back, from an earlier month’s advance is in Advances adjusted (Table 11B). 3.1(a) takes the month’s net, and says how much of it is GST on advances.

In the books the tax waits in GST on advances, against Output GST, until the invoice or the refund takes it back, so Output GST in the ledger is what 3B says.

What usually needs fixing

• An invoice with no customer GSTIN sitting in B2C when it should be B2B.
• A missing HSN on a line, which the HSN summary needs.
• A credit note not linked to its original invoice, so it does not net off.

Mark it filed

The Returns tab lists every return the year asks for: GSTR-1 and GSTR-3B each month and GSTR-9 for the year, or CMP-08 each quarter for a composition dealer. Each shows its due date and whether it is Overdue, Due soon, Not due yet or Filed.

1. File the return on the GST portal.
2. In Returns, choose Mark filed on that row.
3. Check the figures shown, which are the month’s own, enter the day it was filed and the ARN the portal gave, and save.

Filed returns keep their date, ARN and figures. Undo puts one back to waiting if it was marked by mistake. Marking a return filed needs the GST permission to manage.

A return marked filed closes its month, so what you filed stays true. After GSTR-1, no invoice, bill of supply or credit note can be issued or cancelled in that month; after GSTR-3B, the same for purchase bills and debit notes. Corrections go on a credit note or debit note dated in a month still open. Undo opens the month again.