Part 2 · Running the business · Chapter 2.6
Filing GST
Draft: the wording may change. Tax rules change every year, so check current rates and dates on the official portal before you act.
The idea
Filing GST is a monthly exam, and the answers are your own bills. GSTR-1 reports what you sold. GSTR-2B shows what your suppliers reported selling to you. GSTR-3B is the summary where you pay. You pass when the three agree with your books — and you can only pass if the bills were right on the day they were made.
The three papers
| Return | What it holds | Who fills it |
|---|---|---|
| GSTR-1 | Every sales bill to a registered buyer, bill by bill, plus totals for sales to unregistered buyers, and your credit and debit notes | You |
| GSTR-2B | The bills your suppliers reported against your GSTIN — the input credit open to you | The portal, from your suppliers' GSTR-1 |
| GSTR-3B | Totals: tax on sales, input credit claimed, tax paid in cash | You, with much of it filled in by the portal |
The chain is the relay race from chapter 1.15. Your GSTR-1 becomes Ravi Stores' GSTR-2B. Your suppliers' GSTR-1 becomes yours.
Small businesses may be allowed to file quarterly while paying tax monthly. Due dates, and who qualifies for quarterly filing, are on the GST portal — check them there, not from an old list.
The month, step by step
- Every day: each sales bill carries the buyer's correct GSTIN, the right tax rate and the right state. Bills that need an e-invoice or an e-way bill get them before the goods leave (see below).
- After month-end: file GSTR-1 from your sales register.
- When GSTR-2B is ready: match it against your purchase register, bill by bill.
- Chase the gaps: call each supplier whose bill is missing or wrong.
- File GSTR-3B: claim only the credit that matched, and pay the rest in cash.
The portal also lets you accept, reject or hold the bills suppliers report against you before they settle into your 2B. Learn how it works on the GST portal; it is where a wrong supplier bill is stopped early.
At the counter: the 2B match
October's purchase register against October's GSTR-2B:
| Supplier bill | GST in our books | GST in 2B | What to do |
|---|---|---|---|
| Biscuit company #881 | ₹18,000 | ₹18,000 | Matched |
| Biscuit company #902 | ₹9,000 | ₹9,000 | Matched |
| Oil company #4410 | ₹5,400 | ₹5,400 | Matched |
| Soap supplier #77 | ₹3,600 | — | Missing: supplier did not report it. Call them. |
| Snacks supplier #310 | ₹2,700 | ₹2,070 | Mismatch: typing error. Ask for a correction. |
| Total | ₹38,700 | ₹34,470 |
Claim ₹34,470 this month. Hold ₹4,230 until the suppliers fix their returns. There is a time limit for claiming credit on an old bill, so do not let a held bill sit for months. Check the current limit on the GST portal.
E-invoice and e-way bill
E-invoice. Above a turnover limit, every bill to a registered buyer must be reported to the government's invoice portal before it is given to the buyer. The portal returns a reference number and a QR code that are printed on the bill. A bill that needed one and did not get one is not a valid bill, and the buyer cannot claim credit on it.
E-way bill. When goods above a value limit move by road, an e-way bill must be made before the vehicle leaves, with the vehicle number. If the van is checked on the road without one, the goods can be held and a penalty charged.
Both limits are set by the government and have changed before. Check the current ones on the GST portal.
Common mistake
Billing a registered retailer without his GSTIN. The bill goes into GSTR-1 as a sale to an unregistered buyer, so it never reaches Ravi Stores' 2B. He loses the credit, calls you angry, and you have to amend the return — which has its own time limit. One field left blank at the counter becomes a month of phone calls.
Where you'll use this
In Part 3, the company's scheme and claim credit notes appear in your 2B as well. Matching them is how you find a credit note the company promised but never issued.
Check yourself
- Whose GSTR-1 fills your GSTR-2B?
- A supplier's bill is in your books but not in your 2B. Should you claim the credit this month?
- When must an e-way bill be made — before or after the goods leave?
Answers
- Your suppliers'.
- No. Hold it, call the supplier, and claim it once it appears — within the time limit.
- Before the vehicle leaves.