GSTR-2B is a new static month-wise auto-drafted statement for regular taxpayers (whether or not opted into the QRMP scheme) introduced on the GST portal. The statement was launched from the August 2020 tax period onwards.
Latest Updates on GSTR-2B
1st February 2022
Budget 2022 updates-
1. ITC cannot be claimed if it is restricted in GSTR-2B available under Section 38.
2. Time limit to claim ITC on invoices or debit notes of a financial year is revised to earlier of two dates. Firstly, 30th November of the following year or secondly, the date of filing annual returns.
3. Section 38 is completely revamped as ‘Communication of details of inward supplies and input tax credit’ in line with the Form GSTR-2B. It lays down the manner, time, conditions and restrictions for ITC claims and has removed the two-way communication process in GST return filing on the suspended return in Form GSTR-2. It also states that taxpayers will be provided information of eligible and ineligible ITC for claims.
4. Section 41 is also revamped to remove the references to provisional ITC claims and prescribes self-assessed ITC claims with conditions.
5. Sections 42, 43 and 43A on provisional ITC claim process, matching and reversal are eliminated.
6. Section 50 stands amended for levying interest on excess ITC claims and utilisation, together with the manner of interest computation.
29th December 2021
CGST Rule 36(4) is amended to remove 5% additional ITC over and above ITC appearing in GSTR-2B. From 1st January 2022, businesses can avail ITC only if it is reported by supplier in GSTR-1/ IFF and it appears in their GSTR-2B.
21st December 2021
From 1st January 2022, ITC claims will be allowed only if it appears in GSTR-2B. So, the taxpayers can no longer claim 5% provisional ITC under the CGST Rule 36(4) and ensure every ITC value claimed was reflected in GSTR-2B.
GSTR-2B provides eligible and ineligible Input Tax Credit (ITC) for each month, similar to GSTR-2A but remains constant or unchanged for a period. In other words, whenever a GSTR-2B for a month is accessed on the GST portal, the data in it remains the same without being changed for subsequent changes by their suppliers in later months.
GSTR-2B is available to all normal, SEZ and casual taxpayers. Every recipient can generate it on the basis of the GSTR-1, GSTR-5 and GSTR-6 furnished by their suppliers.
The statement will clearly show document-wise details of ITC eligibility. ITC information will be covered from the filing date of GSTR-1 for the preceding month (M-1) up to the filing date of GSTR-1 for the current month (M).
For instance, GSTR-2B generated for July 2020 will contain documents filed by their suppliers from 12 a.m. on 12th July 2020 up to 11:59 p.m. on 11th August 2020. The statement for July 2020 will be generated on 12th August 2020.
The data in GSTR-2B is reported in a manner that allows taxpayers to conveniently reconcile ITC with their own books of accounts and records. It will help them in easier identification of documents to ensure the following:
GSTR-2B has been made available from August 2020 onwards. Until January 2021, it could be generated by recipient taxpayers once a month on the 12th of the month next to the tax period.
For instance, GSTR 2B for August 2020 can be accessed on 12th September 2020.
From January 2021 onwards, taxpayers can generate the GSTR-2B on or after the 14th of every month for a tax period.
For instance, GSTR 2B for October 2021 can be accessed on 14th November 2021.
The timelines for the generation of GSTR-2B can be checked out on the government portal under the ‘View Advisory’ tab.
The following are the steps to access GSTR 2B, available from 12th August 2020:
Step 1: Log in to the GST portal. A taxpayer must use his/her credentials to log in.
Step 2: Navigate to the ‘Returns Dashboard’.
Step 3: Select the relevant tax period. Select the month and financial year.
Step 4: On the ‘GSTR-2B’ tile, you may either click on ‘View’ or ‘Download’, as per the need.
(a) Intend to download:
If the total number of documents in all tables of GSTR-2B exceeds 1,000, you can either use the advanced search option or download the document information in excel/JSON format from the GSTR-2B download page. Click the download button to go to the GSTR-2B download page.
(b) Intend to view:
If the number of line items is less than 1,000, then you may use the ‘View’ option.
Step 5: Take suitable action on the GSTR-2B based on the option chosen in Step 4.
(a) Intend to download:
If you plan to download, click on the button known as “Generate Json File To Download” to check out the statement on Offline Matching Tool. Alternatively, click on the “Generate Excel file to download” button to obtain the data in the excel file on your system.
(b) Intend to view:
GSTR-2B screen appears and has two tabs called Summary And All Tables.
The Summary tab is further classified into two parts:
ITC summary value of credits available as on its generation date and is divided into credit that can be availed and credit that must be reversed (Table 3)
ITC summary value of credits not available and is classified into ITC unavailable and ITC reversal (Table 4)
You can fetch the documents by clicking on the hyperlinked text of B2B – Invoices, B2B – Debit notes, B2B – Invoices (Amendment) and B2B – Debit notes (Amendment).
The All Tables tab will have the ITC information that can be sorted as per the tables of the GSTR-2B form such as B2B, B2BA, B2B CDNR, B2B CDNRA, ISD, ISDA, IMPG and IMPGSEZ.
Further, ITC appears document-wise (document details) with filters to sort data as per your need. Further, you can filter data supplier-wise as well.
Note: For Import of goods from overseas on the bill of entry – IMPG table, only document details are available and no supplier wise details are available.
The input tax credit on purchases from any regular taxpayers and non-resident taxable persons will be available in GSTR-2B. Further, the input tax credit distributed by the input service distributor shall also be available.
The contents of GSTR-2B can be summarised as follows:
The form GSTR-2B is classified into two categories:
Note: Amendment tables in GSTR-2B give only the differential tax amount (Amended – Original), also referred to as the delta value. But the document details will display revised details with reference to the original document.
The input tax credit will be marked as ‘not available’ in the following scenarios:
The notable features of GSTR-2B are as follows:
Here’s a glimpse of a downloaded GSTR 2B:
To get the detailed template of GSTR-2B, click on ‘Download Now’.
GSTR-2A and GSTR 2B can be compared as follows:
Parameters for Comparison | GSTR-2A | GSTR-2B |
Type of statement | A progressive auto-drafted statement that provides input tax credit (ITC) details to every recipient of supplies, based on the suppliers’ data. | A constant auto-drafted statement that provides input tax credit (ITC) details to every recipient of supplies, based on the suppliers’ data. |
Nature of the statement | Dynamic, as it changes from day to day, as and when a supplier uploads the documents. | Static, as the GSTR-2B for one month, cannot change based on future actions of the supplier. |
Frequency of availability | Monthly | Monthly |
Source of information | GSTR-1 or IFF*, GSTR-5, GSTR-6, GSTR-7, GSTR-8, ICES | GSTR-1 or IFF*, GSTR-5, GSTR-6, ICES |
GSTN advisory on ITC claims | Does not contain information/advisory on the action a taxpayer is supposed to take | Contains an advisory against each section on whether the ITC is eligible, ineligible or reversible, for the taxpayer to take action accordingly in his GSTR-3B |
When will ITC entries get reflected from various sources? | GSTR-1: Saved/filed/submitted GSTR-6: Submitted GSTR-7 and GSTR-8: Filed | GSTR-1, GSTR-5, or GSTR-6: Filed |
Cut-off date for entries, to view the statement for a tax period | Not applicable, as it’s a dynamic statement | 11th/13th of the succeeding month (depending on the type of return) The statement will be generated on the 14th of the succeeding month |
Maximum ITC entries viewable on GST portal without excel download | 500 rows | 1,000 rows |
**An Invoice Furnishing Facility (IFF) has been introduced for quarterly GSTR-1 filers to upload their supply invoices so that the recipient of supplies can continuously avail input tax credit.
It is recommended that taxpayers reconcile the data provided in GSTR-2B with their own records and books of accounts. Taxpayers must make certain that
Matching GSTR-2B with purchase books is more important than matching with the GSTR-3B. It is because, from late 2020 onwards, GSTR-3B is being auto-populated with the values from GSTR-1 and GSTR-2B forms for the corresponding tax period. Hence, there are lesser chances for any mismatches.
Once the values are taken from GSTR-2B, the values from GSTR-2A need not be taken. The GST portal provides an option for taxpayers to match their purchase register with the GSTR-2B form known as the Offline Matching Tool. It is critical that you add data and import it into the tool in the same format as given on the GST portal. Otherwise, the tool will produce an error, and you will be unable to continue matching GSTR-2B records with the purchase register.
Matching of entries between the two data must be based on the following parameters:
Further, the matching may result in documents missing in either of the data. If there are invoices or debit notes missing in GSTR-2B when compared to the purchase register, the taxpayer must inform his suppliers about the same and get the document uploaded in the next GSTR-1 return they are filing. The reconciliation between GSTR-2B and the purchase register must be carried out more frequently and suitably from the 14th of the month subsequent to the tax period.
A few of the reasons for mismatches between GSTR-2B and purchase books can be as follows:
Clear GST, a cloud-based software, provides an advanced reconciliation tool to quickly compare GSTR 2B with the purchase data, including the bill of entry.
Clear GST (formerly, ClearTax GST) offerings for reconciliation of purchase data with GSTR-2B and much more are as follows:
1.Why is there a difference between GSTR-2A and 2B?
Yes. The GSTR-2A is a dynamic statement that gets updated whenever a taxpayer’s suppliers file their GST return of outward supplies.
On the other hand, the GSTR-2B is a static statement containing details of input tax credit only for a particular return period. This helps taxpayers with identifying the exact input tax credit for the said return period. Further, the GSTR-2B contains section-wise advisories indicating what actions taxpayers need to take in their GSTR-3B.
2. Should taxpayers refer the GSTR-2A or GSTR-2B for their input tax credit claims?
For GSTR-3B preparation from August 2020 onwards, taxpayers must refer to the GSTR-2B which is a static version of the GSTR-2A.
3. How to compare the PR Vs 2B?
To match your purchase register and GSTR-2B in less than a minute, try India’s fastest and most advanced 2B matching tool here.
You may also use the offline tool available for download on the GST portal.