Comparing GSTR-3B with GSTR-1 is a much-needed process to be undertaken by every taxpayer in order to ensure that there are no variations or gaps, which could, in turn, lead to a demand notice from the tax authorities or unwanted issues that may arise and hinder the accurate filing of the annual returns.
This article covers the following:
Updates as on 22nd December 2020
1. Rule 21 Amended: If the outward supplies reported in Form GSTR-1 are in excess of the outward supplies reported in the GSTR-3B for the said tax period, the GSTIN can be cancelled.
2. Rule 21A(2A) Inserted: If there are significant differences in outward supplies between GSTR-3B & 1, or inward supplies between GSTR-3B & 2B, in contravention of Act/Rules, the said taxpayer’s GSTIN could be suspended
3. Rule 59(5) Inserted: The GSTR-1 for the current tax period cannot be filed or the IFF cannot be used if:
a) The GSTR-3B was not filed for the preceding two months in case of monthly GSTR-1 filers
b) GSTR-3B was not filed for the preceding tax period in case of quarterly GSTR-1 filers, or in cases where Rule 86B is violated
4. Rule 138E Amended: Now, e-way bills cannot be generated if the GST registration has been suspended on account of the taxpayer’s GSTIN liable for cancellation under sub-rule (2) of Rule 21A or on account of significant differences/ anomalies between the GSTR-3B & 1/2B
Update as on 15th October 2020
The CBIC has notified the due dates for furnishing GSTR-1 from October 2020 to March 2021
For businesses with turnover | Month/Quarter | Due Date |
More than Rs.1.5 crore | October | 11th November 2020 |
November | 11th December 2020 | |
December | 11th January 2020 | |
January | 11th February 2020 | |
February | 11th March 2020 | |
March | 11th April 2020 | |
Turnover up to Rs.1.5 crore | Oct-Dec 2020 | 13th January 2021 |
Jan-Mar 2021 | 13th April 2021 |
GSTR – 3B is a monthly summary return filed by a taxpayer by the 20th of the next month. GSTR-3B discloses supplies made during the month along with GST to be paid, input tax credit claimed, purchases on which reverse charge is applicable, etc., and also makes a provision for the payment of taxes, if any, for the relevant month.
GSTR – 1 is a monthly or quarterly return filed by taxpayers to disclose details of their outward supplies for the month – along with their tax liability. Here, invoice-wise details are to be uploaded so that the Government can keep a check on every transaction.; this forms the basis for the recipient of supplies to accept the same and take the eligible input tax credit.
It is important to reconcile form GSTR – 3B and Form GSTR – 1 on account of the following reasons:
Reconciliation at the time of filing of Annual return:
At the time of filing an Annual return in Form GSTR – 9, a reconciliation of outward supplies is a must to ensure that the details disclosed match the details disclosed in GSTR-1 and GSTR-3B, across all months. Details of tax paid during the year need to be mentioned as well and this must tally with the total taxes disclosed and paid in GSTR-3B. Therefore, it is important that GSTR-1 and GSTR-3B match as the return-filing system is integrated and a mismatch between the same could result in improper disclosure in the annual return.
The details disclosed in Form GSTR – 3B and GSTR – 1 may not reconcile on account of the following reasons:
Due to the reasons mentioned above, the Government noticed a difference for the year 2017-18 running into tens of thousands of crores; this has resulted in notices being sent to taxpayers asking for an explanation for these differences.
After considering the situations mentioned above, if any discrepancies are found in Form GSTR – 1 and GSTR -3B across months leading to any shortage of tax paid by the supplier, the same must be paid along with interest. It is, therefore, necessary to conduct this reconciliation for every filing period to ensure that both the returns match, which wouldn’t give rise to any interest that may become payable at a later date.
ClearTax GST offers easy imports and downloads of GST data for preparation of GST returns.
It provides various options for a user to ingest data to prepare the GSTR-1, GSTR-3B or GSTR-4 in under minutes. Options like excel ingestion or direct integration with ERP are available for importing sales or purchase data into ClearTax GST software.
A user has to import the sales data for GSTR-1 just once. Based on this, the software auto-populates the details into GSTR-3B in a click of a button. Thus, one can avoid errors and ensure 100% accuracy in reporting of data with minimal manual intervention.
Cleartax GST also provides useful insights under the Health Check Report Tool, so you can now speed through the journey of GST compliance in a hassle-free way!
One such report that helps you compare GSTR-1 with GSTR-3B is the ‘GSTR-3B vs GSTR-1 Comparison Report’. The comparison report can be obtained for any time period. Even if the user has not filed the return on the Cleartax GST software in the past, the report section will allow the user to download this data from the GST Portal, and compare the same.
This report will help the user compare the supplies reported in GSTR-1 along with the data reported in GSTR-3B, before filing GSTR-3B thus avoiding any evident errors.
Further, you can compare the data month-wise or for every financial year. You can also compare data at a GSTIN level or cumulatively at a PAN level.
-Login to the Cleartax GST Account. Go to the ‘Reports’ section, click on view ‘Health Check Report’, click ‘Generate Report’.
Enter GSTN credentials and get the detailed GSTR-3B v/s GSTR-1 Report in Excel format.
– You can alternatively download the ‘GSTR-3B vs GSTR-1 Tax Comparison Report’ to get the graphical comparison of data at a glance. You can easily identify and reconcile mismatches using this report.
If GSTR-1 and GSTR-3B are both filed using Cleartax’s GST software, then the report is automatically displayed. However, if the Cleartax software hasn’t been used before, then click on the button “Refresh data from GSTN” appearing on the right-hand side of the report section. The yearly data from the GSTN will be fetched after verification via OTP-based login credentials.
You can also download the report in excel format by clicking on “Download report in excel” to use and share the report in excel form.
The Health Check Report also gives you the following results-
Try out the GST health check tool and check your GSTIN’s health now!