Section 44 of GST – Annual return under GST Act 2017

(1) Every registered person, other than an Input Service Distributor, a person paying tax under section 51 or section 52, a casual taxable person and a non-resident taxable person, shall furnish an annual return for every financial year electronically in such form and manner as may be prescribed on or before the thirty-first day of December following the end of such financial year. 27[Provided that the Commissioner may, on the recommendations of the Council and for reasons to be recorded in writing, by notification, extend the time limit for furnishing the annual return for such class of registered persons as may be specified therein: Provided further that any extension of time limit notified by the Commissioner of State tax or the Commissioner of Union territory tax shall be deemed to be notified by the Commissioner] Explanation. – For the purposes of this section, it is hereby declared that the annual return for the period from the 1st July, 2017 to the 31st March, 2018 shall be furnished on or before the 28[31st January, 2020]. (2) Every registered person who is required to get his accounts audited in accordance with the provisions of sub-section (5) of section 35 shall furnish, electronically, the annual return under sub-section (1) along with a copy of the audited annual accounts and a reconciliation statement, reconciling the value of supplies declared in the return furnished for the financial year with the audited annual financial statement, and such other particulars as may be prescribed. Explanation. — For the purposes of this section, it is hereby declared that the annual return for the period from the 1st July, 2017 to the 31st March, 2018 shall be furnished on or before the 30th November 2019

Introduction

This section applies to all registered taxable person other than person registered as,

Input Service DistributorA person liable to deduct tax under Section 51 (TDS) – Provision suspended till 30.09.2018;A person liable to collect tax at source under Section 52 (TCS) – Provision suspended till 30.09.2018;A casual tax Taxable person; andNon-resident taxable person

Due date for filing Annual Return is on or before 31st December, following the end of the financial year to which the said Annual return is to be submitted.

Analysis

(a) Every taxable person (other than those covered in the exclusion list specified supra) is required to file an annual return in FORM GSTR-9; (b) Person paying tax under composition scheme in terms of section 10 of this Act will be required to furnish annual return in Form GSTR 9A; The said annual return is to be submitted electronically by persons specified in (a) and (b) supra, for every financial year on or before 31st day of December of the following the end of financial year, to which such annual return pertains to. The same has been extended for 30th Nov 2019 for the Financial year 2017-18; vide Order No. 7/2019-Central Tax dated 26th Aug 2019. Every person, whose aggregate turnover exceeds ` Two crores, who is required to get his accounts audited in terms of section 35(5) of this Act, shall in addition to annual return in 9, 9A as the case may be, furnish a copy of audited financial statements along with reconciliation statement in Form GSTR 9C, electronically. Vide Notification No. 74/2018 – Central Tax dated 31st Dec, 2018 format of FORM GSTR 9C is notified. Reference may be had to the handbook released by ICAI with regard to GST Audit. Further, Notification No. 47/2019 dated 9th October, 2019 made filing of annual return under section 44 (1) of CGST Act for F.Y. 2017-18 and 2018-19 optional for small taxpayers whose aggregate turnover is less than Rs 2 crores and who have not filed the said return before the due date. Applicability of 9C Recommended Articles –

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