PREPARATIONS FOR REPORTING UNDER GST
1. Introduction
As per the provisions of the GST laws, every registered person has to declare the details of outward supplies in Form GSTR-1. This statement has to be filed by the 10th of every month on GST portal for the supplies effected in the previous month.
For filing the returns under GST, we need to upload the details of the invoices on the GST portal. The functionality for uploading invoice details on the portal has been made available on the GST portal since 24th July 2017.
2. Invoices and other documents can be uploaded by any of the following methods:
a) If there are limited number of entries to be uploaded, the details could be directly entered on the GST portal. The process is as follows:
· Login to the GST portal using user ID and password
· Navigate to the ‘return dashboard’ page
· Click on the ‘prepare online’ tab available on GSTR-1 tile to prepare return online.
b) An Excel based offline tool is also provided at https://www.gst.gov.in/download/returns. This can be downloaded and installed on the computer to prepare the return in an offline mode using excel without connecting to internet.
c) Taxpayers may also use the services of the GST Suvidha Providers (GSP).
OFFLINE TOOL
3. Benefits and main features of offline tool are:
For facilitating the taxpayers in preparing and filing their monthly returns with maximum ease and minimal cost,GSTN has provided an excel template to perform easy data entry offline before uploading on the GST portal.
· The GSTR 1 Excel worksheet can be used to prepare data for GSTR 1 without connecting to Internet in offline mode
· Can fill in invoices data up to 19000 line items using excel utility in offline mode.
· Taxpayer can upload invoices in GSTR 1, more than once, at any time during the day/week/month, which can then be uploaded on GST portal on or before the 10th of subsequent month.
· Offline tool also performs certain computations and validation to minimize errors in Return preparation
· The invoices uploaded in Form GSTR-1 by supplier will be auto populated in Form GSTR-2A of the receiver and will be available for view to the receiver. This will help your buyer reconcile his purchases.
· There is a Help Section on GST Common Portal for any further assistance or click on the link https://www.gst.gov.in/help/helpmodules/.
4. System Requirement for efficient use of Offline tool:
To use the tool efficiently, it must be ensured that the following requirements to be installed in the system:
· Operating system: Windows 7 & above
· Browser: You need one of these browsers installed on your system.
o Internet Explorer version 10 and above. Else, User’s default browser will be used.
o Google Chrome 49+
o Firefox 45+
o Safari 6+
· Microsoft Excel 2007 & above
· Alternatively, for any below version the tool will open in a default browser.
· This tool does not work on Linux and Mac operating system
· Currently this tool is released for GSTR-1 form
5. Data can be uploaded/entered to the offline tool in four ways:
a) Importing the entire excel workbook to the java tool where data in all sections (worksheets) of the excel file will be imported in the tool in one go.
b) Line by line data entry by return preparer on the java offline tool.
c) Copy from the excel worksheets from the top row including the summary and header and pasting it in the designated box in the import screen of the java offline tool. Precaution: All the columns including headers should be in the same format and have the same header as of the java offline tool.
d) Section by section of a particular return – using a .CSV file as per the format given along with the java tool. Many accounting software packages generate .CSV file in the specified format and the same can be imported in the tool.
So please don't wait till the last date to upload invoices. You can upload daily or weekly at your convenience. There is a Help Section on GST Common Portal for any further assistance or click on the link https://www.gst.gov.in/help/helpmodules/
