GST Returns and Due Dates

Two returns carry almost all the work. GSTR-1 reports what you sold and is due on the 11th of the following month. GSTR-3B carries the tax payment and is due on the 20th.

The common misreading is treating GSTR-1 as optional when there is no tax to pay. It is not optional, and it is the return that decides whether your customer gets their input tax credit. Miss it and you damage them, not just yourself.

Which GST return do you file, and when?

Form	Who files it	Frequency	Due date	Rule or section
GSTR-1	Normal taxpayers	Monthly	11th of the following month	Section 37, rule 59
GSTR-1 (quarterly)	QRMP taxpayers	Quarterly	13th of the month after the quarter	Section 37, rule 59
Invoice Furnishing Facility	QRMP taxpayers, optional	First two months of a quarter	Up to ₹50,00,000 of value each month	Rule 59(2)
GSTR-3B	Normal taxpayers	Monthly	20th of the following month	Rule 61(1)(i)
GSTR-3B (quarterly)	QRMP taxpayers	Quarterly	22nd or 24th, depending on your state	Rule 61(1)(ii)
GST PMT-06	QRMP taxpayers	First two months of a quarter	25th of the following month	Rule 61(3)
GST CMP-08	Composition taxpayers	Quarterly	18th of the month after the quarter	Rule 62(1)(i)
GSTR-4	Composition taxpayers	Annual	30 June following the financial year	Rule 62, proviso
GSTR-5	Non-resident taxable persons	Monthly	As prescribed for the form	Section 39(5)
GSTR-5A	OIDAR service providers outside India	Monthly	As prescribed for the form	Section 39
GSTR-6	Input service distributors	Monthly	As prescribed for the form	Section 39(4)
GSTR-7	Persons deducting tax at source	Monthly	As prescribed for the form	Section 39(3)
GSTR-8	E-commerce operators collecting tax	Monthly	As prescribed for the form	Section 52
GSTR-9	Normal taxpayers	Annual	31 December following the financial year	Section 44, rule 80(1)
GSTR-9C	Turnover above ₹5,00,00,000	Annual	31 December, with GSTR-9	Rule 80(3)

Is your quarterly GSTR-3B due on the 22nd or the 24th?

It depends on where your principal place of business is. Rule 61 splits the country into two groups.

Due date	States and union territories
22nd of the month after the quarter	Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Goa, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Daman and Diu, Dadra and Nagar Haveli, Puducherry, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Lakshadweep
24th of the month after the quarter	Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, Uttarakhand, Haryana, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Sikkim, Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram, Tripura, Meghalaya, Assam, West Bengal, Jharkhand, Odisha, Jammu and Kashmir, Ladakh, Chandigarh, Delhi

Note the trap in the QRMP scheme. The return is quarterly, but the tax is not. You still deposit tax in GST PMT-06 by the 25th for each of the first two months of the quarter.

What happens if you file late?

Section 47 sets a late fee of ₹100 a day under the CGST Act, up to ₹5,000. State GST law mirrors it, so the practical figure is double that.

The annual return is treated differently. The late fee there is ₹100 a day, capped at a quarter of one per cent of your turnover in the state or union territory.

Interest on unpaid tax runs separately from the late fee. The two are not alternatives.

Can you file an old return you missed?

Not indefinitely. A registered person cannot furnish the annual return for a financial year after three years from its due date. Section 44(2) says so plainly.

The government can relax that by notification for a class of taxpayers, but you should not plan around a relaxation that may never come.

The practical rule is simple. A return more than three years overdue may be permanently closed to you, along with any credit that depended on it.

How do you keep this manageable?

Reconcile monthly, not annually. Your purchase register against GSTR-2B, every month, is what protects your input tax credit.

Let the books generate the return rather than the other way round. Our page on accounting software covers what to look for. If you are not yet registered, start with GST registration.

To check what a given rate does to an invoice, use our GST calculator. If you also deduct tax on payments, our TDS rates chart covers the other half of your monthly compliance.

Common questions

What is the due date for GSTR-1 and GSTR-3B?

For monthly filers, GSTR-1 is due on the 11th of the succeeding month and GSTR-3B on the 20th. Quarterly filers under QRMP file GSTR-1 by the 13th of the month after the quarter, and GSTR-3B by the 22nd or 24th depending on the state where their principal place of business is.

Who has to file GSTR-9C?

Rule 80(3) requires a self-certified reconciliation statement in GSTR-9C from every registered person whose aggregate turnover in the financial year exceeds ₹5,00,00,000. It is filed along with the annual return in GSTR-9, on or before 31 December following the end of that financial year.

What is the late fee for filing GST returns late?

Section 47 provides ₹100 a day under the CGST Act, subject to a maximum of ₹5,000. State GST law imposes a matching amount, so the effective fee is twice the CGST figure. For the annual return the cap is a quarter of one per cent of your turnover in that state or union territory.

Can I still file a GST return from three years ago?

Probably not. Section 44(2) bars furnishing an annual return more than three years after its due date. The government retains a power to allow it by notification, but that is a concession, not a right. Treat the three-year mark as a hard deadline.

Do I have to file GST returns if I had no sales?

Yes. A nil return is still a return. Skipping it attracts the late fee under section 47 and can block your next filing, because returns must generally be filed in order. Nil filing is quick and can be done by SMS for eligible taxpayers.

Sources

Where the table says the due date is as prescribed for the form, we could not verify a current statutory date from a primary source and have not guessed one. Check the GST portal for those forms before filing.