A Complete Guide on GSTR-7 Return: Eligibility, Due Date & Late Fees

GSTR-7 is filed every month by the taxpayers who deduct TDS as per the GST regulations. The GSTR 7 return form includes the details of tax deducted at source, TDS liability that has been paid or is payable, TDS refund claimed (as per Section 54 of CGST Act, 2017), interest, late fees paid/payable.

GSTR-7: Meaning & Eligibility

The return form GSTR-7 contains details about the TDS deducted, TDS payable, etc. by the deductor in a tax period. The deductees can access these details in Form GSTR-2A (auto-populated) in the common portal. The TDS amount is deducted by the deductor when making a payment to the supplier or deductee. Further, the filing of GSTR-7 allows the deductee to claim the input credit and use the deducted TDS to pay the outstanding tax liability.

The following are the entities required to deduct TDS as per Section 51 of the CGST Act, 2017.

• A department or an establishment of the Central or the State government
• Government agencies
• Local authority
• Persons or category of persons as notified by the GST Council (notification 50/2018 – Central Tax dated September 13th, 2018)

1. An authority or a board or a body set up by the Parliament or a State Legislature or by any government, with 51% of equity owned by the government

2. A society established by the Central or State government or a Local authority registered under the Societies Registration Act, 1860

• Public sector undertakings

Details provided in GSTR 7

In total, GSTR-7 has eight headings that are detailed below with an explanation.

• GSTIN: Goods and Services Tax Identification Number (GSTIN) of the taxpayer who deducted TDS under GST gets automatically filled in GSTR-2A at the time of filing the return.
• Business Name: It contains the name of the registered person which also gets auto-populated after logging into the common portal. Further, if there’s a trade name of the taxpayer, it will also get auto-populated.
• Details of TDS: In this section, you will need to provide details about the TDS transaction, including GSTIN of the deductee, payment details, TDS amounts, etc. As per the information entered in this heading, the tax payable will be shown under three components (CGST, SGST, and IGST).
• Amendment to details of TDS deducted in any earlier tax period: If you need to make any changes to the details provided in the return of the previous tax period, it can be done by entering the original and revised details in this section. Some of the details provided in this section include original and revised details of the GSTIN of the deductee, the amount paid to the deductee on which TDS was deducted, and the amount deducted as TDS.
• Tax deducted at source and paid: Here, you will need to provide details regarding the central, state, and integrated tax deducted from the payment made to the deductee. Further, you also need to provide the central, state, and integrated tax paid to the government.
• Late fee, interest payable, and paid: If you are liable to pay any interest or late fees, the details regarding such fees payable or paid should be entered in this section.
• Refund claimed (As per Section 54 of the CGST Act, 2017) from electronic cash ledger: You need to provide details regarding the TDS refund in this heading. Additionally, you need to enter your bank account details in which you want the TDS refund to be credited.
• Debit entries in electronic cash ledger for the payment of TDS tax/interest, etc.

What is the due date for GSTR-7?

GSTR-7 should be filed within 10 days after the end of the month in which the TDS was deducted. For example, the due date for filing GSTR 7 for February 2019 would be March 10^th, 2019.

What is the penalty for the delayed filing of GSTR 7?

The late filing of GSTR-7 results in a late fee of ₹100 under CGST and ₹100 under SGST. Hence, a total of ₹200 per day is levied if the return is not filed on or before the due date. The maximum penalty is ₹5, 000 under CGST and ₹5, 000 under SGST (₹10, 000). Apart from the late fee, an interest of 18% per annum is also applicable from the next day of the due date of filing return to the day of making the actual payment.