CA.KR. Ramankutty, FCA*
Introductory
1. GSTR-9, the Annual return to be filed, prescribed under section Section 44 of the CGST Act 2017 read with Rule 80 of the CGST Rules, 2017 lacked clarity from the very inception and clarifications were issued by issue press releases dated , 4th June 2019 and press release dated 9th October 2020. Though, it was clarified that previous year data was to be excluded from tables 4,5,6 and 7 of GSTR9 vide press release dated 9th October 2020 , the GSTR 9 form was not modified to exclude the previous year ITC and reclaimed ITC getting auto populated to table 6A of GSTR-9 and table 8B. The required changes were made in GSTR-9 for the year 2024-25 vide notification 13/2025 dated 17th September, 2025 . Insertion of table 6A1 , substitution of table 8B are welcome changes which eliminates reporting excess ITC availed in table 8D, substitution of table 9 has resulted in misleading results getting auto populated at table 9(2—8) where the tax paid includes tax paid for the year 2023-24 also. The adverse effect of substitution of table 9 and the possible solutions till a clarification is issued by CBIC are discussed in the paragraphs below.
The substituted Table 9
The substituted table 9 is stated below.
Pt. IV |
Details of tax paid as declared in returns filed during the financial year |
||||||||
509 |
Description |
Tax Payable |
Paid through cash |
Paid through ITC |
Total Tax Paid |
Difference between Tax payable and paid |
|||
Central Tax |
State Tax / UT Tax |
Integrated Tax |
Cess |
||||||
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
6 |
7 |
8 =3 to 7 |
2-8 |
|
Integrated Tax |
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Central Tax |
|||||||||
State/UT Tax |
|||||||||
Cess |
|||||||||
Interest |
|||||||||
Late fee |
|||||||||
Penalty |
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Other |
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2. Tax payable is to be reported at column No2 which is editable and tax paid during the year up to March 2025 through GSTR-3B is auto populated at table 3-7 which is not editable. The tax paid reported can include tax paid for the year 2023-24 also which was paid during the period 2024-25 up to the specified period. Instruction for filing GSTR-9 or FAQ is silent on how GST liability is to be computed for reporting at column number 2 in table 9. Being annual return, the tax payable must report the entire tax liability for the year whether it was fully reported in GSTR-1/3B or not and report short/excess payment at column no 9 (2-8).
Short/excess payment for the year not getting reported at column no 9
3. The point to note is that the “Difference between Tax payable and paid” at column no 9 will give misleading result , if the total tax paid at column 8 includes tax paid for the previous financial year . Few examples are stated below .
i. Total GST payable for 2024-25 as per financials is ,say, Rs 100 and the total tax paid auto-populated at table 8 is also Rs100 which includes Rs20 tax paid for the previous year 2023-24 , zero will be auto-populated at column no 9 whereas the actual short paid tax for the year would be Rs 20 payable (100 at column 2 less tax paid 100 at column 8 less tax paid for the previous year 2023-24, Rs20) which will not be reported at column no 9 .
ii. In the same example , If tax paid is 110 which included Rs.20 of previous year, the short payment would be Rs10 but column no 9 will report Rs10 excess payment (100 payable -110 paid =10 excess paid ).
As the tax paid columns are not editable , column no 9 will not report correct amount of short/excess paid tax .
Solution for correct reporting of GST liability in column 2 and Net liability at column no 9
4. It is suggested that:
i. CBIC may issue a clarification at the earliest for correct reporting of short/excess payment and tax paid columns are to be made editable to exclude the previous year tax paid if any .
ii. The taxpayer may upload a reconciliation statement as an additional document with GSTR-9C explaining the GST liability for the year 2024-25 and the payment thereof with evidence.
OR
iii. Tax payer may report at column no 2 , previous year tax paid also in the tax payable column so that column no 9 will auto populate the actual short/excess payment. In the example (i) above at paragraph 3 , if tax payable is taken as 100+20=120 tax paid being 100, Rs20 will be auto-populated at table 90. This view also can be taken because current year details are to be reported only at table 4, 5, 6 and 7, But the tax payable amount will not match with 4N / output liability register for the year.
5. As table 9 is reporting an incorrect amount tax short/excess paid , the author is of the view that reconciliation of tax payable for the year as per the financials and the actual tax paid till upload of GSTR-9has to be prepared and same uploaded with GSTR9C, till a clarification is issued by CBIC on the issue .
6. But with regard to the category of taxpayers not liable to upload GSTR-9C no solution as of now , except a legitimate expectation that CBIC would come out with a solution including editable tax paid columns to do justice to law abiding honest taxpayers.
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*Author is a practising CA in Indirect Taxes, based in Kochi, Kerala.
