Question: What is the source of FORM GSTR-2B?
The main source of FORM GSTR-2B is Rule 60(7) of Central Goods and Services Tax Rules, 2017 (CGST Rules) which specify that an auto-drafted statement containing the details of input tax credit shall be made available to the registered person in FORM GSTR-2B, for every month electronically through the common portal.
Section 38 of the Central Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017 (“CGST Act”) prescribes that –
(1) The details of outward supplies furnished by the registered persons under sub-section (1) of section 37 and of such other supplies as may be prescribed, and an auto-generated statement containing the details of input tax credit shall be made available electronically to the recipients of such supplies in such form and manner, within such time, and subject to such conditions and restrictions as may be prescribed.
(2) The auto-generated statement under sub-section (1) shall consist of––
(a) details of inward supplies in respect of which credit of input tax may be available to the recipient; and
(b) details of supplies in respect of which such credit cannot be availed, whether wholly or partly, by the recipient, on account of the details of the said supplies being furnished under sub-section (1) of section 37,––
(i) by any registered person within such period of taking registration as may be prescribed; or
(ii) by any registered person, who has defaulted in payment of tax and where such default has continued for such period as may be prescribed; or
(iii) by any registered person, the output tax payable by whom in accordance with the statement of outward supplies furnished by him under the said sub-section during such period, as may be prescribed, exceeds the output tax paid by him during the said period by such limit as may be prescribed; or
(iv) by any registered person who, during such period as may be prescribed, has availed credit of input tax of an amount that exceeds the credit that can be availed by him in accordance with clause (a), by such limit as may be prescribed; or
(v) by any registered person, who has defaulted in discharging his tax liability in accordance with the provisions of sub-section (12) of section 49 subject to such conditions and restrictions as may be prescribed; or
(vi) by such other class of persons as may be prescribed.
Question: What is FORM GSTR-2B?
FORM GSTR-2B is basically a statement (Auto-drafted Statement) which has been generated on the basis of the information furnished by your supplier in their respective FORM GSTR-1/IFF, GSTR-5 (non-resident taxable person) and GSTR-6 (input service distributor) and import data received from ICEGATE. It is a static statement and will be made available once a month. The statement will indicate availability of input tax credit (“ITC”) to the registered person against each document filed by his suppliers.
Question: When FORM GSTR-2B shall be available to the registered person?
Rule 60(8) of the CGST Rules specify that the statement in FORM GSTR-2B for every month shall be made available to the registered person-
(i) For the First and second month of the Quarter–
A day after the due date of furnishing of details of outward supplies for the said month, in the IFF by a registered person required to furnish return for every quarter under proviso to sub-section (1) of section 39,
or
In FORM GSTR-1 by a registered person, other than those required to furnish return for every quarter under proviso to sub-section (1) of section 39, whichever is later;
(ii) In the third of the quarter–
A day after the due date of furnishing of details of outward supplies for the said month, in FORM GSTR-1 by a registered person required to furnish a return for every quarter under proviso to sub-section (1) of section 39.
Due date of GSTR-1/IFF:–
Section 37(1) of the CGST Act state that every registered taxable person shall furnish electronically the details of outward supplies of goods or services or both effected, during a tax period on or before the 10th day of the month succeeding the said tax period. To file the details of outwards supplies of goods or services or both, FORM GSTR-1 has been prescribed under Rule 59(1) of the Central Goods and Services Tax Rules, 2017
PROVIDED that the commissioner may, for reasons to be recorded in writing by notification, extend the time limit for furnishing such details for such class of taxable persons as may be specified therein.
Please note that vide Notification No. 83/2020- Central Tax, dated 10.11.2020, w.e.f 01.01.2021, the Commissioner, on the recommendations of the Council, hereby extends the time limit for furnishing the details of outward supplies in FORM GSTR-1 of the CGST Rules, for each of the tax periods, till the eleventh day of the month succeeding such tax period.
Provided that the time limit for furnishing the derails of outward supplies in FORM GSTR-1 of the said rules for the class of registered persons required to furnish return for every quarter under proviso to sub-section (1) of section 39 of the said Act, shall be extended till the thirteenth day of the months succeeding such tax period.
Further, Rule 59(2) of the CGST Rules prescribes that the registered persons required to furnish return for every quarter under proviso to sub-section (1) of section 39 may furnish the details of such outward supplies of goods or services or both to a registered person, as he may consider necessary, for the first and second months of a quarter, up to a cumulative value of fifty lakh rupees in each of the months, – using invoice furnishing facility (hereafter in this notification referred to as the “IFF”) electronically on the common portal, duly authenticated in the manner prescribed under rule 26, from the 1st day of the month succeeding such month till the 13th day of the said month:
Please note that the GST Council, in its 42nd meeting held on 05.10.2020, had recommended that registered person having aggregate turnover up to five crore rupees may be permitted to furnish return on quarterly basis along with monthly payment of tax, with effect from 01.01.2021. Accordingly, the scheme was announced and registered persons having an aggregate turnover of up to 5 crore rupees in the preceding financial year were allowed to file quarterly FORM GSTR – 1.
Details of the scheme are explained here under:
a. For each of the first and second months of a quarter, such a registered person will have the facility (Invoice Furnishing Facility- IFF) to furnish the details of such outward supplies to a registered person, as he may consider necessary, between the 1st day of the succeeding month and the 13th day of the succeeding month.
b. The said details of outward supplies shall, however, not exceed the value of fifty lakh rupees in each month.
c. It may be noted that after 13th of the month, this facility for furnishing IFF for previous month would not be available.
d. As a facilitation measure, continuous upload of invoices would also be provided for the registered persons wherein they can save the invoices in IFF from the 1st day of the month till 13th – day of the succeeding month.
e. The facility of furnishing details of invoices in IFF has been provided so as to allow details of such supplies to be duly reflected in the Form GSTR-2A and Form GSTR-2B of the concerned recipient.
f. The facility of furnishing details of invoices in IFF is not mandatory and is only an optional facility made available to the registered persons under the QRMP Scheme.
g. The details of invoices furnished using the said facility in the first two months are not required to be furnished again in Form GSTR-1. Accordingly, the details of outward supplies made by such a registered person during a quarter shall consist of details of invoices furnished using IFF for each of the first two months and the details of invoices furnished in Form GSTR-1 for the quarter.
In nutshell, the due date to file FORM GSTR-1 for a given tax period is 10th day of the succeeding month and in case of IFF for the first and second months, is 13th day of the succeeding month.
It may be noted that process of FORM GSTR-2B generation starts after ending of FORM GSTR-1/IFF, GSTR-5 and GSTR-6 due date on 13th midnight and therefore FORM GSTR-2B can be made available to the taxpayer in the afternoon of 14th of the month. Further, GSTR-2B is a static statement and is made available for each month on the 14th day of the succeeding month. For example, for the month of January 2023, the statement was generated and made available to the registered person on 14th February 2023.
There may be instances where the date of filing of FORM GSTR-5 (Non-Resident taxable person) and FORM GSTR-6 (Input Service Distributor) may be later than the date of generation of FORM GSTR-2B. Under such circumstances, taxpayers are advised to avail input tax credit on self-assessment basis. However, when such document gets filed and reflected in their next FORM GSTR-2B, taxpayers shall not avail such input tax credit. (See Advisory)
Question: Which information shall consist in FORM GSTR-2B?
Rule 60(7) of the CGST Rules specify that the statement in FORM GSTR-2B for every month shall consist of-
(i) The details of outward supplies furnished by his supplier, other than a supplier required to furnish return for every quarter under proviso to sub-section (1) of section 39, in FORM GSTR-1, between the day immediately after the due date of furnishing of FORM GSTR-1 for the previous month to the due date of furnishing of FORM GSTR-1 for the month.
For example, FORM GSTR-2B generated for the month of January, 2023 will contain the details of all the documents filed by suppliers in their FORM GSTR-1 from 00:00 hours on 12th January, 2023 to 23:59 hours on 11th February, 2023.
(ii) The details of invoices furnished by a non-resident taxable person in FORM GSTR-5 and details of invoices furnished by an Input Service Distributors in his return in FORM GSTR-6 and details of outward supplies furnished by his supplier, required to furnish return for every quarter under proviso to sub-section (1) of section 39, in FORM GSTR-1 or using the IFF, as the case may be,-
(a) For the first months of the quarter, between the day immediately after the due date of furnishing of FORM GSTR-1 for the preceding quarter to the due date of furnishing details using the IFF for the first month of the quarter;
(b) For the second month of the quarter, between the day immediately after the due date of furnishing details using the IFF the first month of the quarter to the due date of furnishing details using the IFF for the second month of the quarter;
(c) For the third month of the quarter, between the day immediately after the due date of furnishing of details using the IFF for the second month of the quarter to the due date of furnishing of FORM GSTR-1 for the quarter.
For example, FORM GSTR-2B generated for the month of January, 2023 will contain the details of all the documents filed by suppliers in their quarterly GSTR-1/IFF, GSTR-5 and GSTR-6 from 00:00 hours on 14th January, 2023 to 23:59 hours on 13th February 2023.
(iii) The details of the integrated tax paid on the import of goods or goods brought in the domestic Tariff Area from Special Economic Zone unit or a Special Economic Zone developer on bill of entry in the month.
Further, it is to be noted that the documents furnished by the supplier in any FORM GSTR-1/IFF, GSTR-5 and GSTR-6 would reflect in the next open FORM GSTR-2B of the recipient irrespective of the date of issuance of the concerned document. For example, if a supplier furnishes a document INV-1 dt. 15.05.2022 in the FORM GSTR-1 for the month of July, 2022 filed on 11th August 2022, the details of INV-1, dt. 15.05.2022 will get reflected in GSTR-2B of July 2022 (generated on 12th August 2022) and not in the GSTR-2B of May, 2022.
Question: Whether FORM GSTR-2B can be downloaded?
Yes- Details of all the documents in FORM GSTR-2B is made available online as well as through download facility. For the same visit the official website of the GST and log in the GST portal. Navigate to ‘Services’ and then click on the “Returns Dashboard” option under the “Returns” tab. Then choose the appropriate tax period and download the statement.
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