Taxpayer’s guide on preparing GST returns through offline tools

GST OFFLINE TOOLS

1. Taxpayer’s guide on preparing returns through offline tools

Entering details in the worksheet of GST Offline Tool

Ans.  Download the latest version of GST Form Offline Tool from the GST portal https://www.gst.gov.in/download/returns

♦ Launch the GST form Excel based Offline Tool and navigate to worksheet Home.

♦ Enter details in each field of the worksheets.

♦ Once all details are entered, click the Validate Sheet button to validate the worksheet.

♦ In case of successful validation:

– The Sheet Validation error (s) column shows no errors

♦ In case of unsuccessful validation:

–  A pop-up message is displayed that Errors are shown with red colored cells. Click the OK Button.

-Check for Sheet Validation Error(s) column that have failed validation and correct errors with red colored cells.

-To view the comments for fields with errors, you can click the Review tab > Show All Comments link.

♦ Once all errors are rectified, click the Validate Sheet button to validate the worksheet.

♦ The Sheet validation error (s) column is blank, in case of no error on the workbook.

Q. How to prepare GST returns through offline tools?

Ans. To prepare the GST Return through offline tool, you need to perform the following steps:

1. Enter details in the worksheet of GST Form Offline Tool after downloading the latest version of Offline Tool from GST portal.

2, Generate JSON file using ‘Generate File to Upload’ button and save JSON file on your system.

3. Upload the generated JSON on GST Portal. Preview the details uploaded, submit, sign and File return on the GST portal.

2. Taxpayer’s guide on Generating JSON file using ‘Generate JSON File to upload’ button,

· Upon successful validation, navigate to worksheet Home. You can also click the Go Home button to navigate to worksheet ‘Home’

· Click the Get Summary button to update the summary on Home tab.

· Summary is displayed for all the sections.

– Summary is generated based on the data entered in various worksheets.

POS wise summary is also displayed at the bottom.

· Click the Generate JSON File to Upload button to generate JSON for upload on GST Portal.

· A message is displayed that processing may take some time. Click the OK button.

· A confirmation message is displayed that export of JSON file has completed. Click the OK button.

– JSON would be generated only if the worksheet has been successfully validated.

· The JSON file is created

3. Taxpayer’s guide on Uploading the generated JSON on GST Portal

♣ Access the https://gst.gov.in  The GST Home page is displayed.

♣ Click the Services > Returns > Returns Dashboard command after log in.

♣ The Returns Dashboard page is displayed.

♣ Select the Financial Year and Return Filing Period from the drop down list.

♣ Click the SEARCH

♣ Click ‘PREPARE OFFLINE’.

♣ The Offline Upload and Download for GSTR page is displayed. Click the Choose File button.

♣ Browse & navigate the JSON file to be uploaded from your computer. Click the Open button.

♣ The uploaded JSON file would be validated and processed. Upon successful validation and processing the details entered would oe populated as a summary.

– In case of validation failure upon processing; errors, if any, would be shown on the GST Portal.

Please note it is possible to upload JSON multiple times on GST portal till submission. However, if some invoice exists from previous upload irrespective of their items, it will be updated with latest uploaded details. All new invoices will be added as new entry.

♣ Post successful upload of data on GST Portal, you can preview the form and file GST Return.

4. Opening Downloaded File for GST Returns Form filed through offline tools

• To Open the Downloaded file for GST Returns, click “Open Downloaded GSTR JSON File” on Home tab.
• Browse the JSON(.json) file and click the OK button.
• Select the downloaded JSON (.json) file and click on OK to proceed. Once successfully imported, you will get the message “Downloaded GSTR file successfully imported”.
• Now the sections for which you entered details of invoices/taxes to upload in GST portal will be populated with data automatically.
• Modify the invoice details as per requirement.
• After making the modifications, click the Validate Sheet button to validate the sheets.
• After each section is successfully validated, click the Get Summary button to update the summary on Home tab.
• Summary is displayed for all the sections.
• Click on ‘Generate JSON File to upload’ to generate JSON(.json) file for upload of GST return details prepared offline on GST portal.
• Follow steps mentioned in Upload the generated JSON on GST Portal section

(We will update article Further)