✓
Regular GST-registered taxpayers
Normal taxpayers, SEZ units and SEZ developers file GSTR-9 for every financial year in which they held an active GSTIN.
GST
GSTR-9 Annual Return Filing
Professional GSTR-9 filing for Indian businesses. We reconcile your books against the year's GST returns, review your input tax credit, prepare the annual return table by table and file it on the GST portal — with a draft for your confirmation before anything is submitted.
Annual · due 31 DecExpert-handled
Overview
What is GSTR-9?
GSTR-9 is the GST annual return. It brings one financial year of GST data into a single statement — outward and inward supplies, input tax credit availed and reversed, and tax paid — filed under section 44 of the CGST Act once every GSTR-1 and GSTR-3B for that year has been filed.
The annual return does not generate new figures. It consolidates what you already declared each month or quarter and sets it against your books, which is why it is the point at which a year of small mismatches becomes visible. That makes GSTR-9 as much a reconciliation exercise as a filing one: the form is straightforward, arriving at numbers you can stand behind is the work.
Because the annual return is filed per GSTIN, a business registered in several states prepares a separate GSTR-9 for each registration — while the turnover thresholds that decide applicability are computed across the PAN as a whole.
Applicability
Who needs to file GSTR-9?
Every regular GST-registered taxpayer files GSTR-9 for a financial year, unless a notified turnover exemption or an excluded registration type applies.
GSTR-9 applicability
✓
Moved off composition mid-year
If you switched from the composition scheme to regular registration during the year, GSTR-9 covers the regular-registration period.
✦
Turnover up to ₹2 crore
Exempt from filing the annual return from FY 2024-25 onwards (Notification 15/2025-Central Tax). Voluntary filing is still allowed.
Who is exempt from GSTR-9?
These registration types are not required to file the annual return at all:
- Composition taxpayers — they file the GSTR-4 annual return instead (Form GSTR-9A has not applied since FY 2019-20)
- Casual taxable persons
- Non-resident taxable persons
- Input Service Distributors (ISD)
- Persons deducting TDS under section 51, and e-commerce operators collecting TCS under section 52
- OIDAR service providers
Is GSTR-9 mandatory?
For a regular taxpayer, yes — unless the turnover exemption applies. Under Notification 15/2025-Central Tax dated 17 September 2025, issued under the first proviso to section 44(1), registered persons whose aggregate turnover in a financial year is up to ₹2 crore are exempt from filing the annual return, from FY 2024-25 onwards.
Turnover thresholds under GST are set by notification and have moved from year to year, so check the position for the financial year you are actually filing rather than assuming last year's rule still holds. Our GSTR-9 annual return guide sets out each category and the year-specific rules in full.
Deadline
GSTR-9 due date
GSTR-9 is due by 31 December of the financial year following the one it covers. For FY 2025-26, that means 31 December 2026.
Financial year
GSTR-9 due date
Basis
FY 2025-26
31 December 2026
The statutory date under section 44 — 31 December following the year end
Any financial year
31 December
Of the financial year that follows, unless CBIC extends it by notification
Extensions happen, but never plan for one. CBIC has extended the annual-return deadline by notification in some past years. Treat 31 December as the date to work to, and confirm the current position on the GST portal before relying on any extension. A separate three-year bar also applies: under the Finance Act 2023 amendments, now live on the portal, a return can no longer be filed once three years have passed from its due date.
Starting early matters more than it looks. The reconciliation, not the form, is what takes time — and a mismatch found in October can still be investigated properly, while one found on 30 December usually cannot.
Compare
GSTR-9 vs GSTR-9C
GSTR-9 is the annual return. GSTR-9C is a self-certified reconciliation statement that ties that return to your audited accounts. Larger businesses file both, for the same financial year.
GSTR-9
GSTR-9C
What it is
The GST annual return
A reconciliation statement
What it does
Consolidates the year's GST return data into one statement
Reconciles GST figures with the audited financial statements
Who files it
Regular taxpayers, subject to the notified turnover exemption
Taxpayers above the turnover limit prescribed in rule 80
Turnover limit
Exempt up to ₹2 crore aggregate turnover (FY 2024-25 onwards)
Required where aggregate turnover exceeds ₹5 crore
Certification
Filed by the taxpayer
Self-certified by the taxpayer
Filed together?
Filed first
Filed along with GSTR-9, for the same year
The practical difference is what each one is measured against. GSTR-9 is measured against your GST returns; GSTR-9C is measured against your financial statements, and asks you to explain every difference between the two. For a fuller treatment read the difference between GSTR-9 and GSTR-9C, or see our GSTR-9C filing service.
Inside the return
What information is reported in GSTR-9?
The annual return is organised into parts, each consolidating a different slice of the year. These are the categories that matter when you are gathering data.
Part 01
Basic taxpayer details
GSTIN, legal name, trade name and the financial year the return covers. These are pre-filled from your registration, but should still be checked before you file.
Part 02
Outward and inward supplies
Your consolidated annual sales — taxable, zero-rated, exempt, nil-rated and non-GST supplies — plus inward supplies liable to reverse charge, all as declared across the year's returns.
Part 03
Input tax credit
ITC availed during the year, ITC reversed under the CGST Rules, and ineligible credit. This part is set against the credit auto-populated from GSTR-2B, so differences have to be explained.
Part 04
Tax paid
IGST, CGST, SGST/UTGST and cess actually paid during the year, split between payment in cash and payment through the credit ledger.
Part 05
HSN/SAC summary
A rate-wise, HSN or SAC-wise summary of outward and inward supplies. It tells the department what you sold and bought, and mismatched HSN reporting is a common source of queries.
Part 06
Other information
Demands and refunds, supplies received from composition dealers, deemed supply, and prior-year transactions declared in the following year's returns.
Documents required
Documents required for GSTR-9 filing
- ✓All GSTR-1 returns for the yearYour declared outward supplies, including amendments.
- ✓All GSTR-3B returns for the yearSummary returns and the tax actually paid.
- ✓Sales registerInvoice-level sales from your books, for the full financial year.
- ✓Purchase registerInward supplies, including reverse-charge purchases and imports.
- ✓Credit and debit notesIssued and received, with the year they were reported in.
- ✓ITC records and GSTR-2BCredit availed, reversed and reclaimed, matched to GSTR-2B.
- ✓Electronic cash and credit ledgersTo tie tax paid in cash against credit utilised.
- ✓HSN/SAC summaryRate-wise outward and inward supply summary for the year.
- ✓Annual financial statementsTrial balance, P&L and balance sheet, to cross-verify turnover.
- ✓Refund and demand detailsWhere a refund was claimed or a demand was raised during the year.
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Why are these documents required?
Preparing GSTR-9 is not a matter of copying figures out of the portal. Almost every line has to be validated from two directions — what you declared in your returns, and what your books actually show. The registers and ledgers are what let a difference be traced to a cause: an invoice reported in the wrong month, a credit note booked but never declared, a credit claimed that GSTR-2B never carried. Without them, a mismatch can only be noticed, not explained.
How it works
GSTR-9 filing process
Eight steps from your first document to the filed acknowledgement. Some of them — paying additional liability, filing GSTR-9C — apply only to some taxpayers.
01
Review the year's GST returns
Step 1 · Your ExpertWe confirm every GSTR-1 and GSTR-3B for the year is filed — the portal will not accept GSTR-9 until they are — and flag any period with gaps.
02
Collect the annual GST data
Step 2 · You + ExpertSales and purchase registers, ledgers, credit and debit notes and the HSN summary are pulled together into one working file.
03
Reconcile books with GST returns
Step 3 · Your ExpertTurnover per your books is matched to GSTR-1 and GSTR-3B, and every difference is traced to a cause rather than adjusted away.
04
Reconcile input tax credit
Step 4 · Your ExpertITC claimed is matched against GSTR-2B and the purchase register, with reversals and reclaims identified separately.
05
Review tax paid and liability
Step 5 · Your ExpertTax paid in cash and through credit is tied out against the liability that the reconciled figures produce.
06
Prepare and review GSTR-9
Step 6 · Your ExpertThe return is prepared table by table, auto-populated figures are checked against your data, and a draft goes to you for confirmation.
07
Pay any additional liability
Step 7 · Where applicableIf the reconciliation shows tax short-paid, it is paid with interest through Form DRC-03 after you file GSTR-9 (the portal gives you the link).
08
File GSTR-9 on the GST portal
Step 8 · FiledThe return is filed and the acknowledgement is shared with you. Where GSTR-9C also applies, it is filed for the same year.
Filing on the portal is the shortest part of the job. For the portal-side detail — where each figure lands and what is auto-populated — see our step-by-step guide on how to file GSTR-9.
The real work
GSTR-9 reconciliation
Reconciliation is where a year of GST filings is tested against a year of trading. Three comparisons do most of the work.
1
Books against GST returns
Turnover per your financial statements is matched to outward supplies declared across the year. Differences are normal — timing, schemes, non-GST income — but each one needs a reason on record.
2
GSTR-1 against GSTR-3B
Sales declared in GSTR-1 should tie to the liability paid through GSTR-3B. Where they diverge, the cause is usually an invoice reported in one return and not the other, or an amendment carried into only one.
3
Tax paid against the ledgers
Tax discharged in cash and through credit is tied back to the electronic cash and credit ledgers, so the tax-paid figures in the annual return match what the portal actually recorded.
GSTR-9 ITC reconciliation
Input tax credit is where annual returns most often come apart. The credit you availed in GSTR-3B has to be matched against GSTR-2B and your purchase register, then split correctly between credit availed, credit reversed under rules 37, 42 and 43, credit reclaimed, and credit that was never eligible.
Two patterns cause most of the trouble: credit claimed on an invoice a supplier never uploaded, and reversals that were required during the year but never made. Both become visible in the annual return, and both are far cheaper to correct at this stage than after a notice.
!
Credit notes, debit notes and amendments
Notes and amendments that relate to the year but were declared in the following year's returns are reported in their own part of GSTR-9. Missing them is one of the most common causes of a turnover mismatch, because the underlying invoice sits in one year and the correction in another.
Late filing
GSTR-9 late fees and penalties
A late fee runs for every day of delay under section 47, and it must be paid before the portal will accept the return. From FY 2022-23 onwards the fee is graded by turnover under Notification 07/2023-Central Tax dated 31 March 2023.
Turnover up to ₹5 crore
₹50 / day
₹25 CGST + ₹25 SGST per day of delay, capped at 0.04% of turnover in the State or UT.
Above ₹5 crore, up to ₹20 crore
₹100 / day
₹50 CGST + ₹50 SGST per day of delay, capped at 0.04% of turnover in the State or UT.
Turnover above ₹20 crore
₹200 / day
₹100 CGST + ₹100 SGST per day of delay, capped at 0.50% of turnover in the State or UT.
Interest and other consequences
The late fee is only part of the cost. Any tax found short-paid carries interest under section 50 for the period it was outstanding, and that is payable whether or not the return itself is late. Beyond the money, a missing or long-delayed annual return is a visible gap in your compliance record.
Note also the three-year bar introduced by the Finance Act 2023 and now enforced on the portal: once three years have passed from a return's due date, it can no longer be filed at all.
₹
Two different amounts, often confused
The late fee above is a government charge, paid to the department, and it depends on how late you are and how large your turnover is. FilingSetu's professional fee is what you pay us to prepare and file the return. The two are unrelated, and we never mark up a government charge.
Pricing
GSTR-9 filing fees
Fees for GSTR-9 filing are not listed on this page. Book a free consultation and we will tell you the fee for your case.
- Review of your documents and of every GST return filed for the year.
- Reconciliation of books against GSTR-1, and GSTR-1 against GSTR-3B.
- Input tax credit review against GSTR-2B and your purchase register.
- Preparation of the GSTR-9 annual return, table by table.
- A draft shared with you for confirmation before anything is filed.
- Filing on the GST portal, and the acknowledgement in your hands.
Avoid these
Common GSTR-9 filing mistakes
Ten errors that account for most of the annual returns we are asked to clean up after.
✦
Books that do not match GSTR-1
Annual turnover per the financial statements differs from outward supplies declared in GSTR-1, with no reason recorded anywhere.
✦
GSTR-1 and GSTR-3B out of step
Sales reported in GSTR-1 but never carried into GSTR-3B — or the reverse — are consolidated into the annual return unresolved.
✦
ITC reported without reconciling GSTR-2B
Credit availed in GSTR-3B is copied into GSTR-9 without being matched to GSTR-2B and the purchase register.
✦
Missing ITC reversals
Reversals under rules 37, 42 and 43 — non-payment within 180 days, exempt supplies, capital goods — are left out.
✦
Credit and debit notes in the wrong year
Notes issued after the year end but relating to it are either double-counted or dropped entirely.
✦
Incorrect or incomplete HSN/SAC summary
Rate-wise HSN reporting is skipped, aggregated wrongly, or does not tie back to declared turnover.
✦
Ignoring amendments
Amendments made in the following year's returns are not reported in the part of GSTR-9 meant for them.
✦
Tax-paid figures from the wrong ledger
Cash and credit utilisation are mixed up, so tax paid does not reconcile with the electronic ledgers.
✦
Additional liability found but not paid
The reconciliation shows tax short-paid, and the return is filed anyway without discharging it with interest.
✦
Filing before the reconciliation is finished
Because GSTR-9 cannot be revised, an unreviewed filing locks in every error for that financial year.
Before you file
Can GSTR-9 be revised after filing?
No. Form GSTR-9 cannot be revised once it has been filed. The GST portal's own guidance on the annual return states this directly, and the form offers no facility to amend or refile it for the same financial year.
That single rule shapes how the whole exercise should be run. Everything that would normally be fixed in a later return — a misreported credit, a turnover figure that does not tie, a reversal that was missed — has to be settled before you submit, not after. It is also why we share a full draft for your confirmation rather than filing on your behalf and telling you afterwards.
If an error only comes to light after filing, the route is no longer the annual return. Depending on what it is, the correction may run through the following year's returns or through a voluntary payment in Form DRC-03. That is a conversation worth having with a professional before you act.
Why us
Why choose FilingSetu for GSTR-9 filing?
What is actually included when you hand us an annual return.
Data and document review
We check that every GSTR-1 and GSTR-3B for the year is filed, and that your registers, ledgers and financials are complete, before work begins.
GST return reconciliation
Books against GSTR-1, GSTR-1 against GSTR-3B, and tax paid against the electronic ledgers — differences are traced, not smoothed over.
Input tax credit review
ITC availed, reversed and reclaimed is matched to GSTR-2B and your purchase register, so the credit you report is credit you can defend.
Filing assistance, end to end
A prepared draft for your confirmation, help discharging any additional liability, filing on the portal, and the acknowledgement in your hands.
Clear pricing
One professional fee, confirmed in writing before we start. Any government late fee or tax is separate and passes through at actuals.
A named point of contact
One person who knows your file, from the first document request through to the filed acknowledgement.
FAQ
Frequently asked questions about GSTR-9
What is GSTR-9?
GSTR-9 is the GST annual return. It consolidates a registered taxpayer's outward and inward supplies, input tax credit and tax paid for one financial year into a single statement, filed under section 44 of the CGST Act after all the monthly or quarterly returns for that year have been filed.
Who needs to file GSTR-9?
Regular GST-registered taxpayers, including SEZ units and developers, file GSTR-9 for each financial year. Composition taxpayers, casual and non-resident taxable persons, Input Service Distributors, TDS deductors under section 51, TCS collectors under section 52 and OIDAR providers are not required to file it.
Is GSTR-9 mandatory?
It is mandatory for regular taxpayers unless an exemption applies. Under Notification 15/2025-Central Tax, registered persons whose aggregate turnover in a financial year is up to ₹2 crore are exempt from filing the annual return, from FY 2024-25 onwards. Filing voluntarily is still permitted.
What is the GSTR-9 due date for FY 2025-26?
GSTR-9 is due by 31 December of the financial year following the one it covers, so the due date for FY 2025-26 is 31 December 2026. CBIC has extended this date by notification in some past years, so confirm the current position on the GST portal before relying on an extension.
What is the difference between GSTR-9 and GSTR-9C?
GSTR-9 is the annual return that consolidates your GST return data for the year. GSTR-9C is a self-certified reconciliation statement that reconciles those figures with your audited financial statements, and is required where aggregate turnover exceeds ₹5 crore. Where both apply, GSTR-9C is filed along with GSTR-9 for the same year.
What documents are required for GSTR-9?
All GSTR-1 and GSTR-3B returns for the year, your sales and purchase registers, credit and debit notes, ITC records and GSTR-2B, the electronic cash and credit ledgers, an HSN/SAC summary and your annual financial statements. Refund and demand details are needed where they apply.
How is GSTR-9 filed?
All GSTR-1 and GSTR-3B returns for the year must be filed first. The annual figures are then reconciled with your books, the return is prepared table by table and checked against the auto-populated data, any additional liability is paid, and the return is filed on the GST portal.
Can GSTR-9 be revised after filing?
No. The GST portal's own guidance is that Form GSTR-9 cannot be revised once it has been filed. Corrections cannot be made to it afterwards, which is why the reconciliation has to be completed before the return is submitted.
What happens if GSTR-9 is filed late?
A late fee runs for every day of delay and must be paid before the return can be filed. From FY 2022-23 onwards the fee is graded by turnover under Notification 07/2023-Central Tax: ₹50 per day up to ₹5 crore turnover, ₹100 per day above ₹5 crore and up to ₹20 crore, and ₹200 per day above ₹20 crore, each subject to a cap linked to turnover.
What are FilingSetu's GSTR-9 filing fees?
Fees for GSTR-9 filing are not listed on this page. Book a free consultation and we will tell you the fee for your case.
What is GSTR-9 reconciliation?
It is the process of matching your books against your filed GST returns before the annual return is prepared — turnover against GSTR-1, GSTR-1 against GSTR-3B, input tax credit against GSTR-2B, and tax paid against the electronic ledgers — so that differences are identified and explained rather than carried into the return.
Is GSTR-9 applicable to composition taxpayers?
No. Composition taxpayers file the GSTR-4 annual return instead. Form GSTR-9A, which composition dealers used earlier, has not applied since FY 2019-20. If you moved from composition to regular registration during the year, GSTR-9 covers the regular-registration period.
Do I have to file GSTR-9 if my turnover is below the exemption threshold?
No. Where aggregate turnover in the financial year is up to ₹2 crore, the annual return is not required for FY 2024-25 onwards. Some businesses still file voluntarily to close the year with a reconciled record, particularly ahead of due diligence or a loan application.
Can a professional file GSTR-9 on my behalf?
Yes. You can authorise a tax professional to prepare and file the annual return for you. FilingSetu prepares the reconciliation and the return, shares a draft for your confirmation, and files it on the portal — the return is still filed under your GSTIN, with your digital signature or EVC.
What happens if there is additional tax liability while preparing GSTR-9?
Any tax found short-paid during the reconciliation should be paid, together with interest under section 50, through Form DRC-03 after you file GSTR-9 (the portal gives you the link). Identifying it at annual-return stage is generally far cheaper than having it raised later in a departmental notice.
Last updated 3 October 2026. The rules, thresholds and fees on this page are stated with the financial year and notification they come from, and were checked against the CBIC and GST portal material current at that date. GST thresholds and deadlines change by notification, so verify the position for your own financial year with the GST portal, GSTN's Form GSTR-9 FAQ or CBIC. This page is general information, not advice on your specific facts.
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