GSTN has issued new guidelines for filling GSTR-7 form. Now all registered persons who deduct TDS will have to fill this form. Even if TDS is not deducted, it is still necessary to file a ‘nil’ return. This rule is applicable from November 1, 2024. GSTR-7 form has to be submitted by December 10, 2024.
New Delhi: GSTN has issued a new advisory. In this, GST registered taxpayers have been told about filling Form GSTR-7. Those who have to fill this form, they have to fill it sequentially by 10 December 2024. GSTR-7 has to be filled by all those GST registered people who have to deduct TDS under the GST law. If the total value of taxable goods and services is more than Rs 2.5 lakh, then the fixed buyers have to deduct TDS before making payment to the seller. What is special for GST registered taxpayers in this advisory? Let us understand in detail. As per Notification No. 17/2024-Central Tax dated 27 September 2024, it has become mandatory to fill GSTR-7 sequentially from 1 November 2024. This means that you have to file the return of every month sequentially starting from October 2024. Even if you have not deducted any TDS in a month, you will have to file a ‘nil’ return for that month.
This new advisory means that GST registered taxpayers will have to file GSTR-7 by December 10, 2024, irrespective of whether they have deducted TDS or not. If TDS has been deducted, then filling the form is a must.
What are the experts saying?
According to Priyal Shah, Partner, GST Advisory, NPV & Associates LLP, ‘The new advisory says that even if you have not deducted TDS, you will have to file a zero return. This will ensure full compliance with the rules, increase the accuracy of the data. The matching process in the GST system will be easy.’
Hardik Kakadiya, President, Chartered Accountants Association Surat (CAAS), has expressed concern over the mandatory filing of GSTR-7. He said, ‘If no TDS has been deducted in any month, then filing GSTR-7 was not mandatory. It was already shown on the portal. But, suddenly an advisory from ‘Team GSTN’ comes and makes it mandatory. This will definitely create chaos regarding late filing fees and penalties, as it has now been made mandatory. However, not legally. Even after more than 7 years of GST implementation, the unwritten law of GSTN software prevails over the GST passed in Parliament.
Deepti Nayak, Director, Bhuta Shah & Co. LLP says, “GSTN has recently clarified that sequential filing is now a mandatory requirement for all taxpayers filing GSTR-7 returns. Therefore, based on this advisory, taxpayers are required to mandatorily file GSTR-7 returns sequentially. Further, it has also been clarified that deductors who have not made any deduction in a specific month will still have to file a ‘nil’ return for that period.”
Who has to file GSTR-7?
The Central Government in its Budget 2024, the Finance Minister proposed to amend Section 39 and made it mandatory to file returns every month on behalf of TDS deductors. The GST Council had also made a similar recommendation in its 53rd meeting.
What is GSTR-7 Form?
The GSTR-7 is a monthly return filed on behalf of all individuals or entities who have deducted and deposited GST while making payments to another individual or entity. To understand it in simple words, if you have made payment to a supplier and have deducted GST on that payment, then you will have to file this form.
