Every taxpayer who has filed GST Annual Return (GSTR 9C) have reported some issues. Here is the list of issues reported while filing Form GSTR-9C and their possible solution. But before moving to that it is better to have a fair knowledge about GSTR-9C (GST Annual Return):

What is GSTR-9C? Any taxpayer whose turnover exceeds the mentioned limit of 2 Crore INR during a financial year is required to file GSTR-9C. It is necessary for the taxpayer to get his accounts audited by a CA or CMA. GSTR-9C is a type of GST Annual Return that is a reconciliation statement in between the amount disclosed in the GSTR-9 and the figures as per the audited annual financial statements. It shall be noted that the due date for filing GSTR-9C Form for the Financial Year 2017-2018 is 31st August 2019.

Importance of GSTR-9C

As stated above GSTR-9C is a statement of reconciliation audited by CAs and CMAs, the GST authorities keep this statement as a base to verify the preciseness of the GST returns filed by the taxpayers.

GSTR 9C Form Filing Issues and Possible Solutions

1. Issue: The taxpayer is getting an error message at the time of using the excel version of GSTR-9C

Solution: According to the www.gst.gov.in, the taxpayer shall use Microsoft excel version that is higher than 2007 at the time of filing Form GSTR 9C (Annual GST Return).

2. Issue: In the PART-B of Form GSTR 9C, the auditor was experiencing an issue at the time of providing auditor membership number.

Solution: As per the GST Government portal, at the time of furnishing Part-B of GSTR-9C, auditors shall omit 0 in their membership number.

For instance, if the auditor’s membership number is 018 then auditor is required to enter only 18 in the membership number field.

Moreover, at the time of signing generated JSON File using Digital Signature Certificate (DSC), the auditor must make sure that:

HTML file name ‘WSWEB’ and ‘GSTR_9C_Offline_Utility’ shall be in the same folder to generate the JSON.

Issue: General issues related to DSC Part­-A of Form GSTR-9C

Solution: Every taxpayer before filing GSTR-9C shall make sure that DSC token is plugged into their system properly.

If there is a problem at the time of registering DSC on the GST Portal, cross verify if the emSigner is started or not. In case if emSigner is started and the taxpayer is facing the issue at the time of registering DSC, he shall Stop the emSigner server and re-start it and Run as Administrator.

In case if web socket is not available or an error is occurring after clicking on the proceed button, then the taxpayer must start the emSigner again.

In order to install the emSigner, you need to follow the below mentioned steps:

i) Access the https://www.gst.gov.in/ URL.

ii) On the homepage go to Register / Update DSC

Note: Class 2 or Class 3 DSC can only be used on the GST Government Portal by a taxpayer to file GST Returns.

Please make sure that PAN entered in GSTR-9C form and PAN as per DSC must be same to avoid PAN verification error.

So considering these issues every taxpayer shall file Annual GST Return at the earliest without any delay.