GST Return 4 Form — Tax compliance form for Composition Dealers

Under GST surveillance every registered individual whether a salaried professional or a businessman is liable for paying tax along with filing the correct return form. Return forms differ based on the type of income, taxpayer’s residential status, nature of the profession/business, annual turnover and so on. In simple words, a return is that statement in which the complete information of the income received by the taxpayer is mentioned for the legal group to judge his tax liabilities.

The government for its convenience has segregated the registered dealers in the country into different categories. The dealer based on the category he falls in has to file the relevant return form with complete information to avoid penalties and investigation by the taxman.

Registered Dealer Categories are Mentioned Below:

• Normally registered dealers
• Composition scheme dealers
• Tax deductors
• Input service distributors
• UN bodies/embassies
• Non-resident assessee
• Temporary registration
• E-commerce dealer

As mentioned above there are different return forms for different categories of taxpayers. In the write-up, we are going to focus on Composition Scheme Dealers and which form they require to fill.

About GSTR-4

Valid under the current taxation system, GSTR-4 is the form specially designed for taxpayers falling under the ‘Composition Scheme’. Such taxpayers are required to file the GSTR 4 form annually as per the format of the form along with correct information regarding their income. The dealer is required to furnish GSTR-4 once in three months (on a quarterly basis) earlier but in the 32nd GST council meeting, it was asked to file annually.

Quarterly filing feature under composition scheme is a big relief to small taxpayers as the compliance becomes a hassle-free task, time saver and gives considerable tax benefits. Hence all the registered dealers with a gross income of less than Rs. 1.5 Crores opt for Composition Scheme. If we talk about the format of GSTR-4 there are 13 separate sections in which the information is filed by the taxpayer under relevant headings.

Due Date for filing GSTR-4

As mentioned earlier, the composition taxpayer has to face compliance once in three months (quarterly basis). The last date for filing GSTR-4 for composition taxpayers is 18 of any month following the expiry of the relevant quarter.

Composition Dealer

The taxpayer registered under the composition scheme by tax governance is referred to as a composition dealer. Composition scheme is initiated for the small taxpayers (with an annual turnover of less than Rs. 1.5 Crores) to make tax filing and payments easy and less time consuming for them. As directed by the scheme, the taxpayer has to pay GST at a fixed rate on his annual turnover and file returns on a quarterly basis. Therefore, there is not much need for calculations and also once the return is filed the dealer is free for the next two months.

About GSTR-4A

The supplier under composition scheme files details in GSTR-1/GSTR-5 and GSTR-7 which automatically gets loaded in Form GSTR-4A of the taxpayer under composition scheme. Here the taxpayer is the recipient of goods and services so all the purchases done by him get auto-populated in GSTR 4A.

Please Note: Data appears in GSTR 4A once the other suppliers file GSTR 1/GSTR 5 and GSTR 7 against the GSTIN of the taxpayer (composition dealer).
Information updated by the suppliers in GSTR-1/GSTR 5 once the taxpayer has filed GSTR 4 will not be recorded in the current return filing form rather it will be transferred to GSTR 4A of the next tax period.

Is There a Possibility to Revise GSTR 4?

GSTR 4 once submitted on the GSTN portal cannot be revised the only way to get through the situation is to balance it in the next month’s or next quarter’s Form GSTR 4.

Penalty for Late Filing of GSTR 4

The penalty of Rs. 50 for delay per day is imposed on the composition scheme taxpayer in case he fails to file form GSTR 4. The penalty for delay in filing NIL return in GSTR 4 is Rs. 20 per day of delay. The penalty can go maximum up to Rs. 5,000 for a composition taxpayer. So file GSTR 4 via Gen GST software.

Apart from that if the composition dealer fails to file the return for any quarter he will not be able to file returns for succeeding quarters as well.