GSTR-3B Due Date – 25th or 28th August?

The blog post is updated with the CBEC press release announcing the extension of GSTR-3B due date and payment of tax.
In the light of the recent clarification from CBEC, the businesses are allowed to use the transitional input tax credit in paying the July month’s tax liability. This is a much needed relief to businesses who had huge amount of transitional credit. This is because they feared that the non-availability of such option would have a severe impact on cash out-flow of the business. Also, listening to the request from tax payers to extend the due date of GSTR-3B and due to the last minute technical glitches in filing returns in GST Portal, the GST committee has decided to extend the last date to file GSTR-3B by 5 days. 
With the committee’s decision to allow the transitional credit, and extend the due date of filing GSTR-3B, there are two sets of due date to file GSTR-3B for businesses: 25th August, 2017, and 28th August, 2017. Let us discuss who has to File GSTR-3B on 25th August, 2017 and who on 28th August, 2017 

GSTR-3B due date of  25th August, 2017
Businesses planning not to avail transitional credit for discharging the tax liability for the month of July, 2017, or new registrants who do not have any transitional credit to avail, the due date to file 3B has been extended till 25th August, 2017. The following are the key actions these business needs to take care of in filing GSTR-3B.
1. Arrive at July Month’s tax liability, by considering only the ITC availed in July. You can use the below formula to calculate the tax liability
Tax payable = (Output tax liability + Tax payable under reverse charge) – Input tax credit availed in the month of July, 2017
2. Tax payable as determined above needs to be deposited in cash/cheque/e-payment on or before the extended due date of 25th August, 2017, which will get credited to electronic cash ledger.
3. File the Form GSTR-3B on or before 25th August, 2017 after discharging the tax liability by debiting the electronic credit or cash.

GSTR-3B Due Date by 28th August, 2017
For businesses planning to use the transitional ITC towards payment of July tax liabilities, the due date to file GSTR-3B is by 28th August, 2017. The following are the key actions need to be taken care of in filing GSTR-3B.
1. Arrive at July month’s tax liability, by considering both input tax credit availed in July, as well as transitional ITC. You can use the below formula to calculate the tax liability :
Tax payable = (Output tax liability + Tax payable under reverse charge) – (Transitional credit + input tax credit availed in the month of July, 2017)
2. Tax payable as determined as above needs to be deposited in cash on or before 25th August, 2017, which gets credited to electronic cash ledger.
3. Ensure Form Tran-1 is filed in the portal before filing the return in Form GSTR-3B. The option to upload Form Tran-1 will be available on GST portal from 21st August, 2017.
4. File the Form GSTR-3B on or before 28th August, 2017, after discharging the tax liability by debiting the electronic credit or cash ledger.
Businesses opting to avail the transitional ITC in discharging the July month’s tax liability need to take utmost care and caution in determining the eligible transitional ITC allowed to be carried forwarded. This is to arrive at the accurate tax liability to pay on 25 August, 2017. This is because, any shortfall (that is, tax liability of GSTR-3B is greater than the payment made on 25th August, 2017), have to be paid along with interest @18% calculated from 26 August, 2017 till the date of such deposit. This amount will also get credited to electronic cash ledger.
Here’s how to file your GSTR-3B using Tally.ERP 9