GST Compliance checklist: How businesses can stay ahead

GST registration is mandatory if you are a seller or are planning to be a seller on Amazon.in (exception: if deals only with GST-exempt categories).

You may also refer to the process mentioned in our ‘How to Register for GST’ article for a GST registration checklist. ClearTax’s services can also help you register your business under GST.

GST registration is not only mandatory for your business but also enables you to avail of various benefits that are available under the GST Law. One such benefit is to avail seamless input tax credit of the GST paid on your business purchases.

Keeping these in mind, the following is the checklist for the basic statutory compliance for businesses looking to be GST compliant.

The GST Act along with GST Regulations have defined the mandatory contents and rules for invoicing. An invoice or a bill provides a list of goods sold along with the amount due for payment. The ‘Statutory Compliance Checklist’ is a good reference source to update yourself on the GST rules and regulations. Any entity or business that is registered under the GST must be able to provide GST compliant invoices. There are two types of invoices that are issued under GST.
1. The tax invoice is issued when the underlying supplies are taxable under the GST law, which can be used as a document to avail GST credit.
2. Bill of supply is issued when the supply is exempted from GST.


A tax invoice is summarily issued to charge the tax and pass on the input tax credit. For a tax invoice to be GST compliant, it must possess the following mandatory information:
1. Name, Address and GSTIN of the supplier.
2. Name, Address and GSTIN of the recipient (if they are registered).
3. Invoice Date.
4. Consecutive serial number, with the requirement of unique number for each financial year with maximum 16 characters.
5. Delivery address.
6. Place of supply along with the name of State, in cases of inter-State supplies.
7. HSN/SAC Code
8. State Code.
9. Description of the goods/services
10. Quantity of goods
11. Taxable value of goods/services or both (after discount/abatement)
12. Rate and amount of GST
13. Total value of the supply of goods/services or both
14. Whether the tax is payable on a reverse charge basis
15. Signature or a digital signature of the taxpayer or his authorised representative.

The invoice shall be prepared in triplicate in case of a supply of goods, in the following manner:
- The original copy being marked as ‘Original for recipient’.
- The duplicate copy being marked as ‘duplicate for transporter’.
- The triplicate copy being marked as ‘triplicated for supplier’

The invoice shall be prepared in duplicate, in the case of the supply of services, in the following manner, namely,
- the original copy being marked as ‘Original for recipient’; and
- the duplicate copy being marked as ‘duplicate for supplier.

Post the implementation of e-invoicing, the suppliers are required to have a quick response (QR) code on the B2B tax invoice provided by the ‘Invoice Registration Portal’, where the turnover of the supplier exceeds the notified limits.

In case the turnover of the supplier exceeds notified limits, the suppliers are required to have a dynamic QR code on B2C tax invoices also.

The different types of documents under GST law are-
1. Tax invoice
2. Bill of supply
3. Credit notes
4. Debit notes
5. Receipt Voucher
6. Payment Voucher
7. Refund Voucher
8. Delivery Challan.

As per the GST law, sellers are required to file their returns on a monthly basis. Sellers must file their GSTR-1 form on the GST portal (which should contain the details of the outward supplies made during a month by the 11th of the following month.

Next, they need to file a summary return in GSTR – 3B, by 20th of the following month and pay the net GST liability after availing input tax credit on inputs, input services and Tax Collection at Source (TCS) which will be collected by the e-commerce operator on the net sales made through the e-commerce platform.

For taxpayers exceeding the notified threshold, annual returns for a financial year need to be filed in GSTR-9 form and a reconciliation statement between the financials and the GST returns need to be filed in form 9C by December 31st of the next financial year. Keeping a GSTR-9 checklist can ease the process of mapping details in the present form.

It should be noted that there is no mechanism of filing revised returns. The rectification of any errors/omissions is allowed only in the subsequent returns.

New GST return formats are proposed to be implemented from October 1, 2020.

Amazon.in sellers can avail of a special offer from ClearTax Biz that helps them file their GST returns. This service offers seamless integration with any Amazon.in account, allowing for faster a filing of returns. You can learn more about this offer here.

By using ClearTax Biz, you agree that the product or solution is provided by Defmacro Software Private Limited, with the exclusion of Amazon Seller Services Private Limited (hereinafter referred to as “Amazon”). Amazon disowns all liability and assumes no responsibility for consequences resulting from your use of, or reliance on the ClearTax Biz product/solution.

Please note that failure to furnish Form GSTR-1, GSTR-3B by the due date will attract a late fee of Rs. 50 per day (Rs 25 per act) - subject to a maximum penalty of Rs. 10,000 (Rs 5,000 per act) for each return. Failure to furnish the annual return in Form 9 will attract a late fee of Rs 200 per day (Rs 100 per act) subject to a maximum penalty of 0.25% of the turnover for the respective financial year. To ensure that no vital information has been left out, be sure to keep a GST checklist for the audit handy.

We hope this article will be helpful in achieving GST compliance for your business.