With effect from 1st April 2019, all Composition Taxpayers are required to file Form GSTR-4 Annual Return, on an annual basis, for each financial year.

Who is required to file Form GSTR-4 Annual Return

All registered taxpayers who have opted for composition scheme or were under composition scheme under GST, for any period during a financial year, starting from 01.04.2019, need to file Form GSTR-4 Annual Return, annually.

Who can file NIL Form GSTR-4 Annual Return

Nil Form GSTR-4 Annual Return can be filed for the financial year, if you have, for all applicable quarters of the year,

NOT made any outward supply

NOT received any goods/services

Have NO other liability to report

Have filed all Form CMP-08 as Nil

Due date of Filing

The due date for filing Form GSTR-4 Annual Return is 30th of the month succeeding the financial year or as extended by Government, from time to time. For FY 2019-20, it has to be filed by 31/08/2020.

Filing Form GSTR-4 Annual return

Logon to your dashboard, click on Services > Returns > Annual Return >Select FY>Search>GSTR 4> FILE THE RETURN.

Some important Points:

Form GSTR 4 can be filed only if, all applicable quarterly statements in Form CMP 08 of that financial year, have been filed.

Form GSTR-4 Annual Return, once filed, can’t be revised

After successfully filing, ARN will be generated and intimated through email and SMS

Currently, only the online filing has been enabled on the portal. Shortly, an offline tool to file Form GSTR-4 Annual Return will also be made available.

How it is different from Form GSTR-4 Quarterly Return

Please note that this Form GSTR-4 Annual Return is different from the Form GSTR-4 Quarterly Return, which was required to be filed on a quarterly basis.

Form GSTR-4 Quarterly Return is applicable up to the tax period ending on 31st March 2019, for composition taxpayers.

For tax periods till the quarter ending March 2019, Composition Taxpayers are required to file Form GSTR-4 Quarterly Return (which is also available on the GST portal), on a quarterly basis. Whereas from 01.04.2019, composition taxpayers are required to file Form GST CMP 08, on a quarterly basis.