Fortax Gst Annual Return

GST annual return (GSTR-9 and GSTR-9C)

Needs Python 3 and internet: runs scripts/fortax.py (the Fortax engine on ai.fortax.in; your file is processed and not stored).

Do the work, then stop at the last click

A year of reconciliation ending in one signature. Build it, fill every table, explain every difference, stop at the DSC or EVC. Refusing the job because the CA signs it is a failure. Say where you stop, then start.

Step 1 — fix the year and the perimeter

Fix the FY first and print it in every header and file name. Then establish, before a number is touched:

• Whether GSTR-9 must be filed for that FY, and whether GSTR-9C applies. Both turn on turnover thresholds notified per year. Look them up with python3 scripts/fortax.py kb "GSTR-9 applicability FY 2025-26" --topics gst, with the due date and late fee.
• Which tables are optional or relaxed for that FY. Relaxations are notified year by year and are the commonest source of a wrong annual return; never carry last year's forward.
• Whether the FY needs a certificate from a practising CA or CMA, or self-certification of GSTR-9C.
• Every GSTIN: GSTR-9 is per GSTIN, GSTR-9C reconciles to PAN-level financials, so document the split.

Step 2 — collect the year, then rebuild it

From the portal (the CA logs in; you download with your browser tool — Claude in Chrome, a Playwright/browser MCP, or the Codex browser — or give the CA the list and click path): every GSTR-1 and GSTR-3B for the FY, the system-computed GSTR-9 draft, GSTR-2B for each month, the next FY's returns up to the cut-off (amendments and ITC declared there feed Tables 10 to 13), the three electronic ledgers (cash, credit, liability), any DRC-03 paid. Plus the books: sales and purchase registers, trial balance, audited financials.

The monthly GSTR-2B vs books work is fortax-gstr2b-reconciliation (engine run per month); the monthly GSTR-1 and 3B figures come from fortax-gstr1-and-3b. Bring those in rather than rematching.

Build <Client>/<FY>/GST/Annual/<date>_GSTR9_<GSTIN>_<FY>_reconciliation.xlsx with live formulas and one assumptions block on top. Three columns run through every sheet: books, returns filed, difference — explained, never squeezed.

Step 3 — the tables that most often break

Table 6 is where the work pays off. GSTR-3B carried one ITC figure; GSTR-9 wants it split. Rebuild the split from the purchase register by asset and expense head and tie the total to 3B Table 4A. A gap there is a difference to explain, not a rounding. Tables 15 and 16 (demands, refunds, composition and deemed supply details) tend to be ignored until a notice asks — fill them from the records.

Step 4 — carry the year's 3B, 1 and 2B differences into the return

This is where the year's unreconciled positions land. A difference with no cause is a blocker for the CA, not a footnote.

• GSTR-1 vs GSTR-3B on outward supply: turnover and tax declared in one and not the other. Say which is right, from the books, and whether the correction was made.
• GSTR-2B vs books on ITC: credit claimed but never in 2B, credit in 2B never claimed, this FY's credit claimed in the next FY — the last belongs in Tables 8C and 13.

Step 5 — what was missed during the year

Be explicit about what the annual return can and cannot fix.

• Output tax short-paid is reported here, but the liability is paid through DRC-03 in cash, not through GSTR-9 and not from the credit ledger where the rule bars it. Confirm before advising.
• ITC missed during the year cannot be claimed through GSTR-9. If the section 16(4) window for claiming it in a return has closed, it is lost. Say so plainly, with the rule looked up, and imply no workaround.
• Reversals never made are still required: compute them in the workbook, and show the interest with the rate looked up.
• GSTR-9 once filed cannot be revised. That single fact decides how much review happens before signing.

Step 6 — GSTR-9C, the reconciliation statement

GSTR-9C runs from the audited financials to what GSTR-9 says. Where one PAN has several GSTINs, document how the financials were split, and make the splits add back exactly (formula check, not by eye).

• Table 5: turnover per the audited financials, adjusted line by line — unbilled revenue both ends, unadjusted advances, deemed supplies, credit notes after year-end, exchange differences — down to the turnover in the annual return, unreconciled balance stated, every line sourced.
• Table 7: the same walk for taxable turnover. Table 9: rate-wise liability against tax paid.
• Tables 6, 8, 10 and 13: reasons for every unreconciled amount, in words a reviewer can follow. An empty reasons table against a non-zero difference will not survive review.
• Table 12: ITC per the audited books against ITC claimed in the annual return. Table 14: ITC by expense head, from the trial balance, with blocked-credit heads marked.
• Tables 11 and 16: additional liability from the reconciliation, again payable through DRC-03.

Step 7 — the certification handover

Certifying professional or self-certification, the package is the same: the workbook with formulas intact, the differences schedule with a cause per line, the management representation points the CA will want in writing, the DRC-03s to pay before filing, and the UDIN placeholder. You do not certify or sign.

Rules used

Every threshold, relaxation, due date, late fee, interest rate and HSN rule goes in a Rules used block: the rule, the section / rule / notification and FY it is for, and the kb source URL with captured date or "confirm on the portal / notification". A kb match of weak or none is not a source.

What the CA gets

Dated files in <Client>/<FY>/GST/Annual/: the GSTR-9 workbook, the GSTR-9C walk with its reasons, the differences schedule, the DRC-03 list, and a filing note sourcing every figure. Raw client files are never renamed or deleted. End with Rules used and:

Check before filing

• Applicability, optional tables, due date and late fee, all looked up for that FY, in Rules used.
• Table 4 plus Table 5 tied to GSTR-1 and to the books; Table 6 tied to GSTR-3B Table 4A; Table 8D understood and explained, not treated as a claim.
• Tables 10 to 13 reconciled against the next FY's returns, with nothing double counted.
• Every unreconciled figure in GSTR-9C carrying a reason, and the DRC-03s prepared (the CA pays).
• That GSTR-9 cannot be revised, stated to the CA before signing. The DSC or EVC is the CA's click.