Know all about GSTR 2B and how it will benefit the taxpayer

A return is a document containing details of income which a taxpayer is required to file with the tax administrative authorities. These are used by tax authorities to calculate tax liability. All registered businesses have to file monthly, quarterly and/or annual GST Returns based on the type of business. All these online GST filings happen on the GST portal.

GSTN has enabled Form GSTR 2B in the GST Portal for the month of July 2020 as an auto-drafted input tax credit (ITC) statement. The launch of this GSTR-2B is expected to reduce the time taken for preparing return, minimize errors, assist reconciliation and simplify compliance relating to filing of returns.

What is GSTR 2B?

GSTR-2B is an auto-drafted ITC statement which will be generated for every recipient on the basis of the information furnished by their suppliers in their respective GSTR-1, GSTR 5 and GSTR 6.
The statement will clearly show input tax credit available and not available for every document filed by any supplier for a recipient.
GSTR-2B will have a summary of all the documents filed between the filing date of GSTR-1 for the previous month (M-1) to the filing date of GSTR-1 for the current month (M).
For instance, GSTR-2B generated for the month of July 2020 will consist of all the documents filed by suppliers in their GSTR-1, 5 and 6 from 12th July 2020 to 11th August 2020.

What are the important features of GSTR 2B?

Taxpayers can:-

View or download Summary Statement or Section wise details in excel or PDF format.
Taxpayers can view supplier wise summary or document wise details.
Taxpayers can obtain section-wise details or complete download of ITC instantly
Email / SMS to taxpayer will be sent informing them about generation of GSTR-2B.
Allows text search for all the generated records and an option to view, filter and sort data, as required is available

What information would GSTR 2B contain?

GSTR 2B contains information on the import of goods from the ICEGATE system including inward supplies of goods received from Special Economic Zones Units / Developers. This is not available with the release of GSTR-2B for the month of July and will be made available shortly.
It will contain all documents filed by suppliers/ISD in their Form GSTR-1, 5 & 6 between 12th day of preceding month to 11th day of current month. Thus, statement generated on 12th of August will contain data from 12th July 2020 to 11^th August 2020.
It consists of:-
A summary of ITC available as on the date of its generation and is divided into credit that can be availed and credit that is to be reversed
A summary of ITC not available and is divided into ITC not available and ITC reversal

When can GSTR 2B be generated?

GSTR-2B will be available from July 2020 onwards. It is a static statement, generated once on 12^th of following month.

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How can taxpayers access GSTR 2B?

Step 1: Log in to the official GST portal.

Step 2: Go to the ‘Returns Dashboard’.

Step 3: Choose the relevant tax period (Month and Year)

Step 4: Click on form ‘GSTR-2B’

Step 5: Click on the ‘Download’ button then the taxpayer can save the statement.

What are the contents of GSTR 2B?

The contents of GSTR-2B are as follows:

Summary statement showing ITC available and non-available for every section.
Advisory for every section that clarifies the kind of action that taxpayer must take.
Document-wise details such as invoices, credit notes, and debit notes, etc. to view and download.
Cut-off dates and advisory for generating and using GSTR-2B.
Import of goods and import from SEZ units/developers (available from GSTR 2B of August 2020 onwards).

What are the benefits of GSTR 2B?

It can make the return filing easy. The taxpayer can see the data related to last month. Entire ITC available to him at the time of filing. Also, the spillover of past ITC next month can be managed easily.
The data in GSTR-2B is reported in a manner that allows taxpayers to conveniently reconcile ITC with their own books of accounts and records.
Taxpayers can now reconcile data generated in Form GSTR-2B, with their own records and books of accounts. Using this reconciliation, they can now file their Form GSTR 3B and they can ensure that:
The input tax credit is not availed twice against a particular document.
The tax credit is reversed as per the GST law in their GSTR-3B, wherever required.
GST is correctly paid on a reverse charge basis for the applicable documents, including import of services.

The input tax credit shall be indicated to be non-available in the following scenarios:

Invoice or debit note for the supply of goods or services or both where the recipient is not entitled to an input tax credit as per the provisions of sub-section (4) of Section 16 of CGST Act, 2017. (Time limit for ITC claim: 30th September of the year following the financial year or date of filing annual returns whichever is earlier)
Invoice or debit note where the Supplier (GSTIN) and place of supply are in the same State while the recipient is in another State.

Comparison of GSTR-2A with GSTR-2B

Points of Comparison	GSTR-2A	GSTR-2B
Dynamic vs Static statement	Dynamic, as it changes from day to day, as and when the supplier uploads the documents.	Remains static, as the GSTR-2B for one month cannot change based on future actions of the supplier.
Periodicity	Monthly	Monthly
Source of Information	GSTR-1, GSTR-5, GSTR-6, GSTR-7, GSTR-8	GSTR-1, GSTR-5, GSTR-6, ICEGATE system
ITC on Import of Goods	Does not contain these details	Contains ITC on import of goods as obtained from ICEGATE system

GSTR-2B for the month of July 2020 has been made available on the common portal on a trial basis. Since this is the first time that the statement is being introduced, taxpayers are advised to refer to GSTR 2B for the month of July, 2020 for feedback purposes.

All taxpayers are requested to go through their GSTR-2B for July 2020 and after comparing the same with the credit availed by them in July 2020, provide feedback (if any) on any aspect of GSTR-2B by raising a ticket on the self-service portal of GST.

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