Form GSTR 1 is a monthly/quarterly GST return that has to be mandatorily filed by every registered person. However, due to COVID-19 crises, many businesses have been on hold with no business transactions since past few months. Hence, to ease the compliance process, Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) via notification 58/2020 – Central Tax has now allowed filing Nil GSTR 1 and Nil GSTR 3B via SMS. With this SMS filing facility, it will become very convenient for them to carry out the process and stay compliant.

What is Nil GSTR 1?

If the following conditions are met, GSTR-1 will be considered a nil return for a specific tax period (month or quarter):

• There were no outbound supplies or sales recorded.
• There are no supplies for which a reverse charge of tax is required.
• There have been no zero-rated supply or considered exports reported.
• There are no changes that need to be made for previous tax periods.
• There are no credit or debit notes to declare or alter.
• There are no circumstances where advances for services must be declared or reduced.

Pre-requisites to file Nil GSTR 1 via SMS 

 

Any taxpayer registered as Normal taxpayer/ Casual taxpayer/ SEZ Unit / SEZ Developer with a valid GSTIN can avail this facility. However, before availing this facility, the following pre-requisites need to be met:

• The phone number of authorized signatory needs to be registered on the GST Portal.
• It is important that no data should be in saved/ submitted stage for Form GSTR-1 on the GST Portal, related to the respective month.
• NIL Form GSTR 1 can be filed anytime on or after the 1st of the subsequent month for which the return is to be filed.
• The taxpayer should have opted for their filing frequency as either quarterly or monthly.

Who can file NIL GSTR 1 through SMS?

 

• The taxpayer can file NIL GSTR 1 via SMS only if there are NO outward supplies during the month or quarter for which the return is being filed. This scenario includes supplies on which tax is to be charged on a reverse charge basis, zero-rated supplies and deemed exports.
• There are no amendments to be made to any of the supplies declared in an earlier return.
• No Credit or Debit Notes are to be declared or amended.
• No details of advances received for services to be declared or adjusted.

NOTE: All the authorized representatives, for a particular GSTIN, are allowed to file Nil Form GSTR-1 through SMS.

Steps to file NIL GSTR 1 via SMS| How to file NIL GSTR 1 by SMS?

Step 1: 

The taxpayer needs to send an SMS to 14409 to receive a verification code.

Message Body:   NIL <space> Return Type <space> GSTIN <space> Return Period from their registered mobile number.

For example:

• For Monthly Filing for Tax Period April May 2020: NIL R1 08AQDPP8277H0Z9 052020
• For Quarterly Filing for Tax Period Apr-Jun 2020: NIL R1 08AQDPP8277H0Z9 062020

Note: The verification code is valid for 30 minutes. It can be used only once.

Step 2: 

After receiving the verification code, the taxpayer again needs to send an SMS on the same number i.e. 14409 to confirm the filing.

Message Body: CNF <space> Return Type <space> Verification Code

For Example:If the verification code received here is 324961 then your message will look something like this: CNF R1 324961

Step 3: 

Once the Verification Code is validated, the taxpayer will receive their ARN by the GST Portal on the same registered mobile number and on their registered e-mail ID to intimate successful NIL filing of Form GSTR 1.

For better understanding, here is the example of the steps mentioned above:

After filing NIL Form GSTR-1 via SMS, the taxpayer does not need to login to the GST Portal again to file NIL Form GSTR-1. The status of Form GSTR-1 will be automatically changed to ‘Filed’ on the GST Portal. Once the status is changed, the taxpayer cannot revise the filed NILGSTR-1 for the requested tax period.

Note:

• Rules for filing Nil form GSTR 1 were notified on 1^st July 2020.
• Once the entire process is completed, the taxpayer can track the status of their filed NIL form GSTR-1 return on the GST Portal.

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