Books of Accounts and Records under GST Regime

Section 35 of CGST Act 2017 deals with the upkeep and maintenance of books of accounts and records by every registered person at his principal place of business from where business is being pursued. Generally such place is mentioned in Certificate of registration of registered person.

Every registered person is required to keep and maintain all records at his principal place of business.

Who must maintain accounts under GST?

It is the responsibility of the following persons to maintain specified records-

• The owner
• Operator of warehouse or godown or any other place used for storage of goods
• Every transporter

What records must be maintained under GST?

Every registered person must maintain records of:

• Production or manufacture of goods
• Inward and outward supply of goods or services or both
• Stock of goods
• Input tax credit availed
• Output tax payable and paid and
• Other particulars as may be prescribed

Rule 56 of CGST Rules, 2017 prescribe maintaining additional records pertaining to:-

• Goods or services imported or exported;
• Supplies attracting payment of tax on reverse charge along with relevant documents, (including invoices, bills of supply, delivery challans, credit notes, debit notes, receipt vouchers, payment vouchers, refund vouchers and e-way bills) ;
• Accounts of stock in respect of goods received and supplied – containing particulars of opening balance, receipt, supply, goods lost, stolen, destroyed, written off or disposed of by way of gift or free sample and balance of stock including raw materials, finished goods, scrap and wastage thereof (these details need not be maintained by a composition dealer) ;
• Advances received, paid and adjustments made thereto;
• Tax payable on reverse charge basis;
• Tax payable, tax collected and paid, input tax, input tax credit claimed, together with a register of tax invoice, credit notes, debit notes, delivery challan issued or received during any tax period (Not applicable to composition dealer);
• Names and complete addresses of suppliers from whom he has received the goods or services;
• Names and complete addresses of the persons to whom he has supplied the goods or services; and
• Complete addresses of the premises where the goods are stored by him, including goods stored during transit along with the particulars of the stock stored therein.

The books of account shall be kept at the principal place of business and at every related place(s) of business mentioned in the certificate of registration and such books of account shall include any Accounts and Records in electronic form of data stored on any electronic devices. The data so stored shall be authenticated by way of digital signature.

Note : Any entry in registers, accounts and documents shall not be erased, effaced or overwritten, and all incorrect entries, otherwise than those of clerical nature, shall be scored out under attestation and thereafter correct entry shall be recorded, and where the registers and other documents are maintained electronically, a log of every entry edited or deleted shall be maintained. Further each volume of books of account maintained manually by the registered person shall be serially numbered.

Period for Retention of Accounts under GST

As per the GST Act, every registered taxable person must maintain the accounts books and records for at least 72 months (6 years). The period will be counted from the last date of filing of Annual Return for that year.

The last date of filing the Annual return is 31st December of the following year.

Consequences of Not Maintaining Proper Records

If the taxpayer fails to maintain proper records in respect of goods/services, then the proper officer shall treat such unaccounted goods/services as if the taxpayer had supplied them. The officer will determine the tax liability on such unaccounted goods.

The taxable person will be required to pay the tax liability calculated along with penalty.

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