IndiaAuditLens
Prepare, review, and file GSTR-9
GSTR-9 is prepared from the portal's own figures and the firm's records, checked against the filed returns, the books, GSTR-2B and the electronic ledgers, and filed through the same controls as GSTR-1 and GSTR-3B.…
By IndiaAuditLens product team · Updated 2026-10-16
Before you begin
Select the client, GSTIN and financial year (FY 2024-25 or later). File every GSTR-1 and GSTR-3B of the year first: the portal enables GSTR-9 only then. Fetch the year's filed GSTR-1 and GSTR-3B, the sales registers and the twelve return-liability ledgers, so the review can compare them. A source the app does not hold is shown as not held, never as nil. On the Fetch step, Fetch the year's ledgers reads every month's liability ledger not yet held in one go, after showing the months and the credits (1 a month). Keep an eligible partner, an authorised signatory and a GST portal session…
Fetch and prepare
Open GST → Annual → GSTR-9. The screen opens on the step that needs you. In Fetch, choose Fetch from the portal. The app reads the portal's computed figures, every page of the Table 8A documents and any saved return, and keeps each read with who and when. In Prepare, open each table. Rows the portal fills show its figure; rows only the taxpayer can report (6A1, 6B to 6H, Table 7, 8C to 8H1, Tables 10 to 14) show To report until you enter them, take the app's suggestion or mark them Nil. Change a portal figure only with a note; the change is kept with who and when. Check the HSN lines of…
Compare and review
In Compare with books, see the months the returns cover, GSTR-1 against GSTR-3B outward tax, and every comparison with both figures and the difference. In Review, read every check: Passes, To review, Blocks filing or Accepted, each with its reason. Fix a check that must be fixed (rows to report, HSN lines, negative amounts, totals that do not reproduce the portal's) in the return itself. A difference above the tolerance set in Platform admin stops the filing until it is fixed or a partner accepts it with a reason. The acceptance is recorded with the figures it saw: if the figures change,…
File
In File, choose Stage for approval. The return and its checks are frozen by their hash. A partner chooses the signatory and approves. The preparer cannot approve their own stage unless the firm's single-signer rules allow it, and it is recorded. Choose Save and send OTP. The app saves the return on the portal, reads back what the portal holds and compares it row by row before Proceed to file. A difference stops the filing. If the portal shows a late fee, a partner reviews the cash debit (the portal's fee, the app's estimate and the late-fee cash balance) and approves it. A differing fee…
When direct filing is not available
The provider has not published fields for rows 6A1, 7A1, 7A2 and 8H1. When any of them holds an amount, File says that direct filing isn't available for this return yet and offers the GST portal upload file instead.
Complete the review as above; the upload file needs the same checks. Choose Download upload file. The file name follows the pattern <GSTIN<FYR9upload.json, and the download is recorded with its hash. On the GST portal open Annual Return → GSTR-9 → Prepare Offline → Upload and upload the file. The portal validates it in up to 15 minutes and lists any errors in an error report. Open Prepare Online, check every table against the working, then compute liabilities, pay any late fee and file on the portal. The file carries rows 6A1, 7A1, 7A2 and 8H1 too, so nothing needs typing; if the screen…
GSTN does not publish the upload file's field names. The app uses the names of the GST API its provider publishes, and for 6A1, 7A1, 7A2 and 8H1 the names GSTN's own GSTR-9 offline tool writes. The first upload proves the format: check the portal's preview before filing.
Acknowledgement
After filing, the app keeps the acknowledgement number and asks the portal's filing tracker for the ARN after 30 seconds, 2 minutes and 5 minutes. The return counts as filed only when the tracker lists it with an ARN. Use Check filing status to ask again.
Expected result
Every row of GSTR-9 traces to the portal's figure, the firm's records or a recorded entry; every difference from the filed returns, books, GSTR-2B and ledgers is fixed or accepted by a partner with a reason; the filing, the late-fee debit and the ARN are kept in the filing history.