What your CA needs from you every month for the GST return

Who does what: you and your CA

Filing the GST return is your CA’s job. They know which returns apply to your business, whether you file monthly or quarterly, the due dates, and what to do when something doesn’t match. Ask them; this guide does not replace their advice.

Your job is the raw material. The month-end scramble usually comes from missing bills, not from difficult tax questions. A shop that hands over complete records in the first week gets a short meeting. One that turns up with a carry bag of receipts a day or two before the deadline gets a rushed one.

Sales records your CA will ask for

Sales are usually split two ways, because they are shown differently on the return. If any sale went to a buyer in another state, tell your CA, because that changes how the tax is shown.

• Sales to registered businesses (B2B): every invoice, with the buyer’s name, GSTIN, invoice number, date, value and tax
• Sales to everyday customers (B2C): daily or monthly totals by tax rate, whether paid by cash, UPI or card
• Credit notes for goods returned or discounts given after the sale, with the original invoice number
• Any advance received for an order to be delivered later, so your CA knows about it

Purchase bills and expenses

Purchase bills are how your CA works out the input tax credit you can claim. A bill that never reaches them can mean credit you don’t get.

Check each bill when it arrives: the supplier’s name and GSTIN, the bill number and date, your own GSTIN printed correctly, and the tax shown separately. Many CAs also compare your purchase bills with what your suppliers have reported, so a bill with a wrong GSTIN causes trouble later.

• Every purchase bill for goods you sell
• Business expense bills: rent, electricity, phone, transport, repairs, packing
• Credit or debit notes from suppliers
• Bills for things bought for the shop: a fridge, a computer, a billing machine

Bank statements, cash and UPI

Your CA will want the month’s statement for every bank account the business uses, and a note of cash deposited or withdrawn. UPI payments land in the bank, so they show up there, mixed with personal transfers if one account does both jobs.

Mark anything in the statement that is not business: money sent home, a child’s school fees, a personal loan EMI. Better still, keep a separate account for the shop. It makes your CA’s check faster and your own numbers clearer.

Common mistakes that slow down your GST return

Each of these is a small habit, and each one is easy to fix once you know it is there.

• Purchase bills made out without your GSTIN, or with it printed wrong
• Cash expenses with no bill at all
• Personal spending paid from the shop account and not marked
• Goods returned by a customer, but no credit note made
• Last month’s bills turning up in this month’s bag

A monthly GST checklist for small businesses

Keep one folder per month, paper or on your phone, and fill it as the month goes, not at the end. In the first week of the next month, send your CA:

• Sales invoices to businesses, and the total of everyday sales
• All purchase bills and expense bills
• Credit and debit notes
• Bank statements for every business account
• A short note of anything unusual: a big order, a return, a sale to another state, a new supplier

Doing this on WhatsApp with Kalki

Kalki for Business, goKalki’s business assistant on WhatsApp, prepares and organises; it does not file and it does not give tax advice. Through the month you log sales and expenses by text or voice note, and send photos of supplier bills. Kalki reads the party, the amount and the GST from each bill, and keeps everything in a Google Sheet that belongs to you, which you can share with your CA.

Each month it works out sales, tax collected and input credit, and sends your CA a clean file, or gives you the ledger in Excel or PDF to forward. If an amount is missing, it asks you rather than guessing. Your CA checks the numbers, advises you and files the return. Kalki for Business costs ₹1,999 a month with 3,000 messages, and the first 3 days are free.

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