GSTR-9 annual return: 31-Dec deadline and the Rs 2 crore turnover applicability

The Goods and Services Tax annual return, GSTR-9, is the single largest compliance event still pending on the FY 2025-26 calendar, and it falls due on 31 December 2026. With the financial year having closed on 31 March 2026, every regular registered taxpayer whose aggregate turnover crossed Rs 2 crore now has a nine-month window to consolidate twelve monthly GSTR-3B summaries and the matching GSTR-1 outward-supply statements into one reconciled return. For traders watching the first session of June 2026, the GSTR-9 horizon matters because working-capital planning for the December outflow begins now, not in the festive quarter. This watchlist sets out the statutory deadlines, the RBI policy event that bookends the first week of June, and the questions taxpayers are asking before the books close.

Statutory Deadlines

The headline statutory item on the watchlist is GSTR-9 for FY 2025-26, due 31 December 2026 under Section 44 of the Central Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017. The Rs 2 crore aggregate-turnover line is the trigger: above it, the annual return is mandatory; at or below it, the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) exemption makes filing optional. That single threshold decides whether a business spends December reconciling input tax credit or simply archiving its monthly returns.

GST uses a family of annual-return forms, and matching your registration type to the right form is the first reconciliation task. The table below sets out who files what for the year that ended 31 March 2026.

The Rs 5 crore line governs GSTR-9C, the reconciliation statement that ties the GSTR-9 figures to the audited annual financial statements. A material change since FY 2020-21 is that GSTR-9C is self-certified by the taxpayer; the earlier requirement for a Chartered Accountant or Cost Accountant certification has been removed. That shifts the audit burden onto the taxpayer's own finance team, which is why businesses crossing Rs 5 crore in FY 2025-26 should begin the reconciliation in the first half of 2026 rather than December.

Missing the 31 December 2026 date is expensive in a slow, compounding way. Under Section 47(2) of the CGST Act, the late fee for the annual return is Rs 50 per day — Rs 25 under CGST and Rs 25 under SGST — capped at 0.25 per cent of the taxpayer's turnover in the state or union territory. For a business with Rs 3 crore of state turnover, the 0.25 per cent ceiling works out to Rs 75,000 per Act, so the cap, not the daily rate, is the real exposure for larger filers.

The nearest cash deadline on the income-tax side is the first advance-tax instalment. Under Section 211 of the Income-tax Act 1961, 15 per cent of estimated FY 2026-27 liability is due on 15 June 2026. Anyone running a GST-registered business will usually have an advance-tax obligation too, so the June and December calendars should be planned together. Our explainer on the advance tax instalment dates under Section 211 sets out the full 15-Jun, 15-Sep, 15-Dec and 15-Mar schedule.

Market Events

The marquee market event of early June 2026 is the Reserve Bank of India Monetary Policy Committee meeting on 3 to 5 June 2026. Coming into that meeting, the repo rate stands at 5.25 per cent after the unanimous hold on 8 April 2026, the second consecutive pause. The MPC has signalled a neutral stance, with the standing deposit facility (SDF) rate at 5.00 per cent, the marginal standing facility (MSF) and Bank Rate both at 5.50 per cent.

The macro backdrop the committee will weigh is summarised below, drawn from the April 2026 policy statement on rbi.org.in.

The April pause was driven by West Asia geopolitical risk and Brent crude trading above USD 100 per barrel, both of which feed the inflation projection of 4.6 per cent for FY27. Whether the committee holds again on 5 June 2026 or resumes the easing cycle that delivered 125 basis points of cuts through 2025 will set the tone for bank lending rates, because external-benchmark-linked floating loans reset within roughly three months of any repo change. Equity desks reading the 6.9 per cent FY27 growth projection will treat the policy statement as the single most market-moving data point of the week.

For investors mapping the rate path to their own portfolios, a falling-rate environment historically favours systematic equity accumulation over lump-sum timing. Our SIP calculator and step-up SIP calculator let you model contributions against an assumed return, while the lumpsum calculator handles one-time deployment. Readers tracking single-stock volatility around the policy date can revisit how the NSE individual stock circuit filters at 2, 5, 10 and 20 per cent bands constrain intraday moves.

Earnings

The briefing for this watchlist does not carry a confirmed corporate-results calendar for 1 June 2026, and this is YMYL financial content, so no earnings dates are asserted here. The first trading session of June typically falls outside the heavy results window, which clusters in late January, late April, late July and late October as companies report quarterly numbers within the 45-day Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) disclosure timeline. Taxpayers should instead treat the GSTR-9 reconciliation as the substantive annual self-audit of the period: the annual return forces a line-by-line match between booked revenue and the outward supplies declared in twelve GSTR-1 filings, which is effectively a review of the year's reported turnover.

For mutual-fund investors, the relevant disclosure event remains the periodic liquidity reporting we covered in SEBI's stress tests for smallcap and midcap funds, which publish liquidation-timeline data each month rather than on a quarterly earnings cadence.

Practical watchlist for the week

Three dates anchor the planning horizon. The 3 to 5 June 2026 MPC meeting decides the near-term cost of working-capital finance. The 15 June 2026 advance-tax instalment is the first cash outflow of FY 2026-27 under Section 211. And the 31 December 2026 GSTR-9 deadline, though six months away, requires the reconciliation work to start now if turnover crossed Rs 2 crore. Businesses above Rs 5 crore should additionally schedule the self-certified GSTR-9C reconciliation against audited accounts well before the December rush, because the daily Section 47(2) late fee accrues from 1 January 2027 until the return is filed.

FAQ

Who must file GSTR-9 for FY 2025-26?

Every registered regular taxpayer whose aggregate turnover exceeded Rs 2 crore in FY 2025-26 must file GSTR-9 by 31 December 2026. Filing is optional for those at or below Rs 2 crore under the CBIC exemption, but the underlying GSTR-1 and GSTR-3B data still has to reconcile for the year that ended 31 March 2026.

What is the difference between GSTR-9 and GSTR-9C?

GSTR-9 is the annual summary return of outward supplies, input tax credit and tax paid. GSTR-9C is a reconciliation statement matching those figures with the audited annual financial statements, mandatory only when aggregate turnover exceeds Rs 5 crore. Since FY 2020-21 the GSTR-9C is self-certified by the taxpayer rather than CA or CMA-certified.

What is the late fee for filing GSTR-9 after 31 December 2026?

Under Section 47(2) of the CGST Act 2017, the late fee is Rs 50 per day — Rs 25 CGST plus Rs 25 SGST — capped at 0.25 per cent of the taxpayer's turnover in the state or union territory. The fee runs from 1 January 2027 until the return is filed.

Do composition dealers file GSTR-9?

No. Composition taxpayers file GSTR-9A, which has been rationalised over recent years. E-commerce operators who collect tax at source file GSTR-9B. Only regular registered taxpayers above the Rs 2 crore line file GSTR-9 itself.

When is the next RBI policy after 1 June 2026?

The Monetary Policy Committee meets 3 to 5 June 2026. The repo rate stood at 5.25 per cent with a neutral stance after the 8 April 2026 hold, making the June decision the marquee market event of the first week of June.

When is the first advance tax instalment due?

Under Section 211 of the Income-tax Act 1961, the first instalment of 15 per cent of estimated liability for FY 2026-27 falls due on 15 June 2026, followed by 45 per cent by 15 September, 75 per cent by 15 December and 100 per cent by 15 March 2027. See our advance tax glossary entry for how the instalments interact with the financial year and assessment year.