GST Return Due Dates 2026: The Complete Filing Calendar

GST return due dates 2026 follow the same monthly/quarterly pattern that has applied for several years: GSTR-1 by the 11th (or the 13th under QRMP), GSTR-3B by the 20th (or the 22nd/24th under QRMP), and annual returns once a year. What has actually changed heading into 2026 is not the calendar — it is two structural rules that now sit behind that calendar: a hard three-year cutoff on late filing, and the hard-locking of GSTR-3B's auto-populated figures. Both matter more than the dates themselves.

GSTR-1 and GSTR-3B: monthly vs QRMP

Most regular taxpayers file GSTR-1 and GSTR-3B on a monthly cycle. Businesses with aggregate turnover up to ₹5 crore can opt into the QRMP (Quarterly Return, Monthly Payment) scheme instead, which lets them file GSTR-1 and GSTR-3B once a quarter while still paying tax monthly through a simplified challan. QRMP does not mean you skip reporting for two months of the quarter — it means the detailed return is filed quarterly, and in between you either pay an estimated amount or use the IFF to report invoices as you go.

The trade-off is speed versus paperwork: monthly filers get their outward supplies into buyers’ GSTR-2B faster, which buyers care about for input tax credit, while QRMP filers do less administrative work per month at the cost of a short lag in when their invoices become visible upstream.

Full due-date table by return type

The Invoice Furnishing Facility (IFF)

The IFF exists specifically for QRMP taxpayers. In the first two months of a quarter, when you are not otherwise filing GSTR-1, you can voluntarily upload B2B invoices through the IFF by the 13th of the following month. This does not replace the quarterly GSTR-1 — it simply lets those specific invoices reach your buyers’ GSTR-2B a month or two earlier than they would if you waited for the quarterly filing. If a buyer is chasing you about a missing credit, using the IFF is usually the fastest fix.

Annual returns: GSTR-9 and GSTR-9C

GSTR-9 is the consolidated annual return, summarising a year’s worth of monthly or quarterly filings. It is mandatory for taxpayers whose aggregate turnover exceeds ₹2 crore for the year, and optional below that threshold. GSTR-9C is a reconciliation statement between the annual return and audited financial statements, required where turnover exceeds ₹5 crore. For FY 2024-25, the standard due date reported for both was 31 December 2025, subject to extension — the same 31 December pattern is the general expectation going forward, but confirm the specific date for the year in question rather than assuming it never moves.

For more on how the turnover figure that triggers these thresholds is actually calculated, see our guide to annual aggregate turnover under GST.

The 3-year hard time bar on filing

This is the most consequential change most taxpayers have not fully absorbed yet. The Finance Act 2023 amended Sections 37, 39, 44 and 52 of the CGST Act to bar filing of GSTR-1, GSTR-3B, GSTR-4, GSTR-5, GSTR-8 and GSTR-9 more than three years after their original due date. GSTN began technically enforcing this on the portal from the July 2025 tax period onward — meaning returns are now hitting a permanent, system-level block as their three-year window lapses, not just a late-fee penalty.

Practically, that means a GSTR-3B for August 2022 (due 20 September 2022) had to be filed by 20 September 2025 or it can never be filed at all. If your business has any backlog of unfiled returns, this is not a "deal with it later" problem — the filing window closes permanently, and there is no appeal route back into the portal once it does.

GSTR-3B hard-locking of outward liability

Since the July 2025 tax period, GSTR-3B’s outward-supply liability tables (3.1 and 3.2) are auto-populated from your GSTR-1, IFF and GSTR-1A filings for that period, and that portion of the return is no longer directly editable. If a number in GSTR-3B is wrong, the fix now has to go through GSTR-1A for that same period before you file GSTR-3B — you can no longer just correct the figure inline the way filers could before. This was proposed in October 2024, postponed once, and finally took effect with GSTR-3B filed from August 2025 onward.

Late fees, in general terms

Late fees for GSTR-3B and GSTR-1 are generally charged per day of delay, split between CGST and SGST, with a cap that varies by turnover band, and a lower flat rate for nil returns. GSTR-9 carries its own late fee, generally cited as ₹200 per day (₹100 CGST + ₹100 SGST) capped at 0.25% of turnover on each side. The exact per-slab caps for GSTR-3B and GSTR-1 have been revised more than once by Council recommendation, so treat any specific rupee figure as indicative and check the current notification before quoting it to a client or in a filing decision.

You can pull a taxpayer’s full filing history — return type, period, ARN, filing date and on-time/delayed status — for any GSTIN with a single API call:

GET https://gstinapi.com/api/get-taxpayer-info/27AAACR5055K1Z7
X-API-Key: YOUR_API_KEY

The response includes per-return-type due-date and delay analysis, plus each GSTIN’s QRMP preference by quarter — useful for building your own vendor-compliance dashboard instead of checking the portal by hand. See the API documentation for the full response schema, or read how ITC is affected by supplier filing behaviour in our input tax credit rules guide.

Frequently asked questions