The single most common mistake we see in Pune files is a quarterly GSTR-3B filed on the 24th. Maharashtra sits in the Category X group, so the due date is the 22nd. Two days late is two days of late fee and interest on every quarter, on a deadline the business never knew it was missing.
| Question | Short answer for Pune |
|---|---|
| Monthly filing | GSTR-1 by the 11th, GSTR-3B by the 20th of the following month. |
| Quarterly filing under QRMP | Maharashtra is a Category X state. Quarterly GSTR-3B is due on the 22nd, not the 24th. GSTR-1 quarterly by the 13th. |
| Tax still paid monthly under QRMP | PMT-06 challan by the 25th, for the first two months of each quarter. |
| Can you still fix GSTR-3B | No. Auto-populated liability has been hard-locked since the July 2025 tax period. Corrections go through GSTR-1A before you file. |
| Late fee | INR 50 per day for a return with liability, INR 20 per day for a nil return, plus interest at 18 per cent a year on unpaid tax. |
| Annual return | GSTR-9 by 31 December where turnover exceeds INR 2 crore. GSTR-9C alongside it above INR 5 crore. |
| Hard deadline you cannot argue with | Three years from the due date. After that the portal bars the return outright and you need the unbarring application. |
| Maharashtra e-way bill | No e-way bill for intra-state movement up to INR 1 lakh consignment value. Inter-state stays at INR 50,000. |
The second most common mistake is a business still trying to adjust its liability inside GSTR-3B. That stopped working from the July 2025 tax period. What flows up from GSTR-1 is what you file, and the only correction window is GSTR-1A in the same period.
We file GSTR-1, GSTR-3B, GSTR-9 and GSTR-9C for Pune businesses, reconcile ITC against GSTR-2B through the Invoice Management System before the liability locks, and keep the Maharashtra calendar separate from the central one, because they are not the same calendar.
GSTN Advisory No. 606 dated 7 June 2025 made the auto-populated outward liability in GSTR-3B non-editable from the July 2025 tax period, filed in August 2025. Tables 3.1 and 3.2 are read only. There is no override, no proceed anyway, no manual entry.
The practical effect is that GSTR-1 and GSTR-1A became the single source of truth for your liability, and GSTR-3B became nothing more than the mechanism for discharging it. A wrong GSTIN, a wrong state code, a wrong tax rate in GSTR-1 is now locked into what you pay.
GSTR-1A is the only correction route, and it can be filed once for a tax period, before GSTR-3B for that same period. Miss that window and the error persists into the return you file and the reconciliation you will be arguing about two years later.
This is why the work moved upstream. The month now runs backwards from the 11th, not the 20th. Sales register reconciled before GSTR-1, IMS actions taken on inward invoices and credit notes, GSTR-1 filed clean, GSTR-1A used only for genuine late corrections, and GSTR-3B filed as a payment step rather than an adjustment step.
Two calendars run in parallel for a Pune business. The central GST calendar, and the Maharashtra one. Missing the second is what usually generates the surprise notice.
| Return or payment | Who files it | Due date |
|---|---|---|
| GSTR-1 | Monthly filers, turnover above INR 5 crore or opted out of QRMP | 11th of the following month |
| GSTR-1 quarterly | QRMP filers, turnover up to INR 5 crore | 13th of the month following the quarter |
| IFF, optional | QRMP filers wanting buyers to get ITC sooner | 13th of the following month, for months 1 and 2 of the quarter |
| GSTR-3B monthly | Monthly filers | 20th of the following month |
| GSTR-3B quarterly | QRMP filers registered in Maharashtra (Category X) | 22nd of the month following the quarter |
| PMT-06 challan | QRMP filers, monthly tax deposit | 25th of the following month, for months 1 and 2 of the quarter |
| GSTR-9 | Aggregate turnover above INR 2 crore | 31 December following the financial year |
| GSTR-9C | Aggregate turnover above INR 5 crore | 31 December, filed with GSTR-9 |
| CMP-08 | Composition dealers | 18th of the month following the quarter |
| PTRC return | Maharashtra employers deducting professional tax | Monthly or annual depending on prior year liability, filed on mahagst.gov.in |
The Category X and Category Y split is worth understanding rather than memorising. Maharashtra, Gujarat, Karnataka, Goa, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Telangana and Andhra Pradesh file on the 22nd. West Bengal, Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Punjab and the rest file on the 24th. A Pune business with a second GSTIN in Kolkata is filing on two different dates for the same quarter.
Your GSTIN is administered either by the Maharashtra GST Department or by the Central GST Pune Zone, and the allocation is printed on your registration certificate.
The state authority operates from GST Bhavan, opposite the Golf Club, Airport Road, Yerawada, Pune 411006, with jurisdiction over Pune district split across nodal divisions including Pune East and Pune South. The central authority sits at GST Bhavan, 41-A Sassoon Road, Pune 411001, covering the Pune-I and Pune-II Commissionerates, with Audit-I Pune and Audit-II Pune handling audits and Appeals-I and Appeals-II handling first appeals.
This matters when an ASMT-10 scrutiny notice lands. The reply goes to your allotted authority, on their timeline, and getting that wrong wastes the reply window. A return practice that already knows which office holds your file saves that step.
The Finance Act, 2023 inserted time limits into Sections 37, 39, 44 and 52 of the CGST Act, operationalised by Notification No. 28/2023 - Central Tax dated 31 July 2023 with effect from 1 October 2023. A return cannot be furnished after three years from its due date.
GSTN brought the validation live on the portal from the July 2025 tax period and issued a further advisory on 29 October 2025 on filing pending returns before expiry. GSTR-1, GSTR-1A, GSTR-3B, GSTR-4, GSTR-5, GSTR-6, GSTR-7, GSTR-8, GSTR-9 and GSTR-9C all fall inside it.
Once a period is barred, the liability does not disappear. The department can still recover tax, interest and penalty, and you lose the ability to self-assess. GSTN has since launched an Application for Unbarring Returns module on the portal, reachable under Services, Returns, so there is now an administrative route where previously people were going to High Courts. It is an application, not an entitlement.
If you have taken over a Pune business with dormant periods, or you are sitting on a GSTIN you stopped filing for during a slow year, that backlog has a clock on it. Triage it by due date and file oldest first.
| Package | Fee | What it covers |
|---|---|---|
| Quarterly, QRMP filers | From INR 999 per quarter | GSTR-1 quarterly, GSTR-3B quarterly, PMT-06 challans, IMS actions, ITC reconciliation |
| Monthly filers | On quote, based on invoice volume | GSTR-1, GSTR-3B, IMS actions, GSTR-2B reconciliation, monthly position report |
| Annual return, GSTR-9 | On quote | Annual return preparation and filing where turnover exceeds INR 2 crore |
| GSTR-9C reconciliation | On quote | Self-certified reconciliation statement where turnover exceeds INR 5 crore |
| Backlog and pending returns | On quote | Triage by due date, late fee computation, filing oldest first before the three year bar |
Every fee above is a professional fee and excludes GST. Late fees, interest and any government charges are paid by you at actuals and none of it sits inside our fee.
All fees and charges listed are indicative only and do not constitute a binding offer. Final amounts may vary depending on the volume of work and the complexity involved.
| Trigger | Charge |
|---|---|
| Late GSTR-1 or GSTR-3B with liability | INR 50 per day, being INR 25 CGST and INR 25 SGST |
| Late nil GSTR-1 or GSTR-3B | INR 20 per day, being INR 10 CGST and INR 10 SGST |
| Late fee cap, per return | INR 2,000 where turnover is up to INR 1.5 crore, INR 5,000 from INR 1.5 crore to INR 5 crore, INR 10,000 above INR 5 crore. Nil returns capped lower. |
| Interest on unpaid tax | 18 per cent a year from the day after the due date |
| Interest on excess ITC claimed and utilised | 24 per cent a year |
| Late GSTR-9 | INR 200 per day, capped at 0.5 per cent of turnover in the state |
The cost that hurts is not the late fee. A missed return blocks the next period from being filed, so one skipped month becomes a chain. Your buyers stop seeing your invoices in their GSTR-2B, which means they stop getting credit, which in a Pune supply chain means the purchase order goes to somebody else.
| Reference | Relevance |
|---|---|
| Section 37, CGST Act, 2017 | GSTR-1, the statement of outward supplies, and the time limit on furnishing it |
| Section 39, CGST Act, 2017 | GSTR-3B and the periodic return |
| Section 44, CGST Act, 2017 read with Rule 80 | Annual return in GSTR-9 above INR 2 crore, and the reconciliation statement in GSTR-9C above INR 5 crore |
| Section 47, CGST Act, 2017 | Late fee for a delayed return, with the turnover-linked caps |
| Section 50, CGST Act, 2017 | Interest at 18 per cent a year on unpaid tax, and 24 per cent on excess input tax credit claimed and utilised |
| Notification No. 28/2023 - Central Tax dated 31 July 2023 | Operationalises the three year bar under Sections 37, 39, 44 and 52, effective 1 October 2023 |
| GSTN Advisory No. 606 dated 7 June 2025 | Auto-populated outward liability in Tables 3.1 and 3.2 of GSTR-3B non-editable from the July 2025 tax period |
| Notification No. 15E/2018 - State Tax dated 29 June 2018 | Maharashtra intra-state e-way bill threshold of INR 1 lakh, and the job work exemption up to 50 km |
Authority sources: the GST common portal at gst.gov.in, the Maharashtra GST Department at mahagst.gov.in and Central GST and Customs, Pune Zone at punecgstcus.gov.in. Verified 04 August 2026.
Same city: GST Registration in Pune, ITR Filing in Pune. If you are exporting from Pune, LUT filing runs annually and sits alongside these returns. If you are on a marketplace, the additional place of business amendment has to be made before stock moves.
The 22nd of the month following the quarter. Maharashtra is a Category X state under the QRMP staggering, along with Gujarat, Karnataka, Goa, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Telangana and Andhra Pradesh. The 24th applies to the Category Y states such as West Bengal, Delhi and Uttar Pradesh. Many calendars online quote only the 24th, which is why this is one of the most common two-day defaults we correct in Pune files.
Yes. Under QRMP the returns are quarterly but the tax is monthly. You deposit through a PMT-06 challan by the 25th for the first two months of the quarter, and the third month's liability is settled when you file the quarterly GSTR-3B.
No. Since the July 2025 tax period, filed in August 2025, the auto-populated outward liability in Tables 3.1 and 3.2 of GSTR-3B is non-editable, under GSTN Advisory No. 606 dated 7 June 2025. Any correction has to be made through GSTR-1A for the same tax period, before GSTR-3B is filed. GSTR-1A can be filed once per period.
The portal bars them. Under the Finance Act, 2023 and Notification No. 28/2023 - Central Tax, returns under Sections 37, 39, 44 and 52 cannot be furnished after three years from the due date, and GSTN enforced this from the July 2025 tax period. The liability does not lapse, so tax, interest and penalty remain recoverable. GSTN has launched an Application for Unbarring Returns module on the portal, but it is an application that has to be justified, not an automatic right.
INR 20 per day, being INR 10 CGST and INR 10 SGST, subject to the cap. A nil return still has to be filed. Not trading is not a reason to skip a period, and a skipped period blocks the next one.
Only if aggregate turnover exceeds INR 2 crore for the financial year. Above INR 5 crore you also file GSTR-9C, the self-certified reconciliation statement, on the same date. Both are due by 31 December following the financial year.
Not unless the consignment value exceeds INR 1 lakh. Maharashtra raised the intra-state threshold from INR 50,000 to INR 1 lakh by Notification No. 15E/2018 - State Tax dated 29 June 2018. Hank, yarn, fabric and garments moved up to 50 km within the state for job work are exempt regardless of value. Anything leaving Maharashtra reverts to the INR 50,000 national threshold.
The credit will not appear in your GSTR-2B, and with GSTR-3B hard-locked you cannot simply claim it anyway. This is why we reconcile against GSTR-2B rather than the purchase register and name the defaulting suppliers each month, so you can chase them while the period is still open rather than at annual return time.
Yes, and it is common. We start with a reconciliation of what has been filed against your books, quantify any late fee and interest exposure, and check whether any period is approaching the three year bar. You get that position before you commit to a retainer.
Yes. PTRC and PTEC sit with the Maharashtra GST Department on a separate calendar from your GST returns, and they are the filings most often missed by businesses whose accountant is not in Maharashtra. We run both alongside the GST work.
Tell us what you need and a real CA calls you back, with no scripts and no transfers. Call 72783 76654. Mon - Sat, 10:00 AM - 7:00 PM IST.
Reviewed by CA & CS Team - CorporateWalla · Last Updated 04 August 2026 · · Sources: GST common portal, Maharashtra GST Department, Pune, Central GST and Customs, Pune Zone
Canonical: https://corporatewalla.com/pune/gst-return-filing
