A return is a statement of financial activity by a taxable person for a prescribed period. This allows a taxable person to self-assess the tax they owe for that period.

Every registered taxable person is required to file returns under the GST law. If you have not performed any business activities during the period covered by a return, you need to file a Nil return.
There are some entities that will need to register for GST but aren’t required to file returns regularly, such as UN bodies (and foreign consulates) must register for a unique GST ID, but they are required to file returns only for months during which they make purchases.
Some entities do not need to register or file returns. Government entities and Public Sector Undertakings (PSUs), entities dealing with non-GST supplies, and those who deal with exempted/Nil rated/non GST goods and/or services will neither be required to register under the GST nor file returns.

Yes, you are allowed to make corrections. As a registered taxpayer, you are legally bound to file the details of every modification made to the return data to the GSTN either through an amendment form (if the edit was made before 17th of the following) or using the amendment sections under the next month’s tax return (if the edit was made after 17th of the following month). This is because modifications to invoices and other documents can result in a mismatch between your data and the data held by your customer or vendor and this will lead to litigation. Hence, by declaring the details of all edits made by you, you stay true to the law.

Yes, an OTP is required at every stage of the filing process: whether it’s for pushing data into GSTN, reconciling uncategorised transactions from GSTN, or for filing GST returns. Every OTP sent to the registered phone number is valid only for 10mins. That said, if you are filing your GST returns through a GST filing software, the life of your OTP gets extended.

Upon entering the OTP for the very first time inside the filing software, the network will authenticate the OTP and provide a token to the application which will allow you to carry out your filing operation uninterrupted for 6-12hrs (until the token expires).

Before we dive into GST returns, let us first try to understand who a Non-Resident taxpayer is. A Non-Resident taxpayer is a taxable person who occasionally undertakes transactions involving supply of goods and/or services but who has no fixed place of business in India.
Non-Resident taxpayers are required to file the GSTR-5 for their registered period (which can range from days to weeks to months). This return has to be filed within a period of 7 days after the expiry date of the registration. If the registered period is more than a month, then this return has to be filed every month for the remainder of the registered period.

For transactions where you deduct tax at the source (under section 37 of model CGST and SGST law), you need to file the GSTR-7 along with your other monthly returns.
The GSTR-7 contains:
• Taxpayer’s basic information (name, GSTIN, etc).
• Period to which the return pertains.
• Supplier’s GSTIN.
• Invoices against which the tax has been deducted (categorized under the major tax heads – SGST, CGST, and IGST).
• Other payments such as interests and penalties.

Ensure that you record the purchase in your GSTR-2. Since there will be a mismatch between your vendor’s GSTR-1 and your GSTR-2, it will be reflected in your vendor’s GSTR-1A. The GSTR-1A allows your vendor to update the sales information filed in their GSTR-1 and shows any mismatches in the details provided by the buyer in their GSTR-2.
Once your vendor accepts the changes shown in the GSTR-1A, their GSTR-1 will be automatically updated.