GSTR-8 Offline Utility

Overview

  • GSTR-8 Offline utility is an Excel-based tool to facilitate the creation of TCS return in Form GSTR8, which is to be filed on the GST portal by electronic (or e-) commerce operators.

  • Operator/GST practitioners may use the offline utility to fill details of the transactions that attract the provision of TCS in Table 3 of GSTR-8 and amendments related to previous period(s) in Table 4 of GSTR-8.

  • Once return is prepared using offline utility, it is to be uploaded on GST Portal for payment of liabilities, refund claims, signing and filing. Every registered person who is obligated under the law to collect prescribed percentage of TCS relating to all outward supplies of goods and/or services, would be required to file this return in Form GSTR-8, by 10th of the month succeeding the current tax period.

To Prepare TCS Return in Form GSTR-8 using offline utility, perform following steps:

  • A. Download the GSTR-8 Offline Utility

  • B. Open the GSTR-8 Offline Utility Excel Worksheet

  • C. Add table-wise details in the Worksheet

  • D. Generate JSON File to upload

  • E. Upload the generated JSON File on GST Portal

  • F. Preview Form GSTR-8 on the GST Portal

  • G. Open Downloaded Error GSTR-8 JSON File(s), if any

  • H. Open Downloaded GSTR-8 JSON File(s), if required

  • To know about the following steps of filing GSTR-8 on the GST Portal, please refer to GSTR 8 Online Manual:

  • I. Payment of Tax

  • J. File Form GSTR-8 with DSC/EVC

  • K. View Debit entries in Electronic Cash Ledger for tax payment

  • L. Download Filed Return

A. Download the GSTR-8 Offline Utility

To download the GSTR-8 Offline Utility, perform following steps: Downloading the GSTR-8 Offline utility is a one-time activity. However, the utility may get updated in future. So, always use the latest version available on the GST Portal.

1) Access the www.gst.gov.in URL. The GST Home page is displayed.

2) Click the Downloads > Offline Tools > GSTR 8 Offline Utility option.

Click Download GSTR-8 offline

You can download the GSTR-8 Offline Utility from the Portal without logging in to the GST Portal.

3) Returns page is displayed. Click the Download hyperlink.

Return page

Make sure you carefully read the Important message and System Requirement details displayed on the page.

4) An Information popup opens. Click PROCEED.

Popup message

5) Returns page is displayed again and a zipped GSTR 8Offline Utility folder gets downloaded.

Zipped GSTR-8 offline

B. Open the GSTR-8 Offline Utility Excel Worksheet

To open the downloaded GSTR-8 Offline Utility Excel Worksheet, perform following steps:

1) Extract the files from the downloaded zipped folder GSTR8_Offline_Utility.zip and you will see GSTR8_Offline_Utility excel file in the unzipped folder. Right-click and click Open.

Click open

2) Click Enable Editing.

Click Enable editing

3) Click Enable Content. Then, click the Read Me tab.

Click Enable content

The Worksheet comprises 5 tabs—Read Me, Home, 3 TCS, 4 Amend and Suppliers Master.

4) Read Me page is displayed. It contains introduction and help instructions.

Read me page is displayed

5) Scroll down to read all the instructions carefully. Once you have completed your reading, you can now proceed to enter TCS details in the worksheet.

Enter TCS details in worksheet Enter TCS details in worksheet1

C. Add table-wise details in the Worksheet

To add table-wise details in the Worksheet, perform following steps:

1) Go to the Home tab and enter GSTIN, Financial Year (select from the drop-down list) and Tax Period (select from the drop-down list).

Enter Financial year

2) Go to the Suppliers Master tab and enter GSTIN and other details of the suppliers. This will help you easily populate data in the Table 3 and Table 4.

Entering details in the Suppliers Master sheet is not mandatory. You can update the details in Table no 3 and 4 without updating the details in suppliers Master.

Enter the suppliers master

a. Column B S.NO. will get automatically populated after you click the Validate Sheet button.

b. Fill Column C, GSTIN of Supplier *, with active GSTIN. You can verify validity of GSTIN from the GST portal: Home > Search Taxpayer > Search by GSTIN/UIN.

This is the only mandatory field in this sheet.

c. In Column D, Legal name, enter legal name of the supplier (this field is not mandatory)

d. In Column E, Trade name, if any, enter trade name of the supplier (this field is not mandatory)

e. In Column F, Action, select “Delete” only if you want to delete from the Master sheet.

If you select ‘Delete’ then those details will be removed from the master sheet after you click the Validate Sheet button. (this field is not mandatory)

3) Click the Validate Sheet button.

a. If error occur during validation of Suppliers Master Worksheet, it will appear on click on Validate sheet button

Click on Validate sheet

b. Popup Message box appears “Sheet Successfully Validated. No error(s) found. Click OK.

Popup messages

4) Go to 3 TCS tab and enter details in Columns B to K.

Enter details in columns B to K

a. In Column B, GSTIN of Supplier *, enter GSTIN of supplier using the drop-down list containing all the GSTINs you entered in the Suppliers Master tab. For each row, you can either select the GSTIN from this list or enter it manually. If you want to only copy/paste GSTINs from another sheet, click Enable Suppliers’ Master drop down button and it will be changed to “Disable Suppliers’ Master drop down” and you will be able to use the copy/paste functionality.

For a particular GSTIN of the supplier, there cannot be any duplicate records in this sheet. All rows of this sheet must contain a unique GSTIN.

b. While entering values in the following columns, make sure you don’t enter any negative amount. You can enter decimal values. The utility will automatically round off all decimal values you enter to two decimal places:

  • Column C – Gross value of supplies made to registered persons

  • Column D – Value of supplies returned by registered persons

  • Column E- Gross value of supplies made to unregistered persons

  • Column F- Value of supplies returned by unregistered persons

c. Columns G – Net amount liable for TCS* will contain auto-calculated values based on the values you enter in Columns C, D, E and F.

If the total values in Columns D and F is more than the total values in Columns C and E (goods returned is more than the current month’s supply), utility auto-calculates and populates the “Net amount liable for TCS” column with a negative amount. And, when you click the “Validate Sheet” button, the IGST/CGST/ST columns of these particular rows are automatically populated with a zero value.

d. While entering tax details in the following columns, make sure the total taxable amount—IGST (Integrated Tax) or Central Tax (CGST) and State/UT Tax (SGST/UTGST)— is 2% of the auto-calculated net amount liable for TCS in Columns G.

  • Column H – Integrated Tax

  • Column I – Central Tax

  • Column J – State/UT

Only IGST is applicable if location of supplier and place of supply are in different States/Union territories. Otherwise, Central Tax (CGST) or State/UT Tax (SGST/UTGST) will be applicable and these two must be of the same amount. Thus, we can have the following scenarios:

Type of Supply Integrated Tax Central Tax State/UT Tax
Inter State 2% Not Applicable Not Applicable
Intra State 2%
1% 0.5% 0.5%
1% 1%

e. When you go to Column ‘K’-Action, you will see a drop-down list with two options: Add and Delete. Select Add for each row with TDS data.

  • Please note that Add and Delete options are meant for adding or deleting data in the GST portal and for the subsequent uploads use delete option to delete the records which are already uploaded through offline mode or records added through online.

  • In case, you need to delete some data you have entered in the sheet before upload, delete it manually using the “Delete” button of your keyboard.

5) Once you have entered all the TCS details, click the Validate Sheet button.

a. n case of successful validation, Column L i.e. Sheet Validation Errors,of this sheet will be empty and you can directly perform Step 8.

b. . In case of unsuccessful validation, error-intimation popup will appear and the cells with error will be highlighted. Close the popup by clicking OK.

In case of unsuccessful validation

6) The comment box for each cell that error out will show the error message The user can read the error description of each cell. Correct the errors as mentioned in the description box.

Alternatively, click the Review ribbon-tab > Show All Comments link to view the comments for fields with errors.

Click Review

7) After you have corrected all the errors, again click the Validate Sheet button. As no errors were found, Column L of this sheet will be empty and a No errors popup appears. Click OK.

Click validate sheet

8) If you have to make any amendments related to previous month(s), go to 4 Amend sheet. Otherwise, perform steps mentioned in the following hyperlink: Generate JSON File to upload

a. Enter details from Column B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I, J, K, L, M and click the Validate Sheet button. Perform Steps 5 to 7 mentioned above, in this sheet also, until all the cells of the sheet are error-free.

Enter details from columns

b. In Columns B and C, select Month and Year from the drop-down list.

c When you go to Column D and E, you will see a drop-down list containing all the GSTINs you entered in the Suppliers Master tab. For each row, you can select the GSTIN from this list. If you want to only copy/paste GSTIN from another sheet, click Enable Suppliers’ Master drop down button and it will be changed to “Disable Suppliers’ Master drop down” and you will be able to use the copy/paste functionality.

For a particular GSTIN of the supplier, there cannot be any duplicate records in this sheet. All rows of this sheet must contain a unique GSTIN.

d. While entering values in Columns F, G, H and I make sure you don’t enter any negative amount. You can enter decimal values. The utility will automatically round off all decimal values you enter to two decimal places.

e. Columns J will contain auto-calculated values based on the values you enter in Columns F, G, H and I.

If the total values in Columns G and I is more than the total values in Columns F and H (goods returned is more than the current month’s supply) utility auto-calculates and populates the “Net amount liable for TCS” column with a negative amount. And, when you click the “Validate Sheet” button, the IGST/CGST/ST columns of these particular rows are automatically populated with a zero value.

f. While entering tax details in Columns K, L and M, make sure the total taxable amount—IGST (Integrated Tax) or Central Tax (CGST) and State/UT Tax (SGST)— is 2% of the auto-calculated net amount liable for TCS in Columns G.

Only IGST is applicable if location of supplier and place of supply are in different States/Union territories. Otherwise, Central Tax (CGST) or State/UT Tax (SGST/UTGST) will be applicable and these two must be of the same amount. Thus, we can have the following scenarios:

Type of Supply Integrated Tax Central Tax State/UT Tax
Inter State 2% Not Applicable Not Applicable
Intra State 2%
1% 0.5% 0.5%
1% 1%

g. When you go to Column M, you will see a drop-down list with two options: Add and Delete. Select Add for each row with TCS data.

  • Please note that Add and Delete options are meant for adding or deleting data in the GST portal. Ignore the Delete option when preparing GSTR-8 for first-time upload, and for the subsequent uploads use it only to delete those particular rows from the already-uploaded data of the portal.

  • In case, you need to delete some data you have entered in the sheet before upload, delete it manually using the “Delete” button of your keyboard.

D. Generate JSON File to upload

To generate JSON File to upload, perform following steps:

1) From the tab you are on, go to the ‘Home’ sheet by either clicking the ‘Go Home’ button or clicking the Home sheet.

Click Home sheet

2) On the Home sheet, scroll down and click on the Get Summary button. Summary of all the entries filled in 3 TCS and 4 Amend sheets is displayed.

Click Get Summary

3) Scroll up and click the Generate JSON File to upload button.

Click Generate JSON file to upload

4) A Save As pop-up window appears. Select the location where you want to save the JSON file, enter the file name and click the SAVE button.

!Click Save btn

5) A window pop-up appears displaying the path where the JSON is going to be saved in your machine. Click OK.

Popup message

6) Another window pop-up appears with a message that the file has been generated and placed at the desired location and now it can be uploaded on the portal. Click OK.

Click ok

E. Upload the generated JSON File on GST Portal

To upload the generated JSON File on the GST Portal, perform following steps:

1) Access the www.gst.gov.in URL. The GST Home page is displayed.

2) Login to the portal with valid credentials.

3) Dashboard page is displayed. Click Return Dashboard. Alternatively, you can also access the Return Dashboard by the following navigation: Services > Returns > Returns Dashboard

Dashboard page

4) The File Returns page is displayed. Select the Financial Year & Return Filing Period (Month) for which you want to file the return from the drop-down list and click the SEARCH button.

Select Financial Year

5) The GSTR-8 tile is displayed, with an Important Message box on the right. In the GSTR-8 tile, click the PREPARE OFFLINE button.

Click Prepare offline

6) The Upload section of the Offline Upload and Download for GSTR-8 page is displayed. Click the Choose File button.

Click Choose file

7) Browse and navigate the JSON file to be uploaded from your computer. Click the Open button.

Click open

8) The Upload section page is displayed. A green message appears confirming successful upload and asking you to wait while the GST system validates the uploaded data. And, below the message, is the Upload History table showing Status as “In-progress”.

Upload History

9) Once the validation is complete, one of the following two instances can occur:

a. No error was found. Then, the Upload History table will show the Status as “Processed” and Error Report as “NA”.

No error was found

I. You can download the successfully uploaded file under ‘Download’ section. Go to Download section and click the Generate File button

Click Generate file

II. A message is displayed mentioning the date and time of previous download of JSON file.

Message -download of JSON file

While sometimes you have wait for the file to be generated, you can preview the successfully uploaded details in Form GSTR-8 on the GST portal.

III. Click on the link to download your validated zipped file. Unzip and save the Json File in your machine.

Download zipped file

Import the json file into the offline utility and make updates as necessary.

b. Error was found. Then, the Upload History table will show the Status as “Processed with Errors” and Error Report as “Generate error report”.

Generate error report

Error Report will contain only those entries that failed validation on the GST portal. The successfully-validated entries can be previewed online.

I. Click Generate error report hyperlink. A confirmation-message is displayed and Columns Status and Error Report change as shown.

Columns Status and Error Report

Once the error report is generated, Download error report link is displayed in the Column Error Report. Click the Download error report link to download the zipped error report.

Click Download error report

III. Unzip and save the Json File in your machine.

Unzip -save file

IV. Import the json file into the offline utility and make updates as necessary.

F. Preview Form GSTR-8 on the GST Portal

To preview Form GSTR-8 on the GST Portal, perform following steps:

1) Access the http://www.gst.gov.in URL. The GST Home page is displayed.

2) Login to the portal with valid credentials.

3) Dashboard page is displayed. Click Return Dashboard. Alternatively, you can also access the Return Dashboard by the following navigation: Services > Returns > Returns Dashboard

Click Return dashboard

4) The File Returns page is displayed. Select the Financial Year & Return Filing Period (Month) for which you want to file the return from the drop-down list and click the SEARCH button.

Click search btn

5) The GSTR-8 tile is displayed, with an Important Message box on the right. In the GSTR-8 tile, click the PREPARE ONLINE button.

Click prepare online

6) The details you had successfully uploaded on the portal using the Offline Utility would be displayed in Tiles 3 and 4. Click the PREVIEW button. The draft Summary page of your Form GSTR-8 gets downloaded.

Click preview GSTR-8 form

7) The downloaded PDF is displayed. It is recommended that you review the summary of entries made in different sections with patience before filing. The PDF file generated would bear watermark of draft as the details are yet to be submitted.

GSTR-8 form

For knowing how to proceed to file and file the GSTR 8 Return online, please follow the steps mentioned in the following hyperlink: GSTR 8 Online Manual

G. Open Downloaded GSTR-8 JSON File(s), if needed

To open the downloaded GSTR-8 JSON File for modifying successfully-validated entries that have been uploaded on the GST Portal, perform following steps:

1) Open GSTR-8 Offline Utility and go to the Home Tab. Click the Open Downloaded GSTR-8 JSON File button.

Click open downloaded GSTR-8 JSON file

2) Browse the JSON(.json) file and click the Open button.

Click open

3) Select the downloaded JSON (. json) file and click on OK to proceed.

Select downloaded JSON file

4) Success message will be displayed. Click the OK button to proceed.

Success Message

5) Now all the TCS entries that were successfully uploaded on the GST Portal would be autopopulated in the respective sheets: 3 TCS and 4 Amend

Autopopulated sheets

3 TCS and 4 Amend

6) Modify the TCS details as per requirement in 3 TCS and 4 Amend

7) After making the modifications, click the Validate Sheet button to validate the sheets.

8) After each section is successfully validated, click the Get Summary button to update the summary on Home tab.

9) Summary is displayed for all the sections.

GST portal allows you to modify and upload JSON multiple times before it is filed. An important point to note here is that if some TCS details exist from previous upload, it will be updated with latest uploaded details. All new TCS entries will be added as new entries.

H. Open Downloaded Error GSTR-8 JSON File(s), if any

To open the downloaded Error GSTR-8 JSON File for correcting entries that failed validation on the GST portal, perform following steps:

1) Open GSTR-8 Offline Utility and go to the Home tab. Under the section Error File Handling, click the Open Downloaded Error JSON Files button.

Click open downloaded error JSON file

2) A file dialog box will open. Navigate to extracted error file. Select the file and click the OK button. The Error file is The folder returns_19122018_R8_07AUGGC1893FGC6_errorReport which is Extracted from zip file

Dialog box- click open

Dialog box- click ok

3) Success message will be displayed. Click the OK button to proceed.

Click ok

4) Navigate to 3 TCS and 4 Amend sheets. Correct the errors, as mentioned in the column “GST Portal Validation Errors” in each sheet.

Navigate 3 TCS and 4 Amend sheets

The downloaded Error JSON File contains only the erroneous entries.

5) After making the corrections, click the Validate Sheet button to validate the sheets. Now, column “GST Portal Validation Errors” and the column “Sheet Validation Errors” should be empty.

Click validate sheet

6) From the tab you are on, go to the Home tab by either clicking the Go Home button or clicking the Home tab to generate summary.