Scope of GST Statutory Audit

[Kaustubh Karandikar]

Before certifying the Reconciliation Statement in GSTR 9 -C, is the Chartered Accountant mandetorily required to verify with documents and records that 1)the ITC is taken only on eligible inputs & input services 2) GST liability is correctly worked out 3) GST under reverse charge is paid on all applicable transactions 4) Job Work procedure is correctly followed or not etc.. OR he is only required to reconcile the GST records with Balance Sheet figures and then certify accordingly? Please guide.

[Ramakrishnan Krishnamurthy]

It is very good question and very timely. If you are going to certify GSTR-9C also then I would suggest you have a template in excel in place to filled by the client on the monthly basis. the templates shall have head wise ITC claimed, details of tax paid on RCM, percentage wise supply value and tax payable thereon. This record may kindly be verified by you say once in six months so that when the accounts are brought to you for your signature you will have an overall understanding of the risks in the GST area.

AI Summary

GST reconciliation obligations require substantive record verification beyond mere balance-sheet matching to identify compliance risks. Certification of the GSTR-9C reconciliation statement calls for substantive verification of GST records-not merely matching to the balance sheet-including eligibility of input tax credit, correct tax liability computation, payment under the reverse charge mechanism, and job-work compliance; practical assurance is supported by maintaining monthly templates of head-wise ITC, RCM payments and supply values with periodic (suggested six-month) reviews to identify GST risk areas.