As per Notification No. 35/2021 – Central Tax dated 24th September 2021, clause (a) of the sub-rule (6) of Rule 59 of CGST Rules, 2017 was amended. By way of this amendment, for the words “for preceding two months”, the words “for the preceding month” were substituted with effect from 1st January 2022. This means that from 1st January 2022 onwards, if a monthly filer has not filed the GSTR-3B for the preceding month, then such taxpayer will not be allowed to file the GSTR-1 for the subsequent month, till the GSTR-3B for the preceding month is filed.

This functionality will be implemented on the GST Portal shortly, after which the system will check the filing of preceding GSTR-3B before permitting to file GSTR-1 for the subsequent month.

Illustration:
A taxpayer has not filed the monthly GSTR-3B for November 2021. Now, the taxpayer tries to file GSTR-1 for December 2021 on 10th January 2022. The system will not allow filing of GSTR-1 for December 2021, and will allow filing of GSTR-1 for December 2021 only after the filing of GSTR-3B for November 2021.

Taxpayers may kindly ensure timely filing of GSTR-1 and GSTR-3B in consonance with Rule 59 of CGST Rules, 2017 to avoid any inconvenience in this regard.

Thanking You,
Team GSTN

GSTR-3B filing requirement now blocks subsequent GSTR-1 filing until the preceding month return is filed on the portal. Amendment requires a monthly taxpayer to file the GSTR-3B for the preceding month before being permitted to file the GSTR-1 for the subsequent month; the GST Portal will enforce this sequencing by checking filing of the preceding GSTR-3B and denying GSTR-1 filing until the missing return is filed.