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Prepare and submit GSTR-3B
See your GSTR-3B summary of output tax, input tax credit and tax payable for a month or quarter, export it, and save or submit it to GSTN.
GSTR-3B is the summary return where you report your sales tax, claim input tax credit (ITC) and pay the balance. Arthlekha builds it from your sales and purchase entries for the period you pick.
Before you start
- GST registration must be on in GST configuration. When it is off, the Statutory (GST) menu is hidden.
- To save or submit on the portal, link your GST portal account by OTP in GST configuration. Viewing and exporting do not need this link.
- Record all sales, purchases, credit notes and debit notes for the period first. Check due dates on the GST portal.
Steps
- Open Statutory (GST) > GSTR-3B.
- Choose Monthly or Quarterly in the first box.
- Pick the month and year, or the quarter and financial year.
- The top band shows the tax flow: Output Tax, minus Input Tax (ITC), equals Net Payable. If ITC is more than output tax, it shows ITC Refund instead.
- Click a section heading to open or close it. All sections are open when the page loads.
- Check each section against your books.
- Click the Export Excel icon to download the return as a spreadsheet.
- Click the refresh icon after you change any entry.
Sections
| Section | What it shows |
|---|---|
| 3.1 | Outward Supplies & Reverse Charge: taxable sales, zero rated sales, nil rated and exempt sales, inward supplies under reverse charge, and non-GST sales. Row (d) is filled from your RCM purchases. |
| 3.2 | Inter-State Supplies to Unregistered: the part of 3.1(a) sold to unregistered buyers in other states, by place of supply. |
| 4 | Eligible ITC: GST on your purchase bills dated in the period. All of it is shown in (5) All other ITC. |
| 5 | Exempt, Nil Rated & Non-GST Inward: purchase lines at 0% GST. |
| 6 | Payment of Tax: for each tax head, the Tax Payable, the part Paid via ITC and the Cash Payable. The totals show Total Payable, Total ITC Set-off and Total Cash. |
Section 4 takes ITC from your purchase bills, not from GSTR-2B. Rows (1) to (4) of section 4 and the ITC reversal rows are always zero here. If you import goods or services, get ISD credit, or must reverse ITC, enter those figures on the GST portal yourself. Match your purchases to GSTR-2B first with the GSTR-2B screen.
Section 6 sets off ITC within each tax head only (IGST against IGST, CGST against CGST, SGST against SGST). The GST portal allows some cross set-off, so your actual cash payment can be lower. Always confirm the payment on the portal.
Save to GSTN
- Choose Monthly. Saving and submitting work only for a month. In Quarterly view the buttons are greyed out.
- Click Save. The data is saved on the portal as a draft.
- A green message confirms it. You can save again after correcting entries.
Submit to GSTN
- Check every section. Save first if you want to compare with the portal.
- Click File. The Submit GSTR-3B? window opens.
- Click Confirm & Submit. Arthlekha saves the return and then submits it.
- A green message confirms the submission. The month is shown as filed on the GST filing dashboard.
- Log in to the GST portal to pay any tax due and complete the filing as the portal requires.
Once submitted, this return cannot be modified. Verify output tax, ITC and net payable before you submit.
Common problems
- GSTR-3B is filed monthly. QRMP only applies to GSTR-1. — switch to Monthly before saving or submitting.
- GST account not linked. Link via OTP first. — link your GST portal in GST configuration.
- GST portal session expired. Re-link with OTP. — the link lasts only a few hours. Link again in GST configuration.
- Business GSTIN not set — enter your GSTIN in the Business Profile.
- GSTN is still processing your previous save (RET192411) — your data is queued at the portal. Wait about 60 seconds and click again.
- ITC looks too high — every purchase bill dated in the period is counted. Check that bills not yet in GSTR-2B are not claimed. See GSTR-2B.
- An invoice is missing — check that its date falls in the period picked.
Related
More in GST
GST configurationSwitch GST registration on or off, save your NIC e-invoice and e-way bill login, and link your GST portal account by OTP.Generate an e-invoice (IRN)Get an IRN and signed QR for a sales invoice, record an e-invoice made on the government portal, and cancel an IRN.Generate and manage an e-way billGenerate an e-way bill from a sales invoice, delivery challan or credit note, then update the vehicle, extend, change transporter, cancel or print it.GST Filing DashboardSee which GST returns are filed, pending or overdue for each month of the year, and fetch the latest status from the GST portal.Prepare and file GSTR-1See your outward supplies in GSTR-1 tables, check them against your books, then save to GSTN and file with an OTP, or download JSON or Excel.File B2B invoices early with IFF (QRMP)Under the QRMP scheme, upload B2B invoices for the first or second month of a quarter through IFF, so your buyers can claim input tax credit sooner.Reconcile GSTR-2B and post it to booksFetch GSTR-2B from the GST portal, match it with your purchase bills, accept small differences, and optionally post missing bills to your books.