The Goods and Services Tax Network (GSTN) announced major changes on Saturday, stating that from the July 2025 tax period, the monthly GST payment form GSTR-3B will become non-editable.
Alongside this, taxpayers will also not be allowed to file any GST returns after three years from their original due dates.
In its advisory, GSTN explained that while GSTR-3B will still be auto-filled based on sales data from forms like GSTR-1, any changes or corrections must be made before filing, using form GSTR-1A.
This revised data will then automatically show up in GSTR-3B. Once that is done, taxpayers will no longer be able to edit the GSTR-3B manually, as is currently possible.
“For the July 2025 tax period, to be filed in August 2025, the auto-populated tax liability in GSTR-3B will be final and cannot be changed after filing,” the advisory stated.
This move is aimed at improving data accuracy between different GST forms and preventing tax leakage.
GSTR-3B is a monthly summary return used to report tax liability and is filed between the 20th and 24th of each month, depending on the type of taxpayer.
Currently, businesses receive a pre-filled version of this form, but they can still make edits before final submission. That flexibility will no longer be available after the new rule kicks in.
In another important update, GSTN said that starting from July 2025, taxpayers will not be able to file any GST return if it is more than three years late.
This includes monthly returns like GSTR-1 and GSTR-3B, annual returns like GSTR-9, and other returns such as GSTR-4, GSTR-5, GSTR-5A, GSTR-6, GSTR-7, and GSTR-8.
This rule was introduced through the Finance Act, 2023, and will now be implemented on the GST portal.
It means that if a return is not filed within three years of its due date, it will become permanently time-barred and cannot be submitted.
GSTN has advised all taxpayers to reconcile their accounts and file any pending returns as soon as possible to avoid being locked out by the new time limit.
