GSTR-1 is the monthly (or quarterly) return where a GST-registered business reports all its outward supplies — in plain terms, every sales invoice you raised in the period. Get it right and the rest of your GST filings fall into place; get it wrong and your customers' input-tax credit is affected. Here's how to file it without the stress.
Who needs to file GSTR-1?
Every business registered under regular GST must file GSTR-1, even in a month with no sales (you file a nil return). Businesses under the composition scheme file CMP-08 instead, not GSTR-1.
When is it due?
- Monthly filers (turnover above the QRMP threshold, or who opt for monthly): by the 11th of the following month.
- Quarterly filers (QRMP scheme): by the 13th of the month after the quarter.
Filing late attracts a late fee and interest, and delays your customers' credit — so treat the due date as fixed.
What information goes into GSTR-1?
The return is organised into tables. The ones most small businesses use:
- B2B invoices — sales to other GST-registered businesses, invoice by invoice with the buyer's GSTIN.
- B2C (large) — inter-state sales to unregistered customers above the value threshold.
- B2C (small) — all other retail sales, reported as consolidated totals.
- Credit/debit notes — adjustments against earlier invoices.
- Exports — zero-rated supplies, with/without payment of tax.
- HSN summary — a summary of sales by HSN code.
Step by step
- Reconcile your sales first. Make sure every invoice for the period is recorded and the GSTINs are correct. This is where most errors creep in.
- Log in to the GST portal and open Returns Dashboard → select the period → GSTR-1.
- Enter or upload your invoice data. Typing it in by hand is slow and error-prone; most businesses upload a JSON file generated by their accounting software.
- Check the auto-drafted summary against your own sales report for the month.
- Submit and file with DSC or EVC. Once filed, it can't be revised — corrections go in a later period via amendments.
How software makes this almost automatic
The slow, risky part is assembling the invoice data. If your invoices already live in GST-ready software, the return is mostly done for you:
- Every tax invoice is captured with the right GSTIN, HSN and tax split as you raise it.
- The HSN summary and B2B/B2C tables are built from your real data, not re-keyed.
- You export a portal-ready file instead of typing invoices one by one.
CraveInvoice records each sale in a GST-compliant format and produces the reports and export you need for GSTR-1 — so filing becomes a check-and-upload job, not a data-entry marathon. See how it handles GST accounting, and read our companion guide on GSTR-1 vs GSTR-3B to understand how the two returns fit together.