For monthly filers, the GST return due date is the 11th of the following month for GSTR-1 and the 20th for GSTR-3B. Businesses under the QRMP scheme file quarterly, with GSTR-1 due on the 13th after the quarter ends and GSTR-3B on the 22nd or 24th depending on state category. The annual GSTR-9 for FY 2025-26 is due by 31 December 2026.
What are the GST return due dates for 2026-27? (Quick Answer)
Which dates apply to you depends on one number: your aggregate annual turnover. Above ₹5 crore means monthly filing. At or below ₹5 crore you may opt for QRMP and file quarterly while still paying tax monthly.
That last part catches people. QRMP means quarterly returns, not quarterly payment. The tax still goes in every month through PMT-06.
Monthly filers: turnover above ₹5 crore
| Return | What it covers | Due date | Late fee |
|---|---|---|---|
| GSTR-1 | Outward supplies (sales) | 11th of following month | ₹50 per day, max ₹10,000 |
| GSTR-3B | Summary return and tax payment | 20th of following month | ₹50 per day, max ₹10,000 |
QRMP filers: turnover up to ₹5 crore
| Return | What it covers | Due date | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| GSTR-1 (quarterly) | Outward supplies for the quarter | 13th after quarter ends | ₹50 per day, max ₹10,000 |
| IFF (optional) | B2B invoices for months 1 and 2 | 13th of the month | Optional, no late fee |
| PMT-06 | Monthly tax payment | 25th of following month | 18% p.a. interest on delay |
| GSTR-3B (quarterly) | Summary return for the quarter | 22nd (Category X) or 24th (Category Y) | ₹50 per day, max ₹10,000 |
Category X and Y refer to state groupings that stagger the 3B deadline. Check which group your state falls in once, and then it never changes.
Annual returns and other forms
| Return | Who files it | Due date | Late fee |
|---|---|---|---|
| GSTR-9 | Turnover above ₹2 crore (mandatory) | 31 December 2026 for FY 2025-26 | ₹200 per day, tiered by turnover |
| GSTR-9C | Turnover above ₹5 crore | 31 December 2026 for FY 2025-26 | Linked to GSTR-9 |
| GSTR-4 | Composition dealers, annual | 30 April | ₹50 per day, max ₹2,000 |
| CMP-08 | Composition dealers, quarterly | 18th after quarter ends | Interest only, no late fee |
| GSTR-5 | Non-resident taxable persons | 13th of following month | ₹50 per day, max ₹10,000 |
| GSTR-6 | Input service distributors | 13th of following month | ₹50 per day, max ₹10,000 |
| GSTR-7 | GST TDS deductors | 10th of following month | ₹50 per day, max ₹2,000 |
| GSTR-8 | E-commerce operators | 10th of following month | ₹50 per day, max ₹10,000 |
| GSTR-10 | Final return after cancellation | 3 months from cancellation | ₹200 per day, no cap |
Due dates and late fees as applicable for FY 2026-27 [uncertain - the CBIC extends deadlines by notification with some regularity, particularly around portal outages and festivals; always check the GST portal before assuming a date holds].
The two dates that are not returns and matter more
Two deadlines sit outside the return calendar and cost far more when missed.
30 November 2026 is the last date to claim input tax credit on FY 2025-26 invoices. Miss it and the credit is gone permanently. There is no late fee for this, which is exactly why it gets forgotten. A business that fails to claim ₹2 lakh of ITC has lost ₹2 lakh, and no ₹50-per-day penalty comes close to that.
31 December 2026 is the GSTR-9 and 9C deadline for FY 2025-26. This one has a late fee, and at ₹200 per day it accumulates faster than the monthly returns do.
If you maintain books for a small business, put both of these in a calendar today rather than in November.
GSTR-10 and the missing cap
Look again at the last row of the table above. GSTR-10, the final return after registration cancellation, carries ₹200 per day with no maximum.
Every other late fee in the GST system has a ceiling. This one does not. A business that cancelled its registration, assumed it was finished, and never filed GSTR-10 can accumulate a liability that keeps growing indefinitely. We have seen a local business discover this two years after closing, and the number was not small.
If you are closing a registration, GSTR-10 within three months is not optional housekeeping. It is the single highest-risk deadline in the whole calendar.
How to actually not miss these
The people who miss GST deadlines are rarely the ones who do not know the dates. They are the ones who knew the date and had not finished the entries.
The fix is upstream. Close your books by the 5th, not the 19th. If purchase and sales entries are current, filing GSTR-3B is a twenty-minute job. If they are not, the 20th arrives and you are reconciling three weeks of invoices in one evening, which is when errors get filed and errors are harder to fix than delays.
Reconcile GSTR-2B against your purchase register every month, not at year end. A supplier who has not filed their GSTR-1 means credit you cannot claim, and the time to find that out is in month one, when a phone call still fixes it. This monthly discipline is what separates an accounts assistant from a data entry operator, and it is a large part of why the salary gap between the two is what it is.
What students should take from this calendar
Do not memorise the table. Understand the pattern: sales return early in the month, summary return and payment mid-month, annual return in December.
What is worth memorising is 11th and 20th, because those two cover most of what a small business actually files, and being able to answer "when is 3B due" without hesitating is a routine interview question. Beyond that, the calendar is a lookup, and knowing where to look beats reciting.
Being able to actually file the return is the skill that pays. Our accounting diploma takes students through the portal itself rather than through screenshots of it, because the difference between having seen a return and having filed one shows up in the first week of a job.
How we handle the calendar at HCI
Our GST module runs on a live cycle rather than a theoretical one. Students see a real return prepared against real entries with a real deadline approaching, because the pressure of the date is part of what they are learning to manage.
Tally Authorized Training Partner and Marg ERP registered, ISO 9001:2015 certified, MSME and Ministry of Corporate Affairs registered, 2,500+ students trained from Billawar with online batches available.
Conclusion
Print the tables above and put them where you will see them. The 11th and the 20th run the monthly rhythm, 30 November is the ITC deadline nobody remembers, 31 December is the annual return, and GSTR-10 is the one with no ceiling on the penalty. Check the portal before relying on any date, because extensions happen. If you want to learn to file rather than just to know the dates, come to our Billawar centre or book a free counselling session.
