Returns for Non-Residents and OIDAR Suppliers: GSTR-5 and GSTR-5A

A foreign business registered in India for a trade fair or a short contract does not file GSTR-1 and GSTR-3B. Neither does a foreign streaming service or software publisher selling to Indian consumers. Rule 61 of the CGST Rules expressly excludes both from GSTR-3B. Each files a single return of its own: FORM GSTR-5 for a non-resident taxable person, and FORM GSTR-5A for a supplier of online information and database access or retrieval (OIDAR) services from outside India. The two forms look alike but work differently. GSTR-5 runs only for the life of a temporary registration, ends with a return due within seven days of expiry, and draws on an advance deposit. GSTR-5A is filed every month for as long as the foreign supplier stays registered, and it has no input tax credit at all.

Registration is covered in Registering as a Non-Resident Taxable Person. This guide takes up the procedure after registration.

GSTR-5: who files it and when

Section 39(5) requires every registered non-resident taxable person to file a return “for every calendar month or part thereof … within thirteen days after the end of a calendar month or within seven days after the last day of the period of registration specified under sub-section (1) of section 27, whichever is earlier”.

The Finance Act, 2022 substituted “thirteen” for “twenty” from 1 October 2022. Rule 63, as published by CBIC on 11 October 2026, still reads “within twenty days after the end of a tax period”, and so do the instructions printed with GSTR-5. Nothing has since reconciled the rule with the Act. The Act prevails, and the official sources treat the thirteenth as the due date. Notification No. 03/2025-Central Tax, for example, extended the GSTR-5 due date for December 2024 “till the 15th day of January, 2025” under section 39(6). The portal’s FAQ on GSTR-5 gives the thirteenth for tax periods from October 2022.

The “whichever is earlier” test produces several due dates where registration ends mid-month. The portal’s FAQ gives a worked example. Registration runs from 27 September to 23 November 2022. The return for September is due by 13 October, the one for October by 13 November, and the one for 1 to 23 November by 30 November, seven days after expiry. Where registration expires on 3 November, the return for October falls due on 10 November, not the thirteenth.

What to have ready for GSTR-5

• Bills of entry for goods imported, with port code, number, date, value and integrated tax paid. These come from the customs records. They are the only source of credit, because section 17(5)(f) blocks credit for a non-resident “except on goods imported by him”.
• Outward invoices from the books, split three ways: to registered persons and UIN holders (invoice by invoice), inter-State to unregistered persons above Rs 1,00,000 per invoice, and the rest to unregistered persons, consolidated by rate.
• Debit and credit notes issued in the month, and any corrections to earlier months’ details.
• Inward supplies liable to reverse charge, from the purchase records.
• The electronic cash ledger balance, from the portal. The advance deposit made under section 27(2) sits there.

The tables of GSTR-5

• Table 3 lists imports of goods, bill of entry by bill of entry, with the integrated tax paid and the credit claimed. Table 4 amends earlier entries.
• Table 5 lists supplies to registered persons, including UIN holders, invoice by invoice. These flow to the recipients. The portal’s FAQ on GSTR-11 says Table 5 of GSTR-5 pre-fills a UIN holder’s GSTR-11.
• Table 6 lists inter-State supplies to unregistered persons above the invoice threshold. Notification No. 12/2024-Central Tax cut the threshold from Rs 2.5 lakh to Rs 1 lakh from 1 August 2024. The portal applies Rs 1 lakh from the August 2024 tax period.
• Table 7 consolidates other supplies to unregistered persons by rate. Tables 8 and 9 carry amendments and debit and credit notes.
• Table 10 totals the liability: 10A on outward supplies, 10B where Table 4 produces negative credit, and 10C on reverse-charge inward supplies.
• Tables 11 and 12 show tax, interest and late fee payable and paid. Table 13 claims a refund from the cash ledger.

Paying, and the advance deposit

Section 39(7) requires the non-resident to pay the tax due “not later than the last date on which he is required to furnish such return”. The deposit made at registration was credited to the cash ledger under section 27(3), “to be utilised in the manner provided under section 49”. So the deposit pays each month’s tax. Credit on imported goods sits in the electronic credit ledger and can be set off as well. The portal’s FAQ confirms that cash and credit ledgers and a liability register are kept for non-residents. Where the deposit falls short, the manual describes a challan created from the payment table for the “Additional Cash required”. It also notes that “Partial payment is not allowed”. How the ledgers work is explained in The Three Electronic Ledgers.

Portal steps for GSTR-5

The portal’s user manual for GSTR-5 sets out the sequence:

1. The authorised signatory logs in and opens Services > Returns > Returns Dashboard, selects the year and month, and chooses PREPARE ONLINE in the GSTR-5 tile. There is no offline tool.
2. Details are entered tile by tile: imports, supplies to registered persons, large and small supplies to consumers, debit and credit notes, reverse-charge supplies, and the amendment tiles.
3. The filer clicks “Compute liabilities”, which calculates tax, interest and late fee, including reverse-charge liability. Entries can still be changed afterwards, but liabilities must then be computed again.
4. “Proceed to File” opens the payment table. The filer enters the credit and cash to be used for each head and offsets the liability.
5. The filer ticks the declaration, selects the authorised signatory and files with DSC or EVC. The signatory is the resident authorised signatory named at registration.

The portal generates an ARN and updates the liability register and the ledgers.

The last return, and getting the deposit back

The final GSTR-5 is due within seven days after registration ends, or by the thirteenth if that is earlier. It is also the gateway to the refund. Section 54(13) bars any refund of the advance deposit “unless such person has, in respect of the entire period for which the certificate of registration granted to him had remained in force, furnished all the returns required under section 39”. GSTR-5 has a refund table, Table 13. The portal’s FAQ says the balance is claimed under the refund category “Refund of Excess Balance in Electronic Cash Ledger” once all liabilities are discharged.

A non-resident does not file the final return GSTR-10, which section 45 confines to persons filing under section 39(1). It does not file an annual return either: rule 80(1) excludes non-resident taxable persons from GSTR-9.

GSTR-5A: the OIDAR return

Section 14 of the IGST Act makes a supplier located outside India liable for integrated tax on OIDAR services received by a “non-taxable online recipient”. It also requires the supplier to take a single registration under rule 14. Since 1 October 2023, section 2(16) of the IGST Act defines that recipient as “any unregistered person” in India, including a person registered only to deduct tax at source.

Rule 64, substituted by Notification No. 51/2023-Central Tax from 1 October 2023, now requires a return in FORM GSTR-5A from two kinds of supplier:

• every person “providing online money gaming from a place outside India to a person in India”
• every person providing OIDAR services from outside India “to a non-taxable online recipient … or to a registered person other than a non-taxable online recipient”

The return is due “on or before the twentieth day of the month succeeding the calendar month or part thereof”. The portal’s FAQ says it must be filed even when there is no activity, and that a month cannot be filed while an earlier month is pending.

The substituted form has these tables:

• Table 5: supplies to non-taxable online recipients, by place of supply and rate
• Table 5A: amendments to Table 5
• Table 5B: supplies to registered persons in India “on which tax is to be paid by the said registered persons on reverse charge basis”, by GSTIN and taxable value only
• Table 5C: amendments to Table 5B
• Tables 5D and 5E: online money gaming
• Table 6: interest and other amounts
• Table 7: tax and other amounts paid, which the portal fills automatically

Table 5B is the 2023 change that matters in practice. A foreign supplier now reports its business customers by GSTIN, although no tax is paid on those supplies in the return. The recipients pay that tax themselves under reverse charge.

The portal’s FAQ says no input tax credit can be claimed in GSTR-5A and no electronic credit ledger is kept. All liabilities are paid from the cash ledger, in full, before the return can be filed. The return is prepared online or through a GST Suvidha Provider. It is signed by the authorised representative in India named at Item 3 of the form. Rule 26(1) requires every return to be submitted “with digital signature certificate or through e-signature”, or verified by another mode the Board notifies. On the portal, that other mode is EVC. A company registered under the Companies Act, 2013 must use a digital signature certificate. Suppliers registered under rule 14 also have no annual return or reconciliation statement to file: Notification No. 30/2019-Central Tax excused them from both.

Late fee and interest

Late fee arises under section 47(1): Rs 100 a day, capped at Rs 5,000, under the CGST Act.

• GSTR-5: Notification No. 5/2018-Central Tax waives any late fee above Rs 25 a day, or Rs 10 a day where no central tax is payable. The statutory cap is left unchanged.
• GSTR-5A: Notification No. 6/2018-Central Tax makes the same reduction, with the nil test applied to integrated tax. The portal’s FAQ, however, says that “at present, there is no late fee” for GSTR-5A.

Interest under section 50 runs on tax paid after the due date. Both forms carry a table for it. The detail on late fees and interest is in Late Returns: Late Fee, Interest, the Three-Year Bar and Notices.

After filing

A filed return cannot be reopened. The portal’s FAQ on GSTR-5 says invoices cannot be changed once it is filed, but “you can, however, amend the details of filed invoices/CDN in your subsequent Form GSTR-5”. GSTR-5A cannot be reset after filing. Its Tables 5A, 5C and 5E carry the amendments. The time limits for correcting a return, and the three-year bar in section 39(11) on returns not filed at all, are covered in Correcting Mistakes in Returns.

The procedure in summary

1. Non-resident: assemble the month’s bills of entry, outward invoices, notes and reverse-charge purchases, and check the cash ledger.
2. Enter them in the GSTR-5 tiles, compute liabilities, offset them from the deposit and any import credit, and file with DSC or EVC by the thirteenth.
3. Where registration ends mid-month, file for the part month within seven days of expiry, or by the thirteenth if earlier.
4. Once every return for the registration period is filed, claim the deposit balance in Table 13 or by a refund of excess cash-ledger balance.
5. OIDAR supplier: by the twentieth of each month, report supplies to unregistered recipients by State and rate, to registered recipients by GSTIN, and any online money gaming. Pay in cash and file, including nil months.
6. Correct errors through the amendment tables of a later return, not by revising a filed one.

The next guide covers the monthly return of an Input Service Distributor, GSTR-6.