GSTR-4 in 2026: The Composition Annual Return, CMP-08, Late Fees and a Worked Example

If you're in the GST composition scheme, your whole return calendar comes down to two forms: a quarterly CMP-08 to pay tax and one GSTR-4 a year to report it. That makes compliance light, but it also means one annual form carries all your purchase and sales figures, and mistakes can't be revised. This guide is for shopkeepers, small manufacturers, restaurants and service providers on composition, and the accountants who file for them. It covers who files, the due dates, late fees and interest, what goes in each table, how to file, and a worked ₹ example. Checked against the CGST Rules, CBIC notifications and the GST portal in October 2026.

Quick answer

GSTR-4 is the annual return of a composition taxpayer, filed once for each financial year by 30 June after the financial year. Through the year you pay tax quarterly in CMP-08 by the 18th of the month after the quarter; GSTR-4 then reports your outward turnover, purchases and reverse-charge supplies for the year and settles any balance.

• Late fee ₹50 a day (₹20 a day if nil), capped at ₹2,000 (₹500 if nil)

• CMP-08 has no late fee, but late tax carries 18% a year interest

• GSTR-4 can't be filed until all four CMP-08s are filed, and can't be revised afterwards

• Must be filed even with nil turnover, or if you left the scheme mid-year

What is GSTR-4 and who must file it?

GSTR-4 is the return prescribed by section 39(2) of the CGST Act and Rule 62(1)(ii) for registered persons paying tax under section 10, the composition scheme. Composition dealers pay a flat percentage of turnover — 1% for traders and manufacturers, 5% for restaurants and 6% for service providers under section 10(2A) — don't charge GST on invoices and can't claim input tax credit. GSTR-4 is the yearly record of all that.

Until FY 2018-19, GSTR-4 was a quarterly return. From FY 2019-20 it became an annual return, and the quarterly job passed to CMP-08, a combined statement and challan.

You must file GSTR-4 if you opted for composition for any part of the financial year. That includes:

• dealers who registered directly as composition taxpayers through REG-01 or switched in through CMP-02 and stayed all year;
• dealers who opted out or were pushed out (for crossing the ₹1.5 crore limit, or ₹75 lakh in the special-category states) — the return covers only the composition period;
• dealers whose registration was cancelled during the year.

You don't file GSTR-4 if you were a regular taxpayer all year, or registered as a non-resident, casual taxable person, OIDAR supplier, Input Service Distributor, TDS deductor, TCS collector or UIN holder.

GSTR-4 also stands in for the annual return: composition dealers don't file GSTR-9 or GSTR-9C. If you switched to the regular scheme mid-year, GSTR-9 applies to the regular part of the year only.

GSTR-4 and CMP-08 due dates

Composition calendar for FY 2026-27

18 Jul 2026

CMP-08 for April–June

18 Oct 2026

CMP-08 for July–September

18 Jan 2027

CMP-08 for October–December

31 Mar 2027

Last day to opt in to composition for FY 2027-28 (CMP-02)

18 Apr 2027

CMP-08 for January–March

30 Jun 2027

GSTR-4 annual return for FY 2026-27

CMP-08 is due by the 18th of the month after the quarter. It is a short form: you declare outward supplies, any inward supplies on which you pay tax under reverse charge, and the tax for each, and you pay it in cash. Composition dealers can't use input tax credit, so every rupee goes through the electronic cash ledger. CMP-08 must be filed every quarter, even if nil; a nil CMP-08 can also be filed by SMS. Once filed, it can't be revised. Any negative figure (for example, from a sales return) carries forward to the next quarter's CMP-08 as a negative liability adjustment.

GSTR-4 is due by 30 June after the financial year. Rule 62 originally set 30 April. The 53rd GST Council (June 2024) recommended moving it to 30 June, and Notification 12/2024-CT inserted a proviso into Rule 62(1) making 30 June the date for FY 2024-25 onwards. So GSTR-4 for FY 2025-26 was due on 30 June 2026, and for FY 2026-27 it is due on 30 June 2027.

A wrinkle if you left the scheme. Rule 62(5), which deals with dealers who withdraw from composition, still says GSTR-4 for the composition period is due by 30 April after the year; the 2024 amendment changed only sub-rule (1). The portal generally treats 30 June as the due date for everyone, but if you opted out during the year, the safe course is to file by 30 April and avoid any argument over late fees.

The government can extend either date by notification, and it has done so for specific states after floods or other disruptions. Check the News and Updates section of gst.gov.in near the deadline.

Switching in or out mid-year: what GSTR-4 covers

Movement between schemes is where GSTR-4 most often goes wrong, because the return covers only the days you were actually a composition dealer.

What you file in a year you switch schemes

Situation	Composition period	Regular period
Opted in from 1 April	CMP-08 × 4 + GSTR-4 for the full year	March GSTR-3B of the previous year must be filed first
Opted out or crossed the limit mid-year	CMP-08 up to the withdrawal date + GSTR-4 for that part	GSTR-1 and GSTR-3B from the withdrawal date; ITC-01 for stock
Registration cancelled mid-year	CMP-08 up to cancellation + GSTR-4 for that part	Final return GSTR-10

Opted in from 1 April

Composition period

CMP-08 × 4 + GSTR-4 for the full year

Regular period

March GSTR-3B of the previous year must be filed first

Opted out or crossed the limit mid-year

Composition period

CMP-08 up to the withdrawal date + GSTR-4 for that part

Regular period

GSTR-1 and GSTR-3B from the withdrawal date; ITC-01 for stock

Registration cancelled mid-year

Composition period

CMP-08 up to cancellation + GSTR-4 for that part

Regular period

Final return GSTR-10

If you opted in from 1 April. You file CMP-08 for all four quarters and one GSTR-4 for the whole year. Before you could start, you had to file the GSTR-3B for March of the previous year as a regular taxpayer — the portal checks this and won't let you file the first CMP-08 until it's done. Any input tax credit on stock held when you switched had to be reversed through ITC-03.

If you opted out, or crossed the limit, during the year. Say a Jaipur trader's turnover crosses the ₹1.5 crore limit in November. It files CMP-08 for April–June, July–September and October–December (up to the date of withdrawal), then becomes a regular taxpayer filing GSTR-1 and GSTR-3B from that date. Its GSTR-4 for the year reports only the April-to-withdrawal period. It may also claim credit on stock held on the day it left the scheme by filing ITC-01 within 30 days.

If your registration was cancelled. You still file GSTR-4 for the part of the year you were registered under composition, along with the final return GSTR-10. Skipping GSTR-4 here is common, and it keeps a late fee running against a GSTIN you no longer use.

Late fee and interest

The late fee for GSTR-4 comes from section 47 of the CGST Act, as reduced by notifications under section 128:

The caps apply from FY 2021-22 onwards. The portal works out the late fee and shows it in Table 8; you pay it in cash, and the File button stays disabled until it's paid. Even a nil GSTR-4 can't be filed late without paying the fee.

Interest is a separate charge under section 50: 18% a year a year on tax paid late, counted from the day after the due date. For composition dealers it usually arises on a late CMP-08, or when GSTR-4 shows more tax for the year than the four CMP-08s paid. The portal does not calculate interest in GSTR-4 — Table 8 leaves it for you to enter — so work it out yourself.

Bigger consequences of not filing. Section 29(2)(b) makes a composition dealer's registration liable to cancellation if the annual return is more than three months beyond the due date of the annual return. And since the July 2025 tax period, the portal bars returns filed more than 3 years after their due date, GSTR-4 included. Our GST late fee guide covers the unbarring application if you're caught by it.

What goes in GSTR-4: table by table

GSTR-4 opens under Services → Returns → Annual Return. You can prepare it online or with the GSTR-4 offline utility.

Table 4 entries are net of credit notes, debit notes and advances. From FY 2024-25, records your suppliers reported in GSTR-1A are also auto-drafted into Tables 4A and 4B.

The net tax in Table 8 is worked out as the tax on your Table 6 turnover minus what you already paid through CMP-08. If the year's turnover in Table 6 is higher than what you declared quarter by quarter, the difference is payable now, with interest. If it's lower, the excess shows up as a negative liability you can adjust.

Why purchases matter even without ITC. Composition dealers can't claim credit, but Table 4 still has to show inward supplies. Officers use it to check that your purchases are consistent with the turnover you declared, and that you paid reverse-charge tax on things like freight from an unregistered goods transport agency or legal fees. Our reverse charge guide lists the services concerned.

Worked example: a composition trader in Indore

Gupta Cloth Store in Indore, Madhya Pradesh, is a composition trader paying 1% (0.5% CGST + 0.5% SGST) on taxable turnover. In FY 2026-27 its sales are:

Interest on the late CMP-08. ₹24,000 × 18% a year × 10 ÷ 365 ≈ ₹118. There's no late fee for CMP-08, but this interest should be paid through DRC-03 or declared in GSTR-4 Table 8.

Preparing GSTR-4. The accountant enters FY 2025-26 aggregate turnover of ₹76 lakh in Table 3(a). Table 4A auto-drafts ₹64 lakh of purchases from registered suppliers; she checks it against the purchase register and adds a ₹40,000 purchase that one supplier reported late in GSTR-1A. The freight of ₹30,000 paid to an unregistered goods transport agency under reverse charge goes in Table 4C, and its reverse-charge tax of ₹1,500 at 5% without ITC appears in Table 6. She enters outward turnover of ₹82,00,000 at 1% in Table 6.

The year-end check. Table 6 tax (₹82,000 + ₹1,500) equals Table 5 (₹83,500 paid through CMP-08), so Table 8 shows no tax due — only the ₹118 interest she types in.

If she misses the deadline. Filed on 20 July 2027, 20 days late: 20 × ₹50 a day = ₹1,000 late fee. Filed on 15 September 2027, 77 days late: ₹3,850 by the daily rate, but capped at ₹2,000. If Gupta had a nil year, the fee would be ₹20 a day, capped at ₹500.

If the books were wrong. Suppose the store later finds ₹2 lakh of sales missing from the October–December CMP-08. GSTR-4 can't be revised once filed, so the right time to catch this is before filing: Table 6 would show ₹84 lakh, and the extra ₹2,000 tax becomes payable in Table 8 with interest from 18 January 2027. Found after filing, it's paid through DRC-03 with interest.

How to file GSTR-4 on the GST portal

Filing GSTR-4 step by step

1. 1

   File all four CMP-08s first

   The GSTR-4 tile stays disabled until every CMP-08 for the year is filed. Clear any pending quarter, with interest.

2. 2

   Open GSTR-4

   Log in at gst.gov.in → Services → Returns → Annual Return → choose the financial year → Form GSTR-4 → Prepare Online (or upload the JSON from the offline utility).

3. 3

   Enter previous-year turnover

   Fill Table 3(a) with last year's aggregate turnover and save. The other tables open after this.

4. 4

   Check purchases (Table 4)

   Review auto-drafted 4A and 4B records against your purchase register; add unregistered purchases in 4C and imported services in 4D.

   Tip: Download GSTR-4A from the Returns Dashboard and reconcile it supplier by supplier.

5. 5

   Enter outward supplies (Table 6)

   Click Proceed to file to pull reverse-charge supplies into rows 1–11, then enter rate-wise outward turnover in rows 12–16. Compare the tax with Table 5.

6. 6

   Pay and file

   In Table 8, enter interest if any, pay the balance and late fee from the cash ledger (create a challan if short), tick the declaration and file with DSC or EVC. Download the filed return and ARN.

Filing takes about 30 minutes if your quarterly figures are tidy. Keep the filed CMP-08s, GSTR-4A download, sales register and purchase invoices together, because officers often ask for them during scrutiny. Records must be kept for 72 months from the due date of the annual return.

Common GSTR-4 mistakes and how to avoid them

Turnover in Table 6 doesn't match the CMP-08s. This is the most common trigger for a scrutiny notice in ASMT-10. Reconcile before filing: total of the four CMP-08s = Table 6 = sales register = bank deposits, roughly. Pay any shortfall before filing, with interest. See our guide to replying to GST notices if you've already received one.

Ignoring Table 4A. Officers compare your purchases with your suppliers' GSTR-1 data. If you leave 4A blank, or delete auto-drafted records without reason, expect questions about where the stock came from.

Missing reverse-charge tax. Composition dealers aren't exempt from reverse charge. Freight paid to a goods transport agency that hasn't opted to charge GST itself, and fees paid to an advocate, are the usual examples; the tax is paid in cash through CMP-08 at the normal rate. Commercial rent paid to an unregistered landlord is the exception: since 16 January 2025, Notification 07/2025-CT(Rate) has taken composition dealers out of reverse charge on it.

Inter-state sales or exempt items charged at 1%. A composition trader can't make inter-state outward supplies, so any such sale in your books means you've broken the scheme's conditions. And for traders, the 1% applies only to taxable goods — exempt items such as fresh vegetables or unbranded atta sold loose shouldn't be pulled into the taxed figure.

Assuming the old date. Some accountants still diarise 30 April. Since FY 2024-25 the general due date is 30 June — but if you opted out during the year, see the Rule 62(5) point above.

Waiting for a waiver. The 57th GST Council (8 October 2026) recommended late-fee relief only for GSTR-3B and other section 39(1) returns filed by the end of the month in which they were due, for turnover up to ₹5 crore. It doesn't cover GSTR-4, and nothing is notified yet.

What's changing for small businesses

The 57th GST Council gave in-principle approval to a concept note for an optional Annual Return Quarterly Payment (ARQP) scheme for taxpayers with aggregate turnover up to ₹5 crore in the previous year who sell only to unregistered customers (B2C). The name suggests a structure close to composition's quarterly-pay, annual-return model, but for regular taxpayers. No details, rules or start date have been published. If you're a B2C shop deciding between composition and the regular scheme in 2026, keep the decision under review once the scheme is notified.

GST 2.0, from 22 September 2025, changed product rates but left the composition rates and limits untouched. It did, however, change the comparison: if your goods now attract 5% under the regular scheme and you buy from registered suppliers, the regular scheme with full input tax credit may cost less than composition. Our composition scheme guide has a worked comparison.

Official links

• GST portal — Annual Return (GSTR-4) and CMP-08Services > Returns
• GSTR-4 FAQs (GST portal user guide)Tables, nil return, late fee
• CMP-08 FAQs (GST portal user guide)Due date, nil filing, payment
• Rule 62, CGST RulesCMP-08 and GSTR-4 due dates
• Notification 21/2021-Central TaxGSTR-4 late fee cap

What to do next

Put the four CMP-08 dates and 30 June in your calendar now, and reconcile your sales register with each CMP-08 as you file it — that way GSTR-4 becomes a 30-minute job rather than a hunt for missing invoices. If you're unsure whether composition still suits your business after GST 2.0, run your margins through our profit margin calculator and compare the two schemes in our composition scheme guide.

This is general information, not legal or tax advice — confirm on the official source or with a professional.

Frequently asked questions

What is the due date of GSTR-4?

GSTR-4 is due by 30 June after the financial year, so the return for FY 2026-27 is due on 30 June 2027. The date moved from 30 April from FY 2024-25 onwards under Rule 62, after the 53rd GST Council meeting. The quarterly CMP-08 payment statement is separately due by the 18th of the month after the quarter.

What is the late fee for GSTR-4?

The late fee is ₹50 a day (₹20 a day if no tax is payable), split equally between CGST and SGST. For FY 2021-22 onwards it is capped at ₹2,000 per return, or ₹500 where the tax payable is nil. It must be paid in cash before the return can be filed.

Is there a late fee for CMP-08?

No. The GST portal confirms there is no late fee for filing CMP-08 late. But tax paid after the 18th of the month after the quarter attracts interest at 18% a year for each day of delay, and you can't file GSTR-4 until every CMP-08 for the year is filed.

Do I need to file GSTR-4 if I had no sales?

Yes. Every taxpayer who was in the composition scheme for even one day in the financial year must file GSTR-4, including those who opted out or had their registration cancelled during the year. If you had no sales, no purchases, no other liability and filed all CMP-08s as nil, you can file a nil GSTR-4.

Can GSTR-4 be revised after filing?

No. A filed GSTR-4 can't be revised. Errors in turnover are corrected by paying any extra tax with interest through DRC-03, and explaining it if the officer asks. That's why it pays to reconcile your sales register with the four CMP-08s before you file.

Do composition dealers file GSTR-9?

No. GSTR-4 is the annual return for composition taxpayers, so they don't file GSTR-9 or GSTR-9C. If you opted out mid-year and became a regular taxpayer, you file GSTR-4 for the composition period and GSTR-9 for the regular period, if your turnover requires it.

Sources & verification

Figures on this page were checked against the sources below when it was last reviewed on 11 October 2026. Each rate and limit is stored once with its own official source and review date, and official update channels are monitored daily so changes are picked up. How we verify

1. 1.Rule 62 – CGST Rules, 2017 (statement and return for composition taxpayers) — CBIC · accessed 11 October 2026
2. 2.FAQs > Filing Form GSTR-4 (Annual Return) — GSTN (GST portal user guide) · accessed 11 October 2026
3. 3.FAQs > Filing Form GST CMP-08 — GSTN (GST portal user guide) · accessed 11 October 2026
4. 4.Notification No. 73/2017 – Central Tax (GSTR-4 late fee per day) — CBIC (hosted by GST Council) · accessed 11 October 2026
5. 5.Notification No. 21/2021 – Central Tax (GSTR-4 late fee cap) — CBIC (hosted by GST Council) · accessed 11 October 2026
6. 6.Section 29 – CGST Act, 2017 (cancellation of registration) — CBIC · accessed 11 October 2026
7. 7.Recommendations of the 57th Meeting of the GST Council — Press Information Bureau, Ministry of Finance · accessed 11 October 2026
8. 8.GST Council extends GSTR-4 submission to June 30 for FY2024-25 — Business Today · accessed 11 October 2026
9. 9.Notification No. 07/2025 – Central Tax (Rate): RCM list amended — TaxHeal (reproducing CBIC notification) · accessed 11 October 2026