GSTR-9 and GSTR-9C for FY 2025-26: Who Has to File, What Has to Reconcile, and How the Late Fee Actually Builds
I write on GST and income tax here, mostly from the side of the person who actually has to file. On GST that means the return cycle and the reconciliation that runs through it — GSTR-1 against 2B against 3B, input tax credit and the conditions in Section 16 that decide whether a claim survives a notice, reversals under Rules 42 and 43, registration and threshold questions, and the late fee and interest that start running the day a due date is missed. On income tax I write for the individual: choosing between the old and the new regime on your own numbers, TDS credit that does not show up where it should in Form 26AS or the AIS, reading Form 16 against the return you are about to file, and the deductions people either miss or claim wrongly. I work from the bare Act, the rules made under it and the CBIC and CBDT circulars rather than secondary commentary, and I say plainly where the portal behaves differently from what the section reads.