What is GSTR-1?
GSTR-1 is the return in which a GST-registered business lists its outward supplies, which means its sales, for a month or a quarter (section 37 of the CGST Act). Every regular taxpayer files it, including in a month with no sales.
It matters more than it used to. Your buyers' input tax credit is built from it, and since the July 2025 tax period the tax on sales in your GSTR-3B is filled in from GSTR-1 and cannot be edited there. Whatever GSTR-1 says is what you pay.
Which GSTR-1 tables does a Shopify store fill?
| Table | What goes in | From your Shopify orders |
|---|---|---|
| 4A (B2B) | Invoices to GST-registered buyers, one by one, with their GSTIN | Orders where the buyer gave a GSTIN (GST number) |
| 5 (B2CL) | Inter-state invoices to unregistered buyers above ₹1,00,000, one by one | Large orders shipped to another state, without a GSTIN |
| 6A | Exports, with IGST paid or under a letter of undertaking (LUT) | Orders shipped outside India |
| 7 (B2CS) | All other sales to unregistered buyers, totalled by state and tax rate, net of credit notes | Almost every consumer order |
| 8 | Nil-rated, exempt and non-GST sales | Only if you sell goods outside GST or at 0% |
| 9B (CDNR, CDNUR) | Credit and debit notes on B2B, B2CL and export invoices | Refunds, returns and cancellations on those invoices |
| 12 | The HSN summary: quantity, value and tax by product code, with separate B2B and B2C tabs | Every line of every invoice |
| 13 | Documents issued: the first and last number of each series, the count and the cancelled count | Your invoice and credit note series |
| 14 | Sales made through e-commerce operators that collect tax at source | Only your marketplace sales, not your own store's |
B2B means sales to businesses registered under GST, B2C sales to consumers. HSN (Harmonised System of Nomenclature) codes classify products; the number of digits you report depends on your turnover.
A store that sells only to consumers inside India usually fills Tables 7, 12 and 13, plus Table 5 and Table 9B if it has inter-state orders above ₹1 lakh.
What about prepaid orders?
A prepaid Shopify order is not an "advance" for GST on goods. Tax on advances received for goods is waived for every regular taxpayer (Notification 66/2017-Central Tax), so a store selling goods normally leaves Table 11 empty and pays tax when it issues the invoice.
Is my Shopify store an e-commerce operator?
Not for your own products. Tax collected at source under section 52 is for operators who collect payment on behalf of other sellers, as marketplaces do. Your Shopify store collects your own money through your own payment gateway, so its sales go in the ordinary tables above. If you also sell on a marketplace, those sales go in Table 14 with the operator's GSTIN, and the marketplace's tax collected at source shows up in your cash ledger.
When is GSTR-1 due?
- Monthly filers: by the 11th of the next month.
- Quarterly filers under QRMP (quarterly return, monthly payment; turnover up to ₹5 crore): by the 13th of the month after the quarter. B2B invoices of the first two months can be uploaded early through IFF (the invoice furnishing facility) by the 13th, so your buyers get their credit sooner.
Two rules fix the order of filing. You cannot file GSTR-1 while the previous period's GSTR-3B is unfiled (Rule 59(6)), and you cannot file GSTR-3B before the same period's GSTR-1 (section 39(10), since October 2022).
A late GSTR-1 costs ₹50 a day (₹20 for a nil return), capped by turnover. The full table is in GSTR-1 due dates.
How do I prepare GSTR-1 from Shopify orders?
- Invoice every order and credit-note every refund. A refund or a cancellation after invoicing needs a credit note, or your return overstates sales.
- Check the B2B orders. Each needs the buyer's GSTIN and legal name. A wrong GSTIN puts the buyer's credit on someone else's return.
- Check the product codes and rates. Every product needs an HSN code and the rate in force on the invoice date. Clothing and footwear change rate at ₹2,500 a piece.
- Build the tables and compare their total with Shopify's sales for the month, less refunds.
- Upload. Either generate a JSON file for the GST offline tool and upload it on gst.gov.in, or let an app send it through the portal's API.
- Review the portal's summary, then file with an EVC (a code sent to the authorised signatory's phone) or a digital signature.
Why is Shopify's tax report not a GSTR-1?
Shopify reports tax collected by rate and region. GSTR-1 needs more: the buyer's GSTIN on B2B invoices, B2CL invoices listed one by one, credit notes reported in the right table, the HSN summary split into B2B and B2C, and your invoice number ranges. Shopify is plain about it: "No. Shopify doesn't create a GST-compliant bill." The invoices, and the return built from them, come from an app or your accountant.
What mistakes do we see most?
- A 0% tax line in Shopify. A tax override set to zero quietly removes GST from every order it touches. We have seen a store issue 170 invoices with no GST on them before it was noticed.
- The billing state instead of the delivery state. For a consumer, the place of supply is the delivery address on the invoice. Using the billing address puts tax in the wrong state.
- Returns to origin left on the books. A cash-on-delivery order that comes back undelivered was still invoiced. Without a credit note it stays in your sales.
- Consumer credit notes in the wrong table. Credit notes on ordinary consumer sales are netted inside Table 7. Only those on B2CL and export invoices go in Table 9B as CDNUR.
- Gaps in the series. A cancelled invoice number is reported as cancelled in Table 13, not skipped.
A filed GSTR-1 cannot be revised. Before you file that month's GSTR-3B you can correct it once in GSTR-1A; after that, corrections go in the amendment tables of a later GSTR-1.