GSTR-1 for e-commerce sellers: a table-by-table guide

An online seller's GSTR-1 is built from marketplace reports rather than their own sales register. The marketplace raises invoices, collects payment, handles returns and deducts tax at source. You, or your CA, still file the return, and the department can compare what you file with what the marketplace reports about you.

Who files, and how often

Every regular GST-registered seller files GSTR-1, even for a month with no sales. You file monthly, or quarterly under the QRMP scheme if your aggregate turnover is up to ₹5 crore and you opted in. Quarterly filers can use the Invoice Furnishing Facility (IFF) for B2B invoices in the first two months of a quarter.

Where marketplace sales go in GSTR-1

The B2CL limit dropped from ₹2.5 lakh to ₹1 lakh through Notification 12/2024–Central Tax, effective 1 August 2024. Our guide to B2B, B2CL and B2CS goes through it with examples.

Place of supply: the customer's state, not yours

For goods delivered to a customer, the place of supply is where the delivery ends, which is the customer's shipping state. That one fact decides the tax:

• Customer in your state → intra-state → CGST + SGST.
• Customer in another state → inter-state → IGST.

B2CS is reported state by state for this reason. A seller in Gujarat with customers in 20 states will have around 20 place-of-supply lines per tax rate. Marketplace sales reports carry the ship-to state, and that is the column to group on, not your warehouse state.

Returns, cancellations and replacements

Returns are where marketplace GSTR-1s most often go wrong:

• Consumer returns reduce B2CS. Table 7 is reported net of credit notes, so subtract returns from sales for the same state and rate.
• Cancellations before dispatch were never sales. Make sure the report you use doesn't count them twice, once as a sale and once as a reversal.
• Replacements usually come through as a fresh shipment with no new price, or a return and re-sale. Read how your marketplace marks them before you total anything.
• B2B returns need a credit note in Table 9B referring to the original invoice. Credit notes for a financial year must be declared by 30 November of the following year at the latest.

Table 14: sales through e-commerce operators

Since January 2024, GSTR-1 asks suppliers to report, for each e-commerce operator, the value of supplies made through it (Notification 26/2022 added the tables). Table 14 is a summary of sales already reported in Tables 4 to 10. It doesn't add tax, but it lets the department match your sales with each operator's GSTR-8.

• 14(a): supplies where the operator collects TCS under section 52. This covers most goods sold on Amazon, Flipkart, Meesho and similar marketplaces.
• 14(b): supplies where the operator itself pays the tax under section 9(5), such as notified services like restaurant food through delivery apps. You report the value, and the operator pays the GST.
• Amendments to earlier periods go in Table 14A.

TCS: what the marketplace deducts, and getting it back

Marketplaces collect tax at source (TCS) under section 52 on the net value of taxable supplies made through them. The rate was cut from 1% to 0.5% from 10 July 2024 (0.25% CGST + 0.25% SGST, or 0.5% IGST). The operator reports it in its monthly GSTR-8.

1. After the operator files GSTR-8, the TCS shows up on the GST portal for your GSTIN.
2. Accept it in the TCS and TDS credit received form.
3. The accepted amount goes to your electronic cash ledger, and you can use it to pay GST.

The operator's GSTR-8 effectively states your sales through it for the month. Large gaps between that figure and your GSTR-1 are a common trigger for scrutiny, so reconcile before you file.

HSN summary and documents issued

Table 12 needs an HSN-wise summary of quantity and value. From 2025 the GST portal splits it into B2B and B2C tabs, and HSN codes are chosen from a drop-down list instead of typed in. Businesses with aggregate turnover above ₹5 crore report 6-digit HSN codes, and those up to ₹5 crore report at least 4 digits. Marketplace product listings carry an HSN code, so a wrong code at listing time follows you into the return.

Table 13 lists the invoice and credit note number ranges you used. Marketplaces generate invoices in your name, often in their own series, so take the ranges from the marketplace's invoice report rather than your own billing software.

The GSTR-3B lock: why GSTR-1 has to be right first

GSTR-1 fills your sales liability into GSTR-3B. Since the July 2025 tax period, that auto-filled liability can't be edited in GSTR-3B. If GSTR-1 was wrong, you correct it through GSTR-1A for the same period before filing GSTR-3B. In practice, a mistake in marketplace data now carries straight into the tax you pay unless you catch it in GSTR-1.

A monthly workflow that holds up

1. Download each marketplace's sales and returns reports for the month. For quarterly filers, download each month separately.
2. Keep only rows for the GSTIN you're filing. Sellers registered in several states get one report covering all of them.
3. Split B2B (buyer has a GSTIN) from B2C.
4. Group B2C by ship-to state and tax rate, then subtract returns for the same state and rate.
5. Build the HSN summary in separate B2B and B2C tabs, and list the document series.
6. Total sales per marketplace for Table 14 and compare with the TCS statement.
7. Upload to the GST portal (JSON from the offline tool or your software), check the summary, file, then file GSTR-3B.

Mistakes that lead to notices

• Treating the marketplace's settlement or payout amount as sales. Payouts are after commission, fees and TCS. GSTR-1 needs taxable value.
• Using the seller's state instead of the customer's state as place of supply.
• Ignoring returns, so B2CS is overstated and you pay tax on goods that came back.
• Mixing GSTINs, for example reporting another state's warehouse sales under the head-office GSTIN.
• Leaving Table 14 empty, so your sales don't line up with the operator's GSTR-8.
• HSN codes that aren't on the portal's list, which blocks the HSN tab.

How FileKey prepares it

FileKey is built for CA firms filing GSTR-1 for many online sellers. It can ask clients for their reports on WhatsApp, reads them as downloaded from Amazon, Flipkart, Meesho, Myntra, Ajio and more, keeps the client's GSTIN, nets returns automatically, and builds B2B, B2CS, the HSN summary and Table 14. You review it, then download GST portal JSON or Tally XML. The report checker tells you in your browser whether a file has the columns needed.

Frequently asked questions

Written by the FileKey Team

FileKey builds the tools CA firms use for e-commerce GSTR-1 and bank statement conversion. We write these guides from the questions accountants and sellers ask us every filing month. Spotted something out of date? Write to [email protected] and we will fix it. More about FileKey.