How to File NIL GST Returns — NIL GSTR-1, GSTR-3B, CMP-08 and GSTR-4 on the Portal or by SMS in Under Two Minutes, When a Return Counts as NIL, Why You Must File Even With Zero Business, the ₹500 Late-Fee Cap, and How Non-Filing Ends in Suspension and Cancellation

Every registered person must file GSTR-1 and GSTR-3B (or the QRMP and composition equivalents) for every tax period, whether or not there was business. A return is NIL when there were no outward supplies (no sales, no credit or debit notes, no amendments to earlier periods), no inward supplies attracting reverse charge, no input credit to claim or reverse, and no tax, interest or late fee to pay. A month with even one purchase from an unregistered landlord (rent under reverse charge), or a credit note issued, is not NIL — file the regular return. Not filing at all costs more than filing NIL: late fees accumulate, GSTR-1 for the next period is blocked, e-way bill generation stops after two unfiled 3Bs, and six months of continuous default triggers suspension and cancellation of the GSTIN.

1. 1GSTR-1 (monthly or quarterly): Returns Dashboard → select the period → GSTR-1 → 'Prepare Online' → the questionnaire asks 'Do you want to file NIL GSTR-1?' → Yes → proceed → 'File Statement' → verify with EVC (OTP on the registered mobile/e-mail) or DSC. The video's older flow — opening each table and generating a summary of zeros — is replaced by this one question.
2. 2GSTR-3B: Returns Dashboard → GSTR-3B → 'Prepare Online' → answer 'Do you want to file NIL return?' → Yes → all tables zero → 'File GSTR-3B' → EVC/DSC. Since July 2025 the auto-populated outward figures from a NIL GSTR-1 are zero and locked, so a NIL 3B follows a NIL GSTR-1 automatically.
3. 3QRMP: for months 1 and 2 with no supplies, no IFF and no PMT-06 is needed; the quarterly GSTR-1 and GSTR-3B are filed NIL if the whole quarter was NIL.
4. 4Composition: CMP-08 → 'File NIL' when there were no outward supplies, no inward supplies under reverse charge and no tax; GSTR-4 (annual) → the NIL option is available only if every CMP-08 of the year was NIL and there were no inward supplies to report.
5. 5Download the filed return/acknowledgement and the ARN each time; the filing table on 'Search Taxpayer' shows the periods to anyone who checks your compliance.

• •The mobile must be the one registered as the authorised signatory's on the GST portal; the 6-digit verification code is valid for 30 minutes.
• •SMS filing is available only when the return is genuinely NIL and all previous returns are filed; otherwise the portal replies with the error and the return must be filed online.
• •The ARN arrives by SMS; it appears in the portal's filing history like any other filing.

• •Sequence block: GSTR-1 for a later period cannot be filed until earlier GSTR-1s are filed; GSTR-3B needs the same period's GSTR-1 and the previous 3B.
• •E-way bill block (rule 138E) after two unfiled GSTR-3Bs — even for a dormant firm that suddenly gets an order.
• •Suspension and cancellation (section 29(2)(c)): six consecutive months of unfiled returns (two quarters for composition) → automatic suspension, show-cause in REG-17, cancellation in REG-19; revocation requires all pending returns filed with fees and an application within 90 days (extendable on condonation).
• •Three-year bar: since 1 August 2025 a return older than three years from its due date cannot be filed at all — a dormant GSTIN with a five-year backlog cannot be regularised; cancellation with a final GSTR-10 is the only route.
• •Cancelling voluntarily (REG-16) is the right answer for a business that has closed: no more returns after the effective date, and GSTR-10 within three months.