What Is the QRMP Scheme and Should You Opt In?

The QRMP scheme — short for Quarterly Return, Monthly Payment — is a GST compliance option built for smaller taxpayers. If you qualify and opt in, you file your main GST returns once every three months instead of every month, while still paying tax into the government's account monthly. It was introduced in January 2021 and has since become the way many small businesses in India manage their GST filing.

This article explains who can use QRMP, how the monthly payment mechanism works, what the Invoice Furnishing Facility adds, how to opt in, and how to weigh the scheme against staying on monthly filing. Thresholds, due dates and other rules under GST are set by government notification and change from time to time, so treat the figures here as indicative and confirm the current position on the official portal, gst.gov.in, before you act.

Who can use the QRMP scheme

QRMP is open to registered taxpayers who file GSTR-3B and whose aggregate annual turnover in the preceding financial year was up to a specified ceiling — currently 5 crore rupees. Aggregate turnover is computed across all GSTINs on the same PAN, on an all-India basis. If your turnover crosses the ceiling during a financial year, you become ineligible from the quarter that follows the breach.

The choice is made GSTIN by GSTIN. A business with registrations in several states can keep some on QRMP and others on monthly filing, depending on what suits each unit. Taxpayers required to file other return types — for example composition dealers filing CMP-08, or those filing GSTR-5 or GSTR-6 — are outside the scheme.

What "quarterly return" means in practice

Under QRMP you file two returns per quarter instead of per month:

• GSTR-1 (outward supplies) — once for the quarter, by the notified due date in the month after the quarter ends.
• GSTR-3B (summary return and final tax settlement) — once for the quarter. The due date is generally the 22nd or the 24th of the month following the quarter, depending on the state or union territory in which you are registered.

Over a year that is eight returns rather than the sixteen or more a monthly filer submits. The reduction in filing events is the scheme's main attraction.

How monthly payment works

Filing quarterly does not mean paying quarterly. For the first two months of each quarter you deposit tax using form GST PMT-06, typically by the 25th of the following month. There are two ways to compute that monthly deposit:

• Fixed Sum Method: the portal generates a pre-filled challan based on your last filed return — broadly 35% of the tax paid in cash in the previous quarter if you filed quarterly then, or an equivalent figure if you filed monthly. Pay that amount on time and no interest arises on the first two months even if your actual liability turns out higher, provided you settle the balance with the quarterly GSTR-3B by its due date.
• Self-Assessment Method: you work out the actual tax payable for the month after setting off input tax credit, and deposit that.

Any amount paid through PMT-06 sits as a credit and is adjusted when you file the quarterly GSTR-3B. Whatever is still due after that adjustment is paid with the return.

The Invoice Furnishing Facility (IFF)

Because your GSTR-1 is now quarterly, your business customers would ordinarily have to wait up to three months to see your invoices in their GST records and claim input tax credit. The Invoice Furnishing Facility is the optional fix: for each of the first two months of a quarter you can upload your B2B invoices, usually between the 1st and 13th of the following month, subject to a value cap per month (currently 50 lakh rupees). Invoices you do not upload through IFF simply go into the quarterly GSTR-1. IFF is optional — if most of your sales are to consumers rather than registered businesses, you may not need it at all.

How and when to opt in

You choose QRMP on the GST portal under Services > Returns. The window for a given quarter runs from the first day of the second month of the preceding quarter to the last day of the first month of the quarter — for the July to September quarter, for example, roughly 1 May to 31 July. Once selected, the choice carries forward automatically; you do not re-opt every quarter, and you can switch back to monthly filing in a later window. Eligible taxpayers were auto-migrated into QRMP when the scheme launched, so check your current filing frequency on the portal before assuming you are on one or the other.

QRMP versus monthly filing: the trade-offs

In favour of QRMP: far fewer return-filing events, lighter month-to-month compliance, and a simpler routine for a small team. The Fixed Sum Method also removes the need to finalise numbers every month.

Against QRMP: you still part with tax cash monthly, so there is no real deferral of the tax outflow. Reconciliation work can pile up into a quarterly crunch. If your customers are input-tax-credit-sensitive businesses, you effectively have to run IFF twice a quarter anyway, which erodes the time saving. And if your turnover is close to the eligibility ceiling, you may be forced off the scheme mid-year.

Should you opt in?

QRMP tends to suit small businesses that sell mostly to end consumers, have a stable and modest tax liability, and have limited accounting bandwidth. Monthly filing often remains the better fit if you are business-to-business heavy with customers who expect prompt input tax credit, if you want to keep reconciliation current rather than face a quarterly backlog, or if your turnover is near the threshold and likely to cross it. Whichever way you lean, verify the current turnover limit, due dates and IFF cap on gst.gov.in, because these are set by notification and can be revised.

Key takeaways

• QRMP lets eligible taxpayers file GSTR-1 and GSTR-3B quarterly while paying tax monthly through form PMT-06.
• Eligibility depends on aggregate annual turnover in the preceding year staying within the notified ceiling (currently 5 crore rupees); the option is exercised GSTIN-wise.
• Monthly tax can be computed by the Fixed Sum (pre-filled challan) method or the Self-Assessment method.
• The Invoice Furnishing Facility lets you pass B2B invoice details to customers monthly so their input tax credit is not delayed.
• The scheme reduces filing frequency but does not defer the tax outflow and can concentrate reconciliation into a quarterly exercise.
• Confirm current thresholds, due dates and caps on gst.gov.in before opting in or out.