Where do credit notes to unregistered buyers go in GSTR-1 for a Shopify store in India?

Which GSTR-1 table does each credit note go in?

A credit note to an unregistered buyer follows the type of the original invoice. The GSTN GSTR-1 manual describes table 9B, Credit / Debit Notes (Unregistered), as the place for notes “issued to the unregistered recipients and for export invoices”.

GSTN GSTR-1 user manual and FAQ (archived August 11, 2024 and October 10, 2026); Rule 59(4) as read October 18, 2026.

The B2CL/B2CS split follows Rule 59: since August 1, 2024, the rule lists invoice by invoice the inter-State supplies to unregistered persons with an invoice value “more than one lakh rupees” — what the portal calls B2CL. That is Rs 1 lakh per invoice, down from Rs 2.5 lakh before. The B2CL limit page covers how that limit works and the portal's older wording.

Export credit notes go in 9B too, typed as exports with or without payment; whether the export itself carries GST is covered on the export orders page.

What happens to a credit note against a B2CS sale?

For B2C Large sales, the GSTR-1 FAQ on the GSTN tutorial site says credit notes “need to be reported separately” — the 9B row above. For B2C Small sales, the same FAQ sets a different rule:

That net figure sits in table 7, B2C Others. The FAQ states the netting in one line and names no table; table 7 is where the GSTN manual places B2C Others supplies, so the B2CS sale goes there with the note already deducted rather than as a separate 9B entry.

By when must a credit note be in GSTR-1?

Section 34(2) of the CGST Act requires a registered person to declare a credit note in “the return for the month during which such credit note has been issued”, and no later than November 30 after the end of the financial year of the supply, or the date of furnishing the relevant annual return, “whichever is earlier”.

Not every official page agrees on that cut-off. In an October 10, 2026 snapshot, the GSTR-1 FAQ on the GSTN tutorial site still gave “30th September”. The Act replaced “September” with November from October 1, 2022, under section 102 of the Finance Act 2022 and Notification 18/2022-CT.

Where the two differ, count from the Act.

Under the proviso to section 34(2), as worded since October 1, 2025, no reduction in the supplier's output tax is allowed where the “incidence of tax on such supply has been passed on to any other person” — the limb for recipients who are not registered. How that applies to your refunds is a question for your CA; ask before you file the note.

What does a Shopify refund give you for GSTR-1?

A Shopify refund is made from the Orders page and “sends payment back to the customer”. In the Finances report, the Taxes column shows a return's tax as a negative number on the date the order was refunded — a report line, not a document.

On its India GST page, Shopify says it “doesn't create a GST-compliant bill”, and it doesn't file or remit your taxes for you. None of the Shopify Help Center pages we read on October 18, 2026 — on refunds, returns, editing and cancelling orders, order notifications, store credit, India GST, tax settings and reports, and the Finances report — mentions a credit note.

So any credit note you issue for a refund has to come from your GST app or CA, and the GSTR-1 data they prepare should put B2CL and export notes in 9B and report B2CS sales net. One App Store listing, read on October 18, 2026, names “credit notes” among its GSTR-1 ready exports — one vendor's claim, as of that date. Before you choose an app, check what to look for in a GST app.