LIABILITY OF TAX PAYER
The liability of tax payer depends upon the fact whether a person is taxable person under the act or not.
A ‘taxable person’ under GST, is a person who carries on any business at any place in India and who is registered or required to be registered under the GST Act. Any person who engages in economic activity including trade and commerce is treated as taxable person.
‘Person’ here includes individuals, HUF, company, firm, LLP, an AOP/ BOI, any corporation or Government Company, body corporate incorporated under laws of foreign country, co-operative society, local authority, government, trust, artificial juridical person.
WHO IS LIABLE TO GET REGISTERED UNDER GST?
GST registration is mandatory for-
- Any business whose turnover in a financial year exceeds Rs 20 lakhs (Rs 10 lakhs for North Eastern and hill states).
[If turnover is supply of only exempted goods/services which are exempt under GST, this clause does not apply.]
- Every person who is registered under an earlier law (i.e., Excise, VAT, Service Tax etc.) needs to register under GST, too.
- When a business which is registered has been transferred to someone/demerged, the transferee shall take registration with effect from the date of transfer.
- Anyone who drives inter-state supply of goods
- Casual taxable person
- Non-Resident taxable person
- Agents of a supplier
- Those paying tax under the reverse charge mechanism
- Input service distributor
- E-commerce operator or aggregator
- Person who supplies via e-commerce aggregator
- Person supplying online information and database access or retrieval services from a place outside India to a person in India, other than a registered taxable person.
Casual Taxable Person under GST
A person who occasionally supplies goods and/or services in a territory where GST is applicable but he does not have a fixed place of business. Such a person will be treated as a casual taxable person as per GST.
Example: A person who has a place of business in Bangalore supplies taxable consulting services in Pune where he has no place of business would be treated as a casual taxable person in Pune.
Non-Resident Taxable person under GST
When a non-resident occasionally supplies goods/services in a territory where GST applies, but he does not have a fixed place of business in India. As per GST, he will be treated as a non-resident taxable person. It is similar to casual taxable person except the non-resident has no place of business in India.
Input Service Distributor
‘Input Service Distributor’ means an office of the supplier of goods/services which receives tax invoices on receipt of input services and issues tax invoices for the purpose of distributing the credit of CGST/SGST/IGST paid on the said services to your branch with same PAN. (It must be a supplier of taxable goods /services having the same PAN as that of the office referred to above).
Thus, only credit on ‘input services’ can be distributed and not on input goods or capital goods.
This will be a new concept for assessees who are currently not registered as input service distributor. However, this facility is optional in nature.
PROVISIONS TO REGARDING LIABILITY OF TAX PAYER
PAYMENTS TO BE MADE IN GST REGIME
In the GST regime, for any intra-state supply, taxes to be paid are the Central GST (CGST, going into the account of the Central Government) and the State GST (SGST, going into the account of the concerned State Government). For any inter-state supply, tax to be paid is Integrated GST (IGST) which will have components of both CGST and SGST.
In addition, certain categories of registered persons will be required to pay to the government account Tax Deducted at Source (TDS) and Tax Collected at Source (TCS). In addition, wherever applicable, Interest, Penalty, Fees and any other payment will also be required to be made.
WHO IS LIABLE TO PAY GST?
In general the supplier of goods or service is liable to pay GST. However in specified cases like imports and other notified supplies, the liability may be cast on the recipient under the reverse charge mechanism. Further, in some cases, the liability to pay is on the third person (say in the case of e-commerce operator responsible for TCS or Government Department responsible for TDS).
WHEN IS GST PAYMENT TO BE DONE BY THE TAXABLE PERSON?
At the time of supply of Goods as explained in Section 12 and at the time of supply of services as explained in Section 13. The time is generally the earliest of one of the three events, namely receiving payment, issuance of invoice or completion of supply. Different situations envisaged and different tax points have been explained in the aforesaid sections.
MAIN FEATURES OF GST PAYMENT PROCESS
The payment processes under proposed GST regime will have the following features:
- Electronically generated challan from GSTN Common Portal in all modes of payment and no use of manually prepared challan;
- Facilitation for the taxpayer by providing hassle free, anytime, anywhere mode of payment of tax;
- Convenience of making payment online;
- Logical tax collection data in electronic format;
- Faster remittance of tax revenue to the Government Account;
- Paperless transactions;
- Speedy Accounting and reporting;
- Electronic reconciliation of all receipts;
- Simplified procedure for banks;
- Warehousing of Digital Challan.
MODE OF PAYMENT
GST Payment can be done by the following methods:
(i) Through debit of Credit Ledger of the taxpayer maintained on the Common Portal- ONLY Tax can be paid. Interest, Penalty and Fees cannot be paid by debit in the credit ledger. Tax payers shall be allowed to take credit of taxes paid on inputs (input tax credit) and utilize the same for payment of output tax. However, no input tax credit on account of CGST shall be utilized towards payment of SGST and vice versa. The credit of IGST would be permitted to be utilized for payment of IGST, CGST and SGST in that order.
(ii) In cash by debit in the Cash Ledger of the taxpayer maintained on the Common Portal. Money can be deposited in the Cash Ledger by different modes, namely, E-Payment (Internet Banking, Credit Card, Debit Card); Real Time Gross Settlement (RTGS)/ National Electronic Fund Transfer (NEFT); Over the Counter Payment in branches of Banks Authorized to accept deposit of GST.
TIME OF PAYMENT OF TAXES TO BE MADE BY THE SUPPLIER
Payment of taxes by the normal taxpayer is to be done on monthly basis by the 20th of the succeeding month. Cash payments will be first deposited in the Cash Ledger and the taxpayer shall debit the ledger while making payment in the monthly returns and shall reflect the relevant debit entry number in his return. As mentioned earlier, payment can also be debited from the Credit Ledger. Payment of taxes for the month of March shall be paid by the 20th of April. Composition tax payers will need to pay tax on quarterly basis. Timing of payment will be from 0000 Hrs to 2000 Hrs.
EXTENSION OF TIME LIMIT FOR PAYMENT OF TAX OR PAYMENT IN MONTHLY INSTALLMENTS
The extension of time limit for payment or payment of tax in monthly instalments is not permitted in case of self-assessed liability. In other cases, competent authority has been empowered to extend the time period or allow payment in installments. (Section 55 of MGL).
IN CASE TAXABLE PERSON FILES THE RETURN BUT DOES NOT MAKE PAYMENT OF TAX
In such cases, the return is not considered as a valid return. Section 27 (3) of the MGL provides that the return furnished by a taxable person shall not be treated as valid return unless the full tax due as per the said return has been paid. It is only the valid return that would be used for allowing input tax credit (ITC) to the recipient. In other words, unless the supplier has paid the entire self-assessed tax and filed his return and the recipient has filed his return, the ITC of the recipient would not be confirmed.
As per section 28, a taxable person who has not furnished a valid return shall not be allowed to utilize such credit till he discharges his self-assessed tax liability.
E-LEDGERS
Electronic Ledgers or E-Ledgers are statements of cash and input tax credit in respect of each registered taxpayer. In addition, each taxpayer shall also have an electronic tax liability register. Once a taxpayer is registered on Common Portal (GSTN), 2 e-ledgers (Cash & Input Tax Credit) and an electronic tax liability register will be automatically opened and displayed on his dashboard at all times.
TAX LIABILITY REGISTER
Tax Liability Register will reflect the total tax liability of a taxpayer (after netting) for the particular month.
CASH LEDGER
The cash ledger will reflect all deposits made in cash, and TDS/TCS made on account of the taxpayer. The information will be reflected on real time basis. This ledger can be used for making any payment on account of GST.
ITC LEDGER
Input Tax Credit as self-assessed in monthly returns will be reflected in the ITC Ledger. The credit in this ledger can be used to make payment of TAX ONLY and not other amounts such as interest, penalty, fees etc.
LINKAGE BETWEEN GSTN AND THE AUTHORIZED BANKS
There will be real time two way linkage between the GSTN and the Core Banking Solution (CBS) of the Bank. CPIN is automatically routed to the Bank via electronic string for verification and receiving payment and a challan identification number (CIN) is to automatically sent by the Bank to the Common Portal confirming payment receipt. No manual intervention will be involved in the process by any one including bank cashier or teller or the taxpayer.
CREATION OR MODIFICATION OF GST CHALLAN
A taxpayer can create a challan from GSTN portal for the purpose of payment of taxes. The payment particulars have to be fed in by the tax payer or his authorized person. Its possible to fill in the challan form partially and temporarily “save” the challan for completion at a later stage. A saved challan can be “edited” before finalization. After the tax payer has finalized the challan, it will be generated. The remitter will have option of printing the challan for his record.
Its important to note that once a challan is generated online, it can not be modified. He can save the challan midway for future editing. However once the challan is finalized and CPIN generated, no further changes can be made to it by the taxpayer.
VALIDITY PERIOD OF CHALLAN
The challan will be valid for fifteen days after its generation and thereafter it will be purged from the System. However, the taxpayer can generate another challan at his convenience.
CPIN
CPIN stands for Common Portal Identification Number (CPIN) given at the time of generation of challan. It is a 14 digit unique number to identify the challan. As stated above, the CPIN remains valid for a period of 15 days.
CIN AND ITS RELEVANCE
CIN stands for Challan Identification Number. It is a 17 digit number that is 14-digit CPIN plus 3-digit Bank Code. CIN is generated by the authorized banks/ Reserve Bank of India (RBI) when payment is actually received by such authorized banks or RBI and credited in the relevant government account held with them. It is an indication that the payment has been realized and credited to the appropriate government account. CIN is communicated by the authorized bank to taxpayer as well as to GSTN.
SEQUENCE OF PAYMENT OF TAX IN CASE TAXPAYER HAS LIABILITIES FOR PREVIOUS MONTHS ALSO
Section 35(8) prescribes an order of payment where the taxpayer has tax liability beyond the current return period. In such a situation, the order of payment to be followed is: First self-assessed tax and interest for the previous period; thereafter self-assessed tax and interest for the current period; and thereafter any other amounts payable including any confirmed demands under section 51. This sequence has to be mandatorily followed.
E-FPB
E-FPB stands for Electronic Focal Point Branch. These are branches of authorized banks which are authorized to collect payment of GST. Each authorized bank will nominate only one branch as its E-FPB for pan India Transactions. The E-FPB will have to open accounts under each major head for all governments. Total 38 accounts (one each for CGST, IGST and one each for SGST for each State/UT Govt.) will have to be opened. Any amount received by such E-FPB towards GST will be credited to the appropriate account held by such E-FPB. For NEFT/RTGS Transactions, RBI will act as E-FPB.
TDS UNDER GST REGIME
TDS stands for Tax Deducted at Source (TDS). As per section 37, this provision is meant for Government and Government undertakings and other notified entities making contractual payments in excess of Rs.10 Lakhs to suppliers. While making such payment, the concerned Government/authority shall deduct 1% of the total payable amount and remit it into the appropriate GST account.
SUPPLIER ACCOUNTING FOR TDS WHILE FILING RETURN
Any amount shown as TDS will be reflected in the electronic cash ledger of the concerned supplier. He can utilize this amount towards discharging his liability towards tax, interest fees and any other amount.
‘TDS Deductor’ ACCOUNT FOR TDS
The TDS Deductor will account for TDS in the following ways:
- Such deductors needs to get compulsorily registered under section 19 read with Schedule III of MGL.
- They need to remit such TDS collected by the 10th day of the month succeeding the month in which TDS was collected and reported in GSTR 7.
- The amount deposited as TDS will be reflected in the electronic cash ledger of the supplier.
- They need to issue certificate of such TDS to the deductee within 5 days of deducting TDS failing which fees of Rs. 100 per day subject to maximum of Rs. 5000/- will be payable by such deductor.
TAX COLLECTED AT SOURCE (TCS)
This provision is applicable only for E-Commerce Operator under section 43C of MGL. Every E-Commerce Operator needs to withhold a percentage (to be notified later on the recommendation of the GST Council) of the amount which is due from him to the supplier at the time of making actual payment to the supplier. Such withheld amount is to be deposited by such E-Commerce Operator to take appropriate GST account by the 10th of the next month. The amount deposited as TCS will be reflected in the electronic cash ledger of the supplier.
THE PRE-REGISTRATION OF CREDIT CARD NECESSARY IN THE GSTN PORTAL FOR THE GST PAYMENT
The pre-registration of credit card necessary in the GSTN portal for the GST payment. The pre-registration of credit card is necessary in the GSTN portal for the GST payment. The taxpayer would be required to pre-register his credit card, from which the tax payment is intended, with the Common Portal maintained on GSTN. GSTN may also attempt to put in a system with banks in getting the credit card verified by taking a confirmation from the credit card service provider. The payments using credit cards can therefore be allowed without any monetary limit to facilitate ease of doing business.
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