Refund process under GST made easier

Cab aggregators may come under GST

Availing of refunds on taxes paid on input goods may become easier under the proposed goods and services tax (GST), as the GST Council has tweaked the norms floated earlier.

Also, cab aggregators, such as Ola and Uber, may fall under the definition of e-commerce operators, but they may not be charged up to one per cent tax collected at source, as applicable to operators in goods. Rather, they may have to discharge the entire tax liability, say experts.

GST Bills have given only a broader definition of e-commerce operator, and specific areas of businesses may be notified later.

Explaining the provisions, Naveen Wadhwa of Taxmann says draft rules had given the recipient of services three months from the date of issue of invoice to pay to the supplier after which his input tax credit would be reversed. However, the recipient will now get six months to pay to the supplier, according to the rules approved by the GST Council. Also, these rules were specific to services earlier but have been expanded to goods as well now, which would make life easier for companies under the GST regime.

The supplier of goods would have to upload his invoice for output side by the 10th of next month of the sale. This invoice would be matched with input invoice of the recipient. The recipient would get the refund for taxes paid to the government by supplier soon after these invoices are uploaded.

After uploading of these invoices, the recipient can make payment to the supplier within six months. If this is not done, his input tax credit would be reversed. He would have to either net it through its input tax credit claims or he has to pay output tax to the government with interest. The rate of interest has not been specified as yet.

Also, a recipient has to submit a form within 60 days of the GST roll-out to take credit of taxes shown in his returns before the roll-out. However, his invoices for inputs should not be older than a year, says Wadhwa.

The Central Board of Excise and Customs has released eight draft rules under the GST for registration, invoice, refund and payment. It has tentatively approved rules for credit, valuation, transition and composition. It is yet to release rule on returns.

The GST Bills approved by Parliament last week did not specifically include cab operators in e-commerce operators, but experts believe these would be notified later.

However, unlike e-commerce operators providing platforms for goods, cab aggregators may have to discharge all the tax liability under the GST themselves.

GST Bills have given only a broader definition of e-commerce operator, and specific areas of businesses may be notified later