GST Model: Decoding Supply of Goods Under GST

Ashish M. Shaji

05 Apr, 2021

The tax levied for manufacturing, sale, and consumption of goods or services is called the GST (Goods and Service Tax). GST is coupled with VAT at every stage of production, from the producer to providers until the final consumers, at which point, the final consumer pays the tax. Here we will discuss about GST Model: Decoding Supply of Goods Under GST.

Objective of GST Implementation

The motive behind the implementation of GST regime is to break down the old system of a multi-tier taxation system across the country and replace it with a single tax system both for the centre and the states.  The system of multiple taxing results in a complicated administration run and more compliance costs, hence, with the new destination-based tax, it is expected to eventually remove economic hurdles and help in developing a common national market platform for the entire country. 

Supply under GST

Supply includes sale, transfer, rental, lease, exchange and barter. Where a person undertakes any of these transactions during the business, it shall be covered under the purview of Supply (GST).

There are three parameters to describe the supply concept:

• Supply should be of goods or service;
• Supply should be for a consideration;
• Supply should be made in the course or furtherance of business.

Overview on GST model

The proposed GST model is structured to have a dual system of central GST for the centre level and a state GST for the state level. It aims to bring under one umbrella every citizen having any kind of affiliation with business which includes manufacturers, job holders, importers, exporters, traders, consumers, and etc.

Under section 3 of the GST model law, the terms and specificity of the taxable goods and services are laid out. According to the GST law^[1], the word ‘supply’ will be used to define any and every form of commodity supplies. There will be strict transaction date records for the supply of goods under GST, and proper invoice records for the accounting of payments. When it comes to the charging of transactional value to be levied for GST, it will be the value of supplied goods and for this, specific additions are supposed to be made to the original charging price.

 Both taxable and non-taxable supplies will come under the purview of supply and the taxable supply will be taxed as part of being taxable. There are no laid out terms for the cases of a transaction falling below the desired maximum price.

However, along with the distinct and sharp strategy and features of GST, there are some complications since it involves many provisions regarding the value of taxable supplies.

• The first complication is double taxation. The customer purchasing a product must have undergone GST, and the value of this supply on falling under taxable supplies would have to go through another taxing as part of the taxable supply policy. Such double transactions could cause difficulties and inconveniences for the parties involved and hence, provisions based on this should be eradicated.
• Section 5 of CGST Act, 2017 laws states provisions about the place of supply of goods. Inter-state commerce and trading are done on different positions, meaning the supplier and the location are on par, which is not right because the place of supply should be the location of the goods at the time of supply deliverance. For the cases where goods are being delivered to the customer as the third person, then it must be considered that the third person is now the supplier of goods and the location of the goods should be the central place of commerce of the third person. Should there be no actual movement of the goods being delivered, the location of the supply should be deemed as the location of goods at the delivery hour to the customer. In the case of pre-loading or assembling of goods, the place of supply should be deemed as the place of assembly. Transactions taking place over aircraft or trains are regarded as supplies carried out over conveyance and thus, the supply location should be at the location where goods are loaded for takeoff.
• In the case of mixed supply where two or more supplies are synchronized together with a single price set for taxation, customers cannot be constituted as a composite supply. Mixed supplies don’t come under composite supply if they’re charged as one whole piece and the supplies having two or more supply in it with separate pricing is regarded as a composite supply.

Conclusion

Finally to wind up the article, what we understand so far is the crucial need for the government and lawmakers to take into account the possibilities of difficulties and hurdles and to take steps accordingly to have a strong grip over the circumstances, instead of a sparse taxing base. The term ‘supply’ should have more clarity and definition to it.

GST laws may have left the casualties on purpose or without purpose, but regardless of that, which is certainly noticeable, is the hard push of the government to bring changes and refine the old tax system for better growth and development. It’s a long journey ahead and the law has to strive harder than ever to make the dreams see the light. This will be quite an exciting journey as we will get to see how the whole decoding of the supply of goods will turn out after the amendments and redefining of the final GST laws.

Do you wish for GST Registration in India? Or are you looking for a GST implementation advisory? Would you like to know about the GST Impact on your industry? Please feel free to contact Enterslice, India’s leading online legal and tax advisory firm.

Read our article: Composition scheme under GST & Presumptive Taxation Scheme