Receiving advance for an order is a common business occurrence. Suppliers usually ask customers to pay advance for an order as it serves as a commitment to not cancel the order. For persons registered under Excise and VAT, advances received were insignificant from a tax point of view. The liability to pay tax on a transaction arose at the time of removal of the goods or sale of goods under Excise and VAT, respectively.

It is a common business practice to give gifts to employees, especially on the occasion of festivals like Diwali, New Year, etc. In addition, companies provide various perquisites to employees, such as housing, laptops, conveyance, health insurance, etc. In the previous indirect tax regime, these gifts were not taxable under VAT or Service Tax. Let us understand the treatment of gifts to employees under GST.

Transport of goods by road is the most commonly used mode of transportation for businesses which supply goods. This transportation by road is facilitated either by a Goods Transport Agency (GTA) or common carriers such as autorickshaw or courier agencies. In this blog, we will understand what is meant by a Goods Transport Agency (GTA) and the GST rates for transportation service provided by a Goods Transport Agency.

In our earlier blog, Who is a Pure Agent in GST? , we discussed various conditions a registered taxable person has to meet to be qualified as a pure agent. In this blog, we will be answering the questions: What is the relevance of determining the Pure Agent Services? Where does it really impact?  Also, we will discuss how to calculate the Pure Agent Value.

A pure agent is a registered taxable person who liaises between other suppliers on behalf of his client. Under this concept, while providing services to the client, he also undertakes to receive other ancillary services from other service providers, and incurs expenditure on behalf of his client. The actual expenditure incurred by a pure agent is later claimed as reimbursement. In other words, over and above the value of services rendered to his client, any other expenditure incurred by a pure agent (on behalf of his client) will be a reimbursement.

What is a consignment sale?
A Consignment Sale is a trade arrangement in which a seller sends the goods to a buyer or reseller; but the payment to the seller happens as and when the goods are sold. The seller remains the owner of the goods or, in other words, the title holder of the goods until they are paid for in full and also, after a certain period, takes back the unsold goods. In most of the cases, such resellers work on a commission basis. Consignment sales under GST has a relatively new treatment which need to be evaluated by businesses.
 

Second-hand goods dealers deal in purchase and sale of used goods. These goods might be sold as they are or after minor refurbishing. In this blog, let us understand the impact of GST on the inward and outward supply of used goods by these dealers. We will also learn about the margin scheme, which is a scheme for paying tax, offered to second-hand goods dealers.
 

In our previous blog, we had discussed about the impact of GST on consignment sales. In this blog, we will be throwing light to an alternate mode of the similar supply i.e. sale on approval basis under GST.
 

A person whose aggregate turnover does not exceed Rs. 75 Lakhs (special category States except Uttarakhand) and Rs. 1 crore (rest of India) has the option to register as a composition tax payer. This option can be exercised in 3 scenarios:

1. During transition from the previous tax regime to GST
2. While taking a new registration
3. On shifting from regular to composition scheme

 
Let us understand the process to be followed by a tax payer to opt for the composition scheme in each of these scenarios:

In our previous blogs , we have discussed in detail the liability of tax on transportation services availed from a GTA. Based on the type of person availing the service, the liability of tax falls upon the service receiver or the GTA. In addition to transportation services taken from a GTA, there can also be a case where the supplier of goods transports the goods to the recipient and levies transportation charges in the invoice.