Many businesses in India have branches in different countries of the world. There are scenarios where a business unit in India provides services to its branch in a different country. How will such supplies be treated under GST? Will they be considered as export of service and hence, be zero rated, will they be considered as non-taxable supplies, as the place of supply of the service is outside India or will they be taxable? Let us understand how the supply of service by a unit in India to a branch outside India will be treated under GST.
 

The time to furnish your first GSTR-1 is fast approaching. In Form GSTR-1, and in the monthly returns to be furnished by a regular dealer, details of UQC are asked for. In this blog, let us understand what UQC in GST is and how to know your UQC.
 

In our previous blog on imports and exports under GST, we had learnt about the conditions to be satisfied for a supply to be considered as an export of service. Let us list them down again:

When the GST Council fixed the GST rates, it was decided that GST on packaged food products (Cereals, pulses, flour, etc.) will be at the rate of 5%. If the same food products are unbranded and sold loose, GST rate of 0% will be applicable. This led to many businesses deciding to deregister their brand name and sell the goods under deregistered trademarks or the corporate brand to gain a tax advantage. By doing this, they could avoid the 5% GST on account of the product being a branded product.

Under erstwhile VAT regime, the term ‘Dealer’ who was required to register on the basis of turnover of sales, included an agent who carries on the business of buying, selling, supplying or distributing goods on behalf of any principal. This was prevalent in most of the State VAT laws. This indicates, that the agent was treated at par with the trader who actually sold the goods. However, irrespective of his turnover, he was required to register, usually after effecting his first sale as an agent.
 

Under GST, there is a lot of confusion about the difference between nil rated and zero rated supplies, as well as the difference between non-taxable and exempt supplies. While the end result of all these supplies is the same, i.e. GST is not charged on the supply, it is important to know the real difference between these supplies. This is also important from a reporting perspective, because in GST returns, a clear bifurcation of the value of each of these supplies is required to be furnished.
 
Let us understand the difference between these supplies from the table below:

Persons whose turnover does not exceed Rs. 50 Lakhs (in special category States except Uttarakhand) and Rs. 75 Lakhs (in rest of India) have the option to register as composition dealers. Composition dealers cannot charge tax on their outward supplies and hence, persons purchasing from composition dealers cannot claim input tax credit on such inward supplies.
In the GST portal, facility has been given to search whether a supplier is composition tax payer. Let us understand the process for this:

This post has been updated on 3 May 2017 to incorporate latest changes.
In the post titled Registered Dealer? Learn How to Transition to GST,  we discussed the essentials of GST registration, and the forms needed for existing dealer registration. In this post, we will understand the registration process for new business registrations.

Liability for Registration in GST

Region

Aggregate Turnover

This post has been updated on 29 May 2017 to incorporate latest changes.
In our previous posts, we discussed how you can transition to a GST Registered Dealer and how to apply for a new GST registration
Let us now understand how to:

• Amend your registration details
• Apply for cancellation of registration
• Revoke your registration if it is cancelled

Amending Your Registration Details

For businesses who are already registered under the previous taxation laws, the immediate actionable is to obtain a provisional GST registration; assess whether they are still liable to mandatorily register under GST – and accordingly, either migrate to GST registration or exercise the option to cancel the provisional registration.
However, if you are a new businesses or you were previously unregistered, but are now liable to register because of the prescribed threshold limits, the road ahead for you – is a new GST registration.