Goods and Services Tax (GST) Act deals with
definitions, phrases, and expressions those are necessary to ensure proper
implementation and interpretation of the law. Some of the major terms that are
beneficial to businesses and consultants are compiled here.
Actionable
Claim will have the significance assigned to it in
section 3 of the Transfer of Property Act, 1882 (4 of 1882), which refers to a
claim on any unsecured debt or any beneficial interest in movable property of
the claimant.
Address
of Delivery refers to the address of the recipient
of goods and/or services indicated on the tax invoice issued by a taxable
person for delivery of such goods and/or services.
Address
on Record means the address of the recipient as noted in the
files of the supplier. This may or may not be the same as the address of
delivery.
Adjudicating
Authority means any authority competent to pass any order or
decision relating to the GST Act, but does not include the Central Board of
Excise and Customs, the revision authority, authority for the advance ruling, and
appellate authority for an advance ruling, appellate authority, or the
appellate tribunal.
Aggregate
Turnover means the total value of all taxable supplies,
exempt supplies, exports of goods and/or services, and interstate supplies of a
person having the same PAN, computed on the pan-India basis and excluding
taxes. However, the value of inward supplies on which taxation is based on
reverse-charge mechanism shall not be admitted.
Appellate
Tribunal means the Goods and Services Tax Appellate Tribunal
set up under section 109.
Application
Service Providers (ASPs) are like GST Suvidha Providers
(GSPs) but are more wholesome than GSPs. The support provided by ASPs will
address most taxpayer compliance difficulties as they work as a liaison between
the taxpayers and the GSPs.
Appropriate
Government refers to the Central Government for IGST, UTGST
and CGST, and the State Government for SGST.
Assessment
means the determination of tax liability inclusive of self-assessment,
re-assessment, provisional assessment, summary assessment, and best judgment
assessment.
Capital
Goods are goods that are capitalized in the books of
accounts of the person claiming the credit and are intended to be used during
business.
Casual
Taxable Person is a person occasionally undertaking
transactions involving the supply of goods and/or services during business,
whether as principal, agent or in any other capacity, in a taxable territory
where he has no fixed place of business.
CGST
is
the tax levied under the Central Goods and Services Tax Act, 2016.
Common
Portal refers to the online GST portal approved by the
Central and State Governments, on the recommendation of the council.
Composite
Supply means a supply consisting of two or more goods
and/or services, which are naturally bundled and provided together, one being a
principal supply.
Consideration
relates to the supply of goods or services involving:
·
Any payment made or to be made, whether
in money or kind
·
Monetary value of any act or
forbearance, whether or not voluntary
However,
the subsidy given by the Central and/or State Governments are not included.
Council
refers to the Goods and Services Tax Council set up under Article 279A of the
Constitution.
Credit
Note
means a document issued by a taxable person in relation to the tax invoice
exceeding the taxable value and/or tax payable in respect of supply, or where
the goods supplied are returned by the recipient, or where the services
supplied are found to be deficient.
Debit
note
means a document issued by a taxable person relating to the taxable value
and/or tax charged as per the tax invoice when found to be less than the
taxable value and/or tax payable in respect of such supply.
Digital
signature Certificate (DSC) refers to a secure digital key
that certifies the identity of the holder, issued by a Certifying Authority
(CA). It typically holds information about the identity of the holder. It is
the digital equivalent of a handwritten signature.
Electronic
Commerce means the supply of goods and/or services including
digital products over a digital or electronic network.
Exempt
Supply means supply of any goods and/or services that are
not taxable and includes such supply of goods and/or services that attract zero
rate of tax or that may be exempt from tax per section 11.
Fixed
establishment is a place, other than the place of
business, that has a sufficient degree of permanence and suitable structure
regarding human and technical resources as to supply/receive/use services for
its own.
Forward
charge means the tax liability of the supplier of goods
and/or services to levy the tax on the recipient of the goods and/or services
and to remit the same to the credit of the government.
Fund
means the Consumer Welfare Fund set up under section 57 by the Central
Government.
Goods
refers to all types of movable property, including actionable claim, growing
crops, grass, and things attached to the land that are agreed to be severed
before supply or under a contract of supply. Excludes securities and money.
Goods
and Services Tax Network (GSTN) is a non-profit,
public-private partnership company. Its main purpose is to provide IT
infrastructure and services to Central and State Governments, taxpayers, and
other stakeholders to facilitate the implementation of GST.
GST
Suvidha Provider (GSP) refers to third-party applications
that assist the taxable person in accessing the GST portal in an enriched
manner by being more user-friendly and customer-centred.
Harmonized
System Nomenclature (HSN) Code is a numeral used to classify
goods for taxation purposes provided by the World Customs Organization.
IGST
means Integrated Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017. Integrated tax means the
IGST levied under IGST Act, 2017.
Input
Service Distributor means an office of the supplier of
goods and/or services that receives tax invoices issued under section 31 toward
the receipt of input services and issues a prescribed document for distributing
the credit of CGST, SGST, UTGST and/or IGST paid for the said services.
Input
Tax
in relation to a registered fixed person, means the central tax, state tax,
integrated tax or Union territory tax charged on any supply of goods or
services or both made to him and includes:
ü IGST
Charged on the Import of Goods
ü Tax
payable under subsections (3) and (4) of section 9.
ü Tax
payable under subsections (3) and (4) of section 5 of the IGST Act.
ü Tax
payable under subsections (3) and (4) of section 9 of the respective SGST Act;
or
ü Tax
payable under subsections (3) and (4) of section 7 of the UTGST Act.
However,
it does not include the tax paid under the composition levy.
Input
Tax Credit means the credit of input tax.
Intrastate
Supply of Goods means the supply of goods during
intrastate trade or commerce regarding subsection (1) of section 8 of IGST Act,
2017.
Intrastate
Supply of Services means the supply of services during
intrastate trade or commerce regarding subsection (2) of section 8 of IGST Act,
2017.
Invoice
shall have the meaning as assigned to “Tax Invoice” as under section 31.
Inward
Supply refers to the receipt of goods and/or services,
whether by purchase, acquisition, or any other means, and with or without any
consideration.
Job
work
means undertaking any treatment or process by a person on goods belonging to
another registered taxable person.
Local
Authority Means:
Ø Panchayat
as defined in clause (d) of Article 243 of the Constitution
Ø Municipality
as specified in clause (e) of Article 243P of the Constitution
Ø A
municipal committee, a zilla parishad, a district board, and any other
authority legally entitled to or entrusted by the Central or any State
Government with the control or management of a municipal or local fund
Ø Cantonment
board as defined in section 3 of the Cantonments Act, 2006 (41 of 2006)
Ø Regional
council or a district council formed under the Sixth Schedule to the
Constitution
Ø Development
board formed under Article 371 of the Constitution
Ø Regional
council formed under Article 371A of the Constitution
Market
value refers to the full amount that a recipient of
supply would pay to obtain the goods and/or services of like kind and quality
at or about the same time and at the same commercial level, where the recipient
and supplier are not related.
Mixed
Supply means two or more individual supplies of goods
and/or services made together by a taxable person for a single price where such
supply does not form a composite supply.
Non-Resident
Taxable Person is someone who occasionally undertakes
transactions involving the supply of goods and/or services, whether as
principal or agent, or in any other capacity, but with no fixed place of
business in India.
Output
Tax
means the CGST/SGST on taxable supply of goods and/or services made by a
taxable person or by his agent. Excludes tax payable on a reverse-charge basis.
Outward
Supply refers to the supply of goods and/or services,
whether by sale, transfer, barter, exchange, licence, rental, lease, or
disposal, or any other means made or agreed to be made during business.
Person
includes:
1) An
individual
2) A
Hindu undivided family
3) A
company
4) A
firm
5) A
Limited Liability Partnership
6) An
association of persons or a body of individuals, whether incorporated or not,
in India or outside India
7) Any
corporation set up by or under any Central, State, or Provincial Act or a
government company as defined in section 2(45) of the Companies Act, 2013 (18
of 2013)
8) A
body corporate incorporated by or under the laws of a country outside India
9) A
cooperative society registered under any law relating to cooperative societies
10) A
local authority
11) Central
government or a State government.
12) Society
as defined under the Societies Registration Act, 1860 (21 of 1860)
13) A
trust
14) Every
artificial juridical person, not falling within any of the preceding
sub-clauses
Place
of Business Includes:
I.
A place from where the business is
ordinarily carried on, including a warehouse, a godown, or any other place
where a taxable person stores his goods, or provides or receives goods and/or services
II.
A place where a taxable person keeps his
books of account
III.
A place where a taxable person is
engaged in business through an agent
Principal
means a person on whose behalf an agent carries on the business of supply or
receipt of goods and/or services.
Principal
Place of Business means the location of business
specified as the principal place of business in the certificate of
registration.
Principal
Supply means the supply of goods and/or services that form
the significant element of a composite supply and any other related supply
being ancillary.
Recipient
of supply of goods and/or services means:
1. Where
the consideration is payable, the person liable to pay that consideration.
2. Where
no consideration is payable, the person to whom the goods and/or services are
delivered/rendered or made available.
Includes
an agent working on behalf of the recipient in relation to the goods and/or
services provided.
Registered
Importer refers to the importer registered per the
provisions of Central Excise Rules, 2002.
Related
Persons Include:
a) Officers
or directors of one another's business
b) Legally
recognised partners in business
c) The
employer and the employee
d) Someone
who directly or indirectly owns, controls, or holds 25 percent or more of the
outstanding voting stock or shares of both
e) One
of them directly or indirectly controls the other
f) A
third person directly or indirectly controls both
g) Together
they directly or indirectly control a third person
h) They
are members of the same family
Removal
in relation to goods means:
·
Dispatch of the goods for delivery by
the supplier or by any other person acting on behalf of such supplier
·
Collection of the goods by the recipient
or by any other person acting on behalf of such recipient
Return
refers to any return prescribed or required to be furnished.
Reverse
Charge means the tax liability on the recipient of the
supply of goods and/or services instead of the supplier of such goods and/or
services.
Securities
shall mean as per subsection (h) of section 2 of the Securities Contracts
(Regulation) Act, 1956 (42 of 1956).
Services
means anything other than goods, money and securities but includes activities
relating to the use of money or its conversion by cash or by any other mode,
from one form, currency or denomination, to another form, currency or
denomination for which a separate consideration is charged.
SGST
means the State Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017. State tax means the tax
imposed under SGST Act, 2017.
Supplier
signifies the person providing the said goods and/or services and shall include
an agent acting as such on behalf of such supplier about the goods and/or
services provided.
Supply
includes
all forms of supply of goods and/or services such as sale, transfer, barter,
exchange, license, rental, lease, or disposal made or agreed to be made for a
consideration by a person in the course of business and also includes import of
services for a consideration whether or not in the course of business.
Taxable
Person is an individual who carries on any business at any
place in any state of India and who is registered or required to be registered
under GST.
Turnover in a State or
in Union Territory means the aggregate value of all taxable supplies, exempt
supplies, exports of goods and/or services made within a state or Union
Territory.
