GST Council to clarify on TCS liability of e-commerce suppliers on ONDC

The GST Council on July 11 is predicted to make clear on the TCS legal responsibility of suppliers engaged in e-commerce buying and selling via Open Network Digital Commerce in circumstances the place a number of operators are concerned in a transaction. ONDC or Open Network for Digital Commerce is a brand new initiative of the division for promotion of business and inside commerce (DPIIT). So far, there is no such thing as a readability on who ought to be chargeable for TCS compliance below GST legal guidelines.

Under the Goods and Services Tax (GST) regulation, each e-commerce operator is required to gather TCS on the price of 1 per cent of the taxable worth of products/providers bought via its platform.

Sources stated the Law Committee, comprising Centre and state tax officers, has really useful to the Council that in a scenario the place a number of e-commerce operators (ECOs) are concerned in a single transaction via ECO platform, the TCS compliances is to be completed by the supplier-side, who lastly releases the fee to the provider.

ONDC’s open community operates in two fashions — stock mannequin and market mannequin.

Under the stock mannequin, a purchaser locations an order with an e-commerce platform, who then pays the provider of the products or providers. Here, TCS is deducted by the e-commerce platform whereas making fee to the vendor.

The confusion concerning legal responsibility of TCS deduction arises within the case of the market place mannequin — the place two intermediaries are concerned in a single transaction.

Here, a purchaser locations an order on an e-commerce platform (purchaser app) who then sources it from one other e-commerce entity (vendor app). The vendor app then procures the products from the precise provider. Since a number of entities are concerned, the DPIIT has sought readability as as to whether the customer e-commerce operator or the vendor e-commerce firm can be required to deduct the Tax Collected at Source (TCS).

Sources stated on this case, TCS can be required to be deducted by the vendor app whereas making fee to the provider. A clarification to this impact is more likely to be issued by the GST Council on Tuesday.

Incorporated on December 31, 2021, ONDC is a Section 8 firm.

It is an initiative of the DPIIT to create a facilitative mannequin to assist small retailers benefit from digital commerce. It will not be an utility, platform, middleman, or software program however a set of specs designed to foster open, unbundled, and interoperable open networks.

The GST Council had final 12 months waived obligatory registration for suppliers to e-commerce platforms in case of intra-state provides, supplied that the annual turnover of provider is lower than the GST registration threshold, which is Rs 40 lakh for items and Rs 20 lakh for providers). This provision will come into impact from October 1.

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