Representations have been received seeking clarification on certain issues relating to export of services under the GST laws. The same have been examined and the clarifications on the same are as below:

Post issuance of circular No. 57/31/2018-GST dated 4th September, 2018 from F. No. CBEC/20/16/4/2018-GST, various representations have been received from the trade and industry, as well as from the field formations regarding the scope and ambit of principal agent relationship under GST in the context of del-credere agent (hereinafter referred to as “DCA”).

Kind attention is invited to Circular No. 41/15/2018-GST dated 13th April, 2018 as amended by Circular No. 49/23/2018-GST dated 21st June, 2018 vide which the procedure for interception of conveyances for inspection of goods in movement, and detention, release and confiscation of such goods and conveyances was specified.

As per rule 138 of the CGST Rules, 2017 (hereinafter referred to as the CGST Rules) e-way bill is a document which is required for the movement of goods from the supplier’s place of business to the recipient taxpayer’s place of business. Therefore, the goods in movement including when they are stored in the transporter’s godown (even if the godown is located in the recipient taxpayer’s city/town) prior to delivery shall always be accompanied by a valid e-way bill.

Board vide Circular No. 17/17/2017 – GST dated 15th November 2017 and Circular No. 24/24/2017 – GST dated 21st December 2017 clarified various issues in relation to processing of claims for refund. Since then, several representations have been received seeking further clarifications on issues relating to refund. In order to clarify these issues and with a view to ensure uniformity in the implementation of the provisions of the law across field formations, the Board, in exercise of its powers conferred by section 168 (1) of the Central Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017 (CGST Act), hereby clarifies the issues raised as below:

It has been decided to put in place an IT-Grievance Redressal Mechanism to address the difficulties faced by a section of taxpayers owing to technical glitches on the GST portal and the relief that needs to be given to them. The relief could be in the nature of allowing filing of any Form or Return prescribed in law or amending any Form or Return already filed. The details of the said grievance redressal mechanism are provided below:

GST is levied on intra-State and inter-State supply of goods and services. According to section 7 of CGST Act, 2017, the expression “supply” includes all forms of supply of goods or services or both such as sale, transfer, barter, exchange, licence, rental, lease or disposal made or agreed to be made for a consideration by a person in the course or furtherance of business, and includes activities specified in Schedule II to the CGST Act, 2017.

“It is immaterial whether the service is provided by the educational institution itself or the institution outsources the activity to an outside contractor.”

Refund of unutilized ITC in case of inverted tax structure, as provided in section 54(3) of the CGST Act, is available where ITC remains unutilized even after setting off of available ITC for the payment of output tax liability. Where there are multiple inputs attracting different rates of tax, in the formula provided in rule 89(5) of the CGST Rules, the term „Net ITC‟ covers the ITC availed on all inputs in the relevant period, irrespective of their rate of tax.

Representations have been received that certain suppliers are making supplies to the railways of items classifiable under any chapter other than chapter 86, charging the GST rate of 5%.