Goods import: Will payment to an agent for Customs duty attract GST?

The service charges, if any, levied by the Customs house agent (CHA) towards his services shall be leviable to GST

I intend to import goods from outside India. Will payment to a Customs house agent (CHA) for Customs duty attract goods and services tax (GST)?
 
No, since the CHA is acting as a pure agent of the importer. However, the service charges, if any, levied by the CHA towards his services shall be leviable to GST.
 
In case a dealer is engaged in providing a basket of services such as cargo handling, transportation, loading and unloading, will the supply of such basket of services be treated as a composite supply under the GST regime? If yes, what will the principal supply be in that case?
 
Composite supply means supplies made by a taxable person to a recipient consisting of two or more taxable supplies of goods or services, or any combination thereof. These are naturally bundled and supplied in conjunction with each other in the ordinary course of business. One of it is a principal supply. In the present case, the supply of basket of services should be considered as composite supply wherein the principal supply would be cargo handling services.
 
What documentation do we need to issue if we want to send goods to another location for repairing or reconditioning?
 
Considering that the transaction is for transportation of goods for a reason other than supply, issuance of delivery challan would suffice.
 

Amit Bhagat

Employees of a company registered in Delhi receive hotel/lodging services from a hotel/lodge in Uttarakhand. What are the circumstances under which input tax credit shall be available to the Delhi-based company?
 
The place of supply in the present case would be the location of the hotel — Uttarakhand. Accordingly, the Delhi-based company shall be eligible to obtain input tax credit only if it has a registration in Uttarakhand and a tax invoice is issued by the hotel mentioning the GSTIN (Goods and Services Tax Identification Number) of the recipient for Uttarakhand.
 
What is included/excluded when calculating the total turnover of Rs 2 million? We understand GST is exempt for those who have an annual turnover of up to Rs 2 million.
 
A supplier of goods/services having an aggregate turnover exceeding Rs 2 million (on a pan-India basis) during a financial year shall be required to obtain GST registration. For specified north-eastern states, this threshold limit is Rs 1 million.
 
Aggregate turnover under the GST includes the value of all taxable, exempt and zero-rated supplies (including supplies to SEZ). If a supplier, for example, is engaged in supply of taxable goods of Rs 1 million from Delhi and is supplying exempt services from Haryana of Rs 1 million during a financial year, the aggregate turnover of the supplier shall be Rs 2 million. The aggregate turnover doesn’t include inward supplies on which tax is payable by the recipient under the reverse charge mechanism.
 
One of my clients had purchased some goods from me before July 1, 2017. Owing to some defect, they intend to return those goods under the GST regime. Will there be any GST applicable?
 
If your client is not registered under GST law, you should be eligible to claim a refund of the taxes/duties paid under the pre-GST regime. The refund, however, is permissible only if the goods were sold prior to six months from July 1, 2017, and are also returned within six months after July 1, 2017. If your client is registered under GST, goods returned by him after July 1, 2017, shall be deemed as a separate transaction. In such case, your client shall be required to issue a tax invoice and charge applicable GST. 

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The writer is tax partner, PwC India. Aditya Khanna, associate director, PwC contributed to this column. The views expressed are experts’ own. Send your queries to yourmoney@bsmail.in