Suppliers must not decline to record UIN: Finance Ministry

The Ministry of Finance on Monday advised suppliers to not decline to record the Unique Identify Number (UIN) of embassies, missions, consulates and UN organisations on the tax invoice.

Complaints have been received from foreign diplomatic missions, UN organisations regarding unwillingness of vendors, suppliers, e-commerce websites to record the UIN while making sales to embassies, missions, consulates and UN organizations, a notification from the Finance Ministry said.

UIN is a 15-digit unique number allotted to any specialised agency of the United Nations Organisation or any multilateral financial institution and organisation notified under the United Nations (Privileges and Immunities) Act, 1947, consulate or embassy of foreign countries.

First two digits of the UIN denotes state code where such entity is located.

Recording of the UIN on the invoice is a necessary condition under Rule 46 of the CGST Rules, 2017, the Finance Ministry asserted.

The Ministry also added that contravention of the rule may attract punitive action under the CGST Act, 2017.

The search functionality for UIN is available on the GST Common Portal in "Search Taxpayer" option.

On entering UIN and captcha, details of the entity will be available.

"The supply to foreign diplomatic missions, UN organizations is like any other Business to Consumer (B2C) supply and will not have any additional impact on the supplier's tax liability," the notification asserted.

Recording of the UIN while making such supplies will enable foreign diplomatic missions, UN organizations to claim refund of the taxes paid by them in India.