Guidelines for E-Commerce Players

INTRODUCTION:

There has been clarity to the taxation policies and the guidelines to which the E-commerce players have to adhere. Several provisions have been issued to the effect of E-Commerce. Here are some guidelines mentioned below to keep you informed and ahead of time.

E-COMMERCE OPERATORS

These are the ones who manage or direct their business through E-Commerce platforms. They are indirectly or directly in charge of supplying the goods or services from the suppliers via an electronic platform or commonly said as an Internet.

Note: If a person is making a sale of the items on his account or through his website then he is not considered as an operator. For example Flipkart is facilitating different suppliers to sell their product by providing them a platform. Hence it is considered an E-Commerce operator.

Similarly, if Fastrack is selling watches at his store or through its official website then it is not considered an E-Commerce Operator.

The E-Commerce operators have to compulsory registered under GST Registration and there is no way they can get rid of it. They are bound to get registered themselves irrespective of their annual income at the website www.gst.gov.in.

The E-Commerce whether domestic or foreign {even if not having a physical presence in the Indian Territory} has to register.

E-Commerce operators are liable to pay taxes. 

• If there is no physical presence of the respective establishment in the State then any representative of the operator is required to pay the tax.

• In case there is neither the operator nor his representative then it is compulsory for the operator to hire or appoint someone on his behalf to pay the taxes. In case of failure tax payment, heavy charges up to Rs. 25,000 may be imposed on the operator.

One of the most important responsibilities of the Operator is to collect TCS at 0.1 % on taxable supplies. TCS is a tax that is levied on the net taxable supplies that are the difference between the value of total taxable supplies and returned supplies. Let us take an example to have a clear picture of what was said in the above paragraph.

‘Ram and Sons Company’ is a registered supplier under GST Registration Online which supplies electronic gadgets to ‘Vijay Sales’ a registered operator. The sales and the transaction of December 2018 are recorded below:

If any discrepancies are found regarding the supplier’s or operator’s details regarding the supply then it can be rectified on the 21^st of the next month through GST ITC -1 and can be rectified the same.

The E-Commerce operators are responsible for GST Return Filing through the GSTR-8 form.

The E-Commerce Operator is eligible for an Input tax credit on those goods which are mentioned in the accounts.

The E-Commerce Operator does not have an option of a Composition scheme.

E-COMMERCE SELLERS

An E-Commerce seller is a supplier who is involved in the sale of goods through an E-Commerce platform.

All the E-Commerce suppliers have to register themselves under GST Registration Online irrespective of the threshold limit. It is mandatory for them to get registered even if they are operating below the threshold limit.

The E-Commerce seller working through E-Commerce Operator is not eligible for the Composition scheme. Even if their turnover is below 50 lakhs then also they can’t register for composition scheme.

The E-Commerce suppliers have to mandatorily register under the form GSTR-1 on the 10^th of a month which stresses the statement to file a monthly/ quarterly return of all the outward suppliers by them irrespective of the period of their transactions.

GSTR-2A form will be available to the seller on the 11^th of a month which is only for information purposes and can be verified. It contains information regarding the tax collected by the E-Commerce Operator.

Then successively GSTR-2 form is received by the supplier on 15^th of a month which contains the data of all inward supplies and is hence filled by the E-commerce Operator. The government uses it to match the data of sales recorded by both parties.

If any discrepancies are found regarding the supplier’s or operator’s details regarding the supply then it can be rectified on the 21^st of the next month through GST ITC -1 and can be rectified the same. If the mistakes are not rectified in the next return then the difference will be recorded to the supplier’s liability consequently.