Advance Pricing Arrangements evoke tremendous interest amongst MNEs. 171 APA signed till July 2017

The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) entered into nine Unilateral Advance Pricing Agreements (UAPAs) with Indian taxpayers in the month of July, 2017. Some of the UAPAs signed had rollback provisions also.

The APA Scheme endeavours to provide certainty to taxpayers in the domain of transfer pricing by specifying the methods of pricing and determining the Arm’s Length Price of international transactions in advance for a maximum period of five future years. Further, the taxpayer has the option to rollback the APA for four preceding years, as a result of which, a total of nine years of tax certainty is provided. Since its inception, the APA scheme has attracted tremendous interest among Multi National Enterprises (MNEs).

The nine APAs signed in the month of July, 2017 pertain to diverse sectors of the economy. CBDT has signed its first APA with a taxpayer engaged in supplying rigs used in Oil & Gas exploration. Other than the Oil & Gas Sector, the APAs pertain to Education, Banking, Pharmaceutical, Manufacturing and Information Technology sectors of the economy. The international transactions covered in these nine APAs include provision of software development services, provision of IT enabled services, provision of engineering design services, distribution, contract manufacturing, etc.

The number of UAPAs signed in the current financial year is 18 and the number of BAPAs signed in the current financial year is one. With this, the total number of APAs signed till date stands at 171 (Unilateral-159 and Bilateral-12). The CBDT expects more APAs to be signed in the near future.

The progress of the APA Scheme strengthens the Government’s commitment to foster a non-adversarial tax regime.

We are small traders of textile dealing in Suiting, Shirting, Sarees, Dress Material, Blankets, Dhoti etc. We have some queries regarding implementation of GST from 1st July 2017. Please provide clarification on HSN number. Is it mandatory to quote in invoice by B2C traders & B2B traders? Further there are various codes in one type of item, would it not create confusion among traders

Upto Rs. 1.5 cr turnover, no HSN code is required to be mentioned. For those having turnover of Rs. 1.5 to 5 Cr, first 2 digits of the HSN code are required i.e. the chapter number. Only those who have turnover above Rs. 5 Cr are required to mention 4 digits of the HSN code. You will start getting the HSN code in our supplier’s invoice, so it would not cause any issues once the supplies under new regime take place.

[FAQ: 18 (c): TEXTILES]

We are a small saree manufacturer at Surat. We buy ready dyed fabrics and get job work, hand work, stitching etc. done to create designer sarees.We are confused about GST implementation as there was no tax on us before. Will we get relaxation for the return filing?

Relaxation in filing of returns for the month of July and August, 2017 has already been provided as per which for the first two months of GST implementation, the tax would be payable based on a simple return (Form GSTR- 3B) containing summary of outward and inward supplies which will be submitted before 20th of the succeeding month.

(FAQ-7(e) TEXTILES)

We are a small saree manufacturer at Surat. We buy ready dyed fabrics and get job work, hand work, stitching etc. done to create designer sarees. Wholesalers and retailers from all over India buy these sarees on credit basis for 30 days to 240 days.How will I make my invoices if a buyer under the composition scheme come to buy our sarees?

A normal invoice has to be issued irrespective of whether the buyer is under composition scheme or not. The difference would be only when you receive supplies from the person registered under the composition scheme.

(FAQ-7(d) TEXTILES)

We are a small saree manufacturer at Surat. We buy ready dyed fabrics and get job work, hand work, stitching etc. done to create designer sarees. Wholesalers and retailers from all over India buy these sarees on credit basis for 30 days to 240 days.Is government assuring of payment within 180 days. There are rumours that the wholesaler/retailer has to pay within 180 days. Is it true?

As per the second proviso to Section 16(2)(d) of the CGST Act, 2017 if a recipient of the supply does not pay to its supplier the value of the supply along with the tax within 180 days from the date of issue of invoice by the supplier, the amount of ITC availed proportionate to the unpaid amount would be added to the output tax liability of the recipient of the supply along with the interest thereon. The credit so reversed can be reclaimed when the value is paid to the supplier along with the tax thereon. Thus the government is not assuring payment within 180 days.

(FAQ-7(c) TEXTILES)

We are a small saree manufacturer at Surat. We buy ready dyed fabrics and get job work, hand work, stitching etc. done to create designer sarees. Wholesalers and retailers from all over India buy these sarees on credit basis for 30 days to 240 days. What would happen to my opening stock on 1st July 2017. Will I get input credit on it or do I just need to supply it after adding 5% GST on it?

Full credit of the tax paid on the stock would be available if the documents evidencing tax payment are available. However, if only documents relating to procurement are available with no documents evidencing tax payment, deemed credit would be admissible in respect of textiles only if the goods were taxable under the Central Excise Act. Such credit would be available after the tax has been paid on supply of these goods. This facility is available for  6 months period only or till the date of sale of such stock whichever is earlier and is limited to 40% of the central tax paid by you.

(FAQ -7(b): TEXTILES)