GST body writes to CBIC seeking audit of all e-commerce firms

GST Audit of ecommerce companiesThe Goods and Services Tax National Anti-profiteering Authority’s Chairman BN Sharma has written to the Central Board of Indirect taxes and Customs chief S Ramesh to call for a pan-India audit of the e-commerce industry, as per a report by Business Standard.

This follows from a Flipkart case where Chennai-based Rishi Gupta had filed a profiteering complaint against the e-commerce company, alleging that he was issued two invoices by the supplier, which showed different amounts. The second invoice showed an amount less than what he had actually paid.

Gupta had ordered and paid for an almirah on November 2017 and the tax invoice at the time said Rs 14,852 with 28 percent GST. But at the time of delivery of the product, it said Rs 14,152 with a GST of 18 percent.

 

The issue here was that he did not get the benefit of a lower tax rate, for which he demanded a refund and even lodged a complaint of profiteering against Flipkart.

 
 

Flipkart had issued a refund in this particular case.

The NAA had dismissed the complaint as the supplier had levied a lower GST of 18 percent instead of 28 percent and thus the complainant had not been overcharged.

Moneycontrol had first reported about this on July 23.

However, following a single complaint, the NAA discovered that Flipkart had about 7,500 similar incidents.

The chairman of the NAA BN Sharma initially approached the director general of audits with the case and his proposals to tackle it. But Sharma was denied an industry-wide audit, on the grounds that the Central Board of Indirect taxes and Customs (CBIC) board prevented it.

As per the report Sharma has now written to the CBIC’s chief S Ramesh presenting the case. In the letter, Sharma emphasises that the 7,500 cases of overcharging GST were from one company and originated from a single complaint. He added that there could be tens of thousands of similar such incidents on other platforms as well.

The authority also wrote to Flipkart, ordering the online shopping major to issue documentation proving that in each of the 7,500 cases, refunds were promptly initiated.

In November 2017 and July 2018, the GST Council had reduced rates for a total of over 300 common use items. According to GST rules, input tax credit benefits should be passed on to the customer by way of reducing prices.

 
 
 
 
Source: Moneycontrol

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