GST: In what form can a return be submitted by a non-resident person?

A retired architect/engineer rendering services only in state A. His fees are substantially below the exemption limit of Rs 20 lakh. He has rendered negligible services to one or two clients in state B, for which he has charged small fees. Whether he will be liable for compulsory registration? If yes, is he entitled to claim an exemption in state A, which is substantially below the exemption limit? Is there any remedy for such service provider to retain his exemption when in one or two cases small fees are received from another state?

If the location from where the services are rendered by the supplier and the place of supply are located in different states, the transaction should qualify as interstate transaction. In such a scenario, a supplier of service is mandatorily required to obtain goods and services tax (GST) registration, even if the annual aggregate turnover of such supplier is less than Rs 20 lakh.

The requirement to obtain GST registration in this case should depend upon whether the architect/engineer is providing services to the customer located in state B from state A or state B. If the services are being provided from state A, the transaction should qualify as an interstate transaction. Consequently, the architect/engineer should be required to mandatorily obtain GST registration in state A. However, if the architect/engineer is rendering services from state B and the place of supply of such services is also in state B, the transaction should qualify as intrastate transaction. In such a scenario, the architect/engineer should not be required to obtain GST registration in state A or state B, considering the annual aggregate turnover of the architect/engineer is below the threshold limit.

In what form and manner can a return be submitted by a non-resident taxable person?

The GST law defines a ‘non-resident taxable person’ as anyone who occasionally undertakes transactions involving the supply of goods/services, whether as principal or agent or in any other capacity but who has no fixed place of business or residence in India. GST law requires compulsory registration for a non-resident taxable person irrespective of the frequency of transactions. Also, if you are rendering Online Information Database Access and Retrieval Services (OIDAR) to a non-taxable online recipient in India, you should be required to obtain GST registration.

Every registered non-resident taxable person is required to submit a monthly return in Form GSTR-5. A person providing OIDAR services has to submit a monthly return in Form GSTR- 5A electronically through the GSTN. The government has also clarified that OIDAR service provider should be required to appoint a representative in India who shall get registered in India and undertake GST compliance.

Further, such registered person is required to discharge GST liability within 20 days of the succeeding month or within seven days after the last day of the validity period of registration, whichever is earlier.

In case of purchase return, the source invoice reference should appear on invoice? What should be the treatment?

Under GST law, in case of purchase return, the supplier is required to issue a credit note containing the prescribed details (specifically the original invoice reference and date). Based on such credit note, the registered customer should be required to reverse the input tax credit availed in respect of such goods. The details of the credit note should be reported by the supplier in GSTR1 in the month in which the credit note has been issued.

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