GST: What are requirements for clearance of samples supplied free of cost?

I am a manufacturer of readymade garments. If I send any inputs to the job worker, will it be treated as taxable supply? Can I supply the goods after completion of job work from the place of business of the job worker?

You can send your inputs or capital goods to a job worker without payment of tax and also bring back the same, after completion, within one year or three years respectively. GST law also provides an option to supply the inputs or capital goods from the place of business of the job worker subject to the condition that you have to declare the place of business of the job-worker as your additional place of business, if the job-worker is not a registered person.

 What are the requirements for clearance of physician samples distributed free of cost?

Under the GST law, supplies without consideration to unrelated parties are not liable to GST. Generally, samples are supplied on a free of cost basis. Such supplies shall not be liable to GST as long as these are supplied to an unrelated party. 

The GST law specifically restricts input tax credit in respect of goods disposed of by way of free samples. The tax paid by the supplier for procurement of goods/inputs used for making such goods which are subsequently supplied as samples without charging any consideration, shall not be available as input tax credit.

GST law prescribes that a dealer should maintain a consecutive serial number for invoices issued in respect of supply of goods. If a dealer is supplying goods from multiple locations, will there be any requirement to maintain the serial number of the invoice centrally?

CGST rules provides that an invoice shall have 'a consecutive serial' number not exceeding sixteen characters, in one or multiple series, containing alphabets or numerals or special characters hyphen or dash and slash symbolised as '-' and '/' respectively, and any combination thereof, unique for a financial year. A supplier can maintain multiple invoice series for the same year, so long as the same series is not used across financial years. You may have a different invoice series for each location having consecutive serial numbers running across that series.

Are there any prescribed limit below which a registered person is not liable to deposit tax under the reverse charge mechanism? Also, what are the documents that need to be issued in case of a deposit of tax under reverse charge?

Reverse charge on supply of goods or services received by a registered person from an unregistered person has been deferred till March 31, 2018. For other supplies of goods or services which are subject to a mandatory reverse charge, no limit has been prescribed below which a registered person is not liable to deposit tax under reverse charge. In such cases, the registered person is required to issue a self-invoice at the time of receipt of goods or services and a payment voucher at the time of making payment to the supplier.

Will GST be applicable on air travel undertaken on or after July 1, 2017, on tickets issued before July 1, 2017, on which service tax was collected and discharged? 

As the service tax has already been collected and discharged by the airlines on the tickets issued prior to July 1, 2017, airlines shall not be required to charge GST on such tickets even though the travel date is on or after 1 July 2017.

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