Ecommerce exports & digital imports under gst

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Querist : Anonymous

Querist : Anonymous (Querist)

17 August 2017 Currently thousands of ecommerce sellers are facing following issues :

1.Ecommerce exports of single single items through courier where value of each shipment is mere Rs.200-400 (or even less in many cases) per shipment do NOT fall under traditional exports where bill of lading,sealing of containers,port number are involved. LUT method of exports is for big houses .Bonds is not possible for single single items since a seller who sells 20 items a days cannot establish 20 bonds/bank guarantee. Ecommerce retail exports come under a separate category for which the government has NOT laid down procedure yet so how can we sellers file ecommerce export sales under GST returns ?
The option of payment of IGST & then export , here again in this case there is no provision to pay IGST to courier/postal service because they dont have any such systems.How to show such transactions under export in GST sales return filing time?

2.The other thing is many sellers digitally import software license codes meaning delivery of goods is done through email .Suppliers are based in US/EU,hence,software license codes are purchased digitally ,do sellers have any tax liability on this since digitally imported codes dont pass any physical customs . Incase sellers do,then which type of tax is applicable ? Once again,there is no provision laid down by the government for import of digital goods or goods imported through email hence sellers are facing issues in terms of filing the returns for digitally imported goods in GST return.

Additionally,when sellers sell these codes to their customers how will they enter purchase details in GST return ? Will they need to enter purchase details of suppliers who are based in Europe/US ? We cant find any such column or exemption tab for digital imports ,how do sellers file their returns ?

In this entire mess with return filing date already here how do we ecommerce sellers file our returns ??

The VAT offices/ST/CA's are blank & do not know what to do ,any help from someone who can help would be greatly appreciated.The matter has been taken up by various export federations ,vendors association however we ecommerce sellers still do not have clarifications .The govt has NOT even issued any exemption clause regarding this even or extension of date (so that they can make gst return forms available accordingly) though they are aware of these issues.

CA R SEETHARAMAN

CA R SEETHARAMAN (Expert)
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17 August 2017 1 Exports are zero rated no need to worry of GST payment. Only consolidated export details given in GST return. No need of giving invoice wise details and buyers details.
2 Sellers are required to pay IGST under reverse charge on imports and claim ITC on it. Fill the details in the return under reverse charge.

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Querist : Anonymous

Querist : Anonymous (Querist)

17 August 2017 Sir,
1. How & where to pay IGST on digital imports ?

CA R SEETHARAMAN

CA R SEETHARAMAN (Expert)
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17 August 2017 Generate challan in GST portal and pay IGST.

Querist : Anonymous

Querist : Anonymous (Querist)

18 August 2017 Sir,
Lot of things are still not clear :
1.IGST needs to be paid at the time of import and to claim ITC on IGST we need to provide details like shipping bills,in digital imports/import of goods through email what bill is the govt referring to ?

2.Also,we cannot find anything on digital imports on DGFT or Icegate ? Do you have any link ?

3.In software category when these digitally imported goods are sold to customers in India, sellers will charge them GST of 18% which sellers will pay at the time of filing returns ,however ,when importing who will assess the value of digital goods since its done by customs & in this case of digital imports no customs are involved so sellers self assess or something ? Suppose on software GST is 18% ,sellers pay challan of 18% on invoice provided by supplier in US/Europe ? If yes,then does that mean there is no BCD on digitally imported software ? Clarity is needed by the govt.

CA R SEETHARAMAN

CA R SEETHARAMAN (Expert)
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18 August 2017 I agree with you more clarity needed from govt.

Querist : Anonymous

Querist : Anonymous (Querist)

18 August 2017 All
1.Ecommerce retail exporters &
2. Sellers importing goods digitally are invited to share their input.We are keeping this query open since there is no clarification on various issues relating to the above mentioned 2 points & hence many ecommerce sellers are unable to file returns.

The below article written before rollout of GST is very true & further nails the issue of various problems being faced by ecommerce sellers making them feel helpless & stranded .Why is the govt ignoring billion dollar sector is beyond understanding of ANY ecommerce exporter.

http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/economy/policy-drags-ecommerce-exports/article9571875.ece

We urge the Govt to :

1.Make provision for ecommerce retail export sellers,recognize them as a separate category & ease the paperwork keeping in mind that MOST ecommerce exporters sell items in single single shipments where value of EACH shipment is mere
Rs.300-Rs.400/- . Now,we ecommerce sellers want the govt to understand & urge a very basic thing - paperwork,details for each shipment,buyer details where value is so low,its not practical or feasible to involve so much cumbersome paperwork process under GST .From the input obtained from many ecommerce sellers an average seller ships 30-40 single single packages to various countries per day,it is not practical to fill 30-40 forms with multiple copies of each.Many sellers have also suggested to totally exempt low value shipments (where value of a shipment is between Rs.100-2000) from additional paperwork .

New forms can be proposed for Indiapost/courier where exporters can file multiple single single shipment items in one simple FORM.

2.Another important concern from all retail ecommerce exporters is how to prove or file GST returns under export section since the only proof we get from courier or indiapost is shipping receipt .The entire idea of other forms for single single shipments is highly cumbersome,paper inked & in this digital age we request a digital method to avail credit of IGST ,as applicable.

3.Another issue that has been brought into light by sellers is since ecommerce websites were suspending accounts,blocking payments many sellers took wrong type of registration as in ""voluntary registration with composition option" & later they came to know that there is no composition in ecommerce and their registration needs to change to supply through ecommerce portal.
Many sellers are waiting for CORE amendment which is not available on the GST portal till date,we sincerely urge the govt to help these sellers comply & get the amendment done online on priority basis.Sellers have also tried visiting their local offices however they have been told that circular for such amendment is coming soon but this has put sellers in a dilemma since the return date is here already.

PS : Expert/resolver/person answering : Kindly do not close the query till its completely resolved .

V K Vijayaraghavan

V K Vijayaraghavan (Expert)
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06 July 2019 Sir what is the invoice value to be shown when some one sells from India to Amazon.com ..as Amazon deducts their commision and pay net only

CA R SEETHARAMAN

CA R SEETHARAMAN (Expert)
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06 July 2019 Include Amazon commission in the invoice value of the goods supplied.

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V K Vijayaraghavan

V K Vijayaraghavan (Expert)
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06 July 2019 Thank you so we can take commision as an expense ! Since it's a Forex commision is there any RBI guidelines for such payment

CA R SEETHARAMAN

CA R SEETHARAMAN (Expert)
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06 July 2019 Yes it's an expense AD may allow payment of commission, either by remittance or by deduction from payments.
https://rbidocs.rbi.org.in/rdocs/notification/PDFs/APD6883071E462E56498C99FF8DDB9DD8A916.PDF

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