GST rollout on July 1: All you need to know about key terminologies in Goods and Services Tax

Goods and Services Tax, the country's biggest tax reform since Independence, will be rolled out from July 1. The historic Central Hall of Parliament will host a midnight session on June 30 to launch the new tax regime.

Goods and Services Tax (GST) is a uniform indirect tax set to replace taxes levied by the central and state governments in India. It was introduced as the Constitution (One Hundred and Twenty Second Amendment) Act 2017, following the passage of Constitution 122nd Amendment Bill. The GST is governed by GST Council and its Chairman is Union Finance Minister of India, Arun Jaitley. 

Goods and Services Tax, will subsume central indirect taxes like excise duty, countervailing duty and service tax, as also state levies like value added tax, octroi and entry tax, luxury tax.

Here is a glossary which help you to understand the terms of GST in a more elaborate manner

Actionable claim shall have the meaning assigned to it in section 3 of the Transfer of Property Act, 1882 (4 of 1882);Address of delivery” means the address of the recipient of goods and/or services indicated on the tax invoice issued by a taxable person for delivery of such goods and/or services

Address on record means the address of the recipient as available in the records of the supplier

Agent means a person, including a factor, broker, commission agent, arhatia, del credere agent, an auctioneer or any other mercantile agent, by whatever name called, who carries on the business of supply or receipt of goods or services on behalf of another, whether disclosed or not

Aggregate turnover means the aggregate value of all taxable supplies, exempt supplies, exports of goods and/or services and inter-State supplies of a person having the same PAN, to be computed on all India basis and excludes taxes, if any, charged under the CGST Act, SGST Act and the IGST Act, as the case may be

Agriculture with all its grammatical variations and cognate expressions, includes floriculture, horticulture, sericulture, the raising of crops, grass or garden produce and also grazing, but does not include dairy farming, poultry farming, stock breeding, the mere cutting of wood or grass, gathering of fruit, raising of man-made forest or rearing of seedlings or plants

Appellate Tribunal  means the National Goods and Services Tax Appellate Tribunal constituted under section 100

Appropriate Government means the Central Government in case of the IGST and the CGST, and the State Government in case of the SGST;

Assessment means determination of tax liability under this Act and includes self-assessment, re-assessment, provisional assessment, summary assessment and best judgement assessment

Business vertical means a distinguishable component of an enterprise that is engaged in supplying an individual product or service or a group of related products or services and that is subject to risks and returns that are different from those of other business verticals

Capital goods means goods, the value of which is capitalised in the books of accounts of the person claiming the credit and which are used or intended to be used in the course or furtherance of business

Casual taxable person means a person who occasionally undertakes transactions involving supply of goods and/or services in the course or furtherance of business whether as principal, agent or in any other capacity, in a taxable territory where he has no fixed place of business;
CGST means the tax levied under the Central Goods and Services Tax Act, 2016

Chartered accountant means a chartered accountant within the meaning of the Chartered Accountants Act, 1949 (38 of 1949);
Commissioner means the Commissioner of Central Goods and Services Tax / Commissioner of State Goods and Services Tax and includes Principal Commissioner of Central Goods and Services Tax / Principal Commissioner of State Goods and Services Tax / Chief Commissioner of State Goods and Services Tax appointed under section 4 of the Central/State Goods and Services Tax Act, 2016

Company secretary means a company secretary within the meaning of the Company Secretaries Act, 1980 (56 of 1980);Composite supply means a supply made by a taxable person to a recipient comprising two or more supplies of goods or services, or any combination thereof, which are naturally bundled and supplied in conjunction with each other in the ordinary course of business, one of which is a principal supply;

Credit Note means a document issued by a taxable person as referred to in sub-section (1) of section 31

Debit note means a document issued by a taxable person as referred to in sub-section (3) of section 31

Electronic cash ledger means the electronic cash ledger referred to in sub-section (1) of section 44

Electronic commerce means supply of goods and/or services including digital products over digital or electronic network;

Electronic credit ledger means the electronic credit ledger referred to in sub-section (2) of section 44

“exempt supply” means supply of any goods and/or services which are not taxable under this Act and includes such supply of goods and/or services which attract nil rate of tax or which may be exempt from tax under section 11

Fund means the Consumer Welfare Fund established under section 51

Goods means every kind of movable property other than money and securities but includes actionable claim, growing crops, grass and things attached to or forming part of the land which are agreed to be severed before supply or under a contract of supply

Government means Central Government and its departments, a State Government and its departments and a Union territory and its departments, but shall not include any entity, whether created by a statute or otherwise, the accounts of which are not required to be kept in accordance with Article 150 of the Constitution or the rules made there under;“IGST” means the tax levied under the Integrated Goods and Services Tax Act, 2016;

Input means any goods other than capital goods used or intended to be used by a supplier in the course or furtherance of business;
“intra-State supply of services course of intra-State trade or commerce of IGST Act, 2016; “means the supply of services in the in terms of sub-section (2) of section 4

Invoice shall have the meaning as assigned to it under section 28;

Inward supply in relation to a person, shall mean receipt of goods and/or services whether by purchase, acquisition or any other means and whether or not for any consideration;

Job work means undertaking any treatment or process by a person on goods belonging to another registered taxable person and the expression “job worker” shall be construed accordingly;

Manufacturer shall have the meaning assigned to it by the Central Excise Act, 1944 (1 of 1944); 

Market value shall mean the full amount which a recipient of a supply is required to pay in order to obtain the goods and/or services of like kind and quality at or about the same time and at the same commercial level where the recipient and the supplier are not related;

Mixed supply means two or more individual supplies of goods or services, or any combination thereof, made in conjunction with each other by a taxable person for a single price where such supply does not constitute a composite supply;

Non-taxable territory means the territory which is outside the taxable territory;

Output tax in relation to a taxable person, means the CGST/SGST chargeable under this Act on taxable supply of goods and/or services made by him or by his agent and excludes tax payable by him on reverse charge basis;

Outward supply in relation to a person, shall mean supply of goods or services, whether by sale, transfer, barter, exchange, licence, rental, lease or disposal or any other means made or agreed to be made by such person in the course or furtherance of business;

Principal means a person on whose behalf an agent carries on the business of supply or receipt of goods and/or services;

Quarter shall mean a period comprising three consecutive calendar months, ending on the last day of March, June, September and December of a calendar year

SGST means the tax levied under the State Goods and Services Tax Act, 2016;

Supplier in relation to any goods and/or services shall mean the person supplying the said goods and/or services and shall include an agent acting as such on behalf of such supplier in relation to the goods and/or services supplied;

Supply shall have the meaning as assigned to it in section 3;

Tax means goods and services tax levied on the supply of goods and/or services under this Act and includes any amount payable under section 9 or sub- section (10) of section 18;

Tax period means the period for which the return is required to be filed;

Taxable person shall have the meaning as assigned to it in section 10

Valid return means a return furnished under sub-section (1) of section 34 on which self-assessed tax has been paid in full;

Works contract means a contract wherein transfer of property in goods is involved in the execution of such contract and includes contract for building, construction, fabrication, completion, erection, installation, fitting out, improvement, modification, repair, maintenance, renovation, alteration or commissioning of any immovable property

Zero-rated supply means supply of any goods and/or services in terms of section 15 of the IGST Act 2016

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