Section 49 of GST – Payment of tax, interest, penalty and other amounts

(1) Every deposit made towards tax, interest, penalty, fee or any other amount by a person by internet banking or by using credit or debit cards or National Electronic Fund Transfer or Real Time Gross Settlement or by such other mode and subject to such conditions and restrictions as may be prescribed, shall be credited to the electronic cash ledger of such person to be maintained in such manner as may be prescribed. (2) The input tax credit as self-assessed in the return of a registered person shall be credited to his electronic credit ledger, in accordance with 1 [section 41 or section 43A], to be maintained in such manner as may be prescribed. (3) The amount available in the electronic cash ledger may be used for making any payment towards tax, interest, penalty, fees or any other amount payable under the provisions of this Act or the rules made thereunder in such manner and subject to such conditions and within such time as may be prescribed. (4) The amount available in the electronic credit ledger may be used for making any payment towards output tax under this Act or under the Integrated Goods and Services Tax Act in such manner and subject to such conditions and within such time as may be prescribed. (5) The amount of input tax credit available in the electronic credit ledger of the registered person on account of-

(a) integrated tax shall first be utilised towards payment of integrated tax and the amount remaining, if any, may be utilised towards the payment of central tax and State tax, or as the case may be, Union territory tax, in that order;(b) the central tax shall first be utilised towards payment of central tax and the amount remaining, if any, may be utilised towards the payment of integrated tax;(c) the State tax shall first be utilised towards payment of State tax and the amount remaining, if any, may be utilised towards payment of integrated tax 2 Provided that the input tax credit on account of State tax shall be utilised towards payment of integrated tax only where the balance of the input tax credit on account of central tax is not available for payment of integrated tax; the Union territory tax shall first be utilised towards payment of Union territory tax and the amount remaining, if any, may be utilised towards payment of integrated tax; 3 Provided that the input tax credit on account of Union territory tax shall be utilised towards payment of integrated tax only where the balance of the input tax credit on account of central tax is not available for payment of integrated tax; the central tax shall not be utilised towards payment of State tax or Union territory tax; and(f) the State tax or Union territory tax shall not be utilised towards payment of central tax.

(6) The balance in the electronic cash ledger or electronic credit ledger after payment of tax, interest, penalty, fee or any other amount payable under this Act or the rules made thereunder may be refunded in accordance with the provisions of section 54. (7) All liabilities of a taxable person under this Act shall be recorded and maintained in an electronic liability register in such manner as may be prescribed. (8) Every taxable person shall discharge his tax and other dues under this Act or the rules made thereunder in the following order, namely:

(a) self–assessed tax, and other dues related to returns of previous tax periods;(b) self-assessed tax, and other dues related to the return of the current tax period;(c) any other amount payable under this Act or the rules made thereunder including the demand determined under Section 73 or 74.

(9) Every person who has paid the tax on goods or services or both under this Act shall, unless the contrary is proved by him, be deemed to have passed on the full incidence of such tax to the recipient of such goods or services or both. Explanation.1- For the purposes of this section,

(a) the date of credit to the account of the Government in the authorised bank shall be deemed to be the date of deposit in the electronic cash ledger;(b) the expression(i) “tax dues” means the tax payable under this Act and does not include interest, fee and penalty; and(ii) “other dues” means interest, penalty, fee or any other amount payable under this Act or the rules made thereunder.

[(10) A registered person may, on the common portal, transfer any amount of tax, interest, penalty, fee or any other amount available in the electronic cash ledger under this Act, to the electronic cash ledger for integrated tax, central tax, State tax, Union territory tax or cess, in such form and manner and subject to such conditions and restrictions as may be prescribed and such transfer shall be deemed to be a refund from the electronic cash ledger under this Act. (11) Where any amount has been transferred to the electronic cash ledger under this Act, the same shall be deemed to be deposited in the said ledger as provided in sub-section (1).]

Introduction

This section provides for the following:

  1. Methodology or mode of payment of tax, interest, penalty, fee or any other amount by a taxable person, 2. This section prescribes maintenance of three kinds of ledgers by the taxable person. (a) Electronic Cash Ledger; (b) Electronic Input Tax Credit Ledger or Electronic Credit Ledger; (c) Electronic Tax Liability Register.

  2. The section further provides for availability of credit in the cash ledger or the credit ledger depending on the payment made by the taxable person or filling of return.

  3. It provides for utilization of credit and prescribes the method of cross utilization of credit amongst IGST and CGST, IGST and SGST or UTGST

  4. Transfer of input tax credit from CGST to IGST account when CGST is utilized for payment of IGST; similar provisions are enacted in SGST Act and UTGST Act as well.

Analysis

A. ELECTRONIC CASH LEDGER: The provisions regarding Electronic Cash Ledger and amounts credited into this ledger are dealt with in sub-Section (1) & (3) of Section 49 of the CGST Act.

  1. Deposit of tax, interest, penalty, fee or any other amount by a taxable person can be made by the following modes: –

— Internet Banking — Credit /Debit cards — National Electronic Fund Transfer (NEFT) — Real Time Gross Settlement (RTGS)— Over the Counter payment (OTC) through authorized banks for deposits up to ten thousand rupees per challan per tax period, by cash, cheque or demand draft. This amount restriction is not applicable to remittances byGovernment Departments Proper Officer or any other Officer recovering outstanding dues or during any investigation or enforcement activity or ad hoc deposit International money transfer th1rough Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication payment network- for person supplying online information and database access or retrieval services from a place outside India to a non-taxable online recipient

— Any other mode as may be prescribed.

  1. The ‘deposit’ made by one of the above-mentioned modes will be credited to the Electronic Cash Ledger of the taxable person. This ledger shall be maintained in FORM GST PMT-05
  2. Any person, or a person on his behalf, shall generate a challan in FORM GST PMT-06 on the Common Portal and enter the details of the amount to be deposited by him towards tax, interest, penalty, fees or any other amount
  3. The challan in FORM GST PMT-06 generated on the Common Portal shall be valid for a period of fifteen days
  4. A person supplying online information and database access or retrieval services from a place outside India to a non-taxable online recipient may also do so through the Boards payment system namely, Electronic Accounting System in Excise and Service Tax from the date to be notified by the Board.
  5. Any payment required to be made by a person who is not registered under the Act, shall be made on the basis of a temporary identification number generated through the Common Portal.
  6. Date of credit into the account of the Government is deemed to be the date of deposit (not the actual date of debit to the account of the taxable person).
  7. On successful credit of the amount to the concerned government account maintained in the authorised bank, a Challan Identification Number (CIN) will be generated by the collecting Bank and the same shall be indicated in the challan.
  8. Where the bank account of the person concerned, or the person making the deposit on his behalf, is debited but no Challan Identification Number (CIN) is generated or generated but not communicated to the Common Portal, the said person may represent electronically in FORM GST PMT-07 through the Common Portal to the Bank or electronic gateway through which the deposit was initiated.
  9. The amount available in the Electronic Cash Ledger may be used for making any payment towards tax, interest, penalty, fees or any other amount payable for the same head under the provisions of the Act or Rules.
  10. Any payment made towards respective Account Heads shall only be utilized for offset of liability of that head of account. For example, if IGST is paid through a Challan, then this cash balance against IGST in the cash ledger shall only be utilized for payment of IGST.
  11. Any amount deducted under section 51 (TDS by Central / State Government or local authority or Government Agencies) or collected under section 52 (TCS by e-commerce operator) on the registered taxable person from whom the said amount was deducted or, as the case may be, collected shall be credited to his electronic cash ledger.
  12. Concept of unjust enrichment always works together with a presumption provision. Section 49(9) contains such a presumption that tax is presumed to have been passed on. Please note that is a rebuttable presumption as it is not an assumption made in the law.
  13. Under the powers vested by Sub Section (10) of Section 49 read with Sub Rule (13) of Rule 87, any balance in the electronic cash ledger available under any head can be transferred to any other head within cash ledger. This transfer may be done using FORM GST PMT-09. For example, cash balance under CGST tax head may be transferred to SGST or IGST tax as desired by the registered person.
  14. Such amount transferred shall be deemed as deposit of tax to the electronic cash ledger under the head to which such transfer takes place. Recommended Articles –

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