Deleration in Annexure v

[Shahnawaz Alam]

R/sir we have filed physically(offline) Declaration in Annexure V with jurisdictional authority Annexure V –Form for exercising an option to pay GST by GTA under forward charge on 22-02-2023 with dated acknowledgement.But after 23/03/2023 we got information that Annexure V –Form for exercising an option to pay GST by GTA under forward charge is to be filled online before 15/03/2023 option for submitting form lapsed. Sir as we have filled physically(offline) Declaration in Annexure V with jurisdictional authority can we continue as GTA under forward charge

[Amit Agrawal]

Relevant condition (from Notification No. 11/2017-Central Tax (Rate) as amended till date)reads as follows:

"(2) The option by GTA to itself pay GST on the services supplied by it during a Financial Year shall be exercised by making a declaration in Annexure V on or before the 15th March of the preceding Financial Year: ...."

Heading of Annexure V reads as follows: Form for exercising the option by a Goods Transport Agency (GTA) for payment of GST on the GTA services supplied by him under forward charge before the commencement of any financial year to be submitted before the jurisdictional GST Authority.

And condition (i.e. making a declaration in Annexure V) stands fulfilled by you on 22.02.2023 for FY 23-24 in my view.

W.r.t. filing such declaration 'online' & not 'offline', first, no such thing is prescribed in above referred notification. Even otherwise, filing such declaration offline (instead of 'online') is at best a procedural lapse. And same should not lead to valid denial of option so chosen by you in my humble view.

These are ex facie views of mine and the same should not be construed as professional advice / suggestion.

[Shilpi Jain]

Agree. Also from your query it looks like you submitted the form on 22nd Feb '23 and it looks like the GSTN advisory which mentions the submission of the form online was issued after this date.

So you could write back to the department quoting the series of events and intimating that you are opting for the forward charge.

[Padmanathan KV]

Agreed with views of experts. Once annexure V has been filed manually (assuming you have acknowledgment of the same), option cannot be denied only because it was not filed online.

[Ganeshan Kalyani]

Submission of Declaration is mandatory which you have done. Now, the question is offline vs online. Since, the department has already received your declaration offline it is clear that your intention about following forward charge RCM is informed to them. Online declaration also would have served the same purpose. Hence, the medium of communication is not relevant, Dept may have power /authority to update their system as declaration received online. Thereby the procedural lapse can be regularised. Approach the dept and make a request to update their record.

[Ganeshan Kalyani]

Please ignore the word "RCM" in my reply.

[CA ShivKumarBhasin]

Sir,

You can still file Annexure-V on the GST Portal by 31.05.2023 to avoid any inconvenience in future.

Vide Notification No. 05/2023-Central Tax (Rate) dated 9^th May 2023, CBIC had amended the CGST Services Rate Base Notification, i.e. Notification No. 11/2017-Central Tax (Rate) dated 28th June 2017 to provide that the option for paying taxes under FCM for the FY 2023-24 can be exercised by the GTA by making a declaration in Annexure V on or before the 31st May 2023.

Earlier, this time limit was 15th March 2023. This extension is provided for GTAs who could not exercise their option by that time.

AI Summary

Option by GTA to pay GST under forward charge remains valid where Annexure V was submitted offline; records can be regularised. A GTA that submitted a physical declaration in Annexure V on 22 February 2023 has made the required declaration to exercise the option to pay GST under forward charge; the declaration to the jurisdictional authority satisfies the substantive condition even if filed offline, and the medium of submission is a procedural matter. Taxpayers should notify the department to regularise records and may file the declaration on the GST portal to avoid future inconvenience; a subsequent amendment extended the permissible filing period for Annexure V, assisting GTAs who missed the earlier deadline.