TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2018 (12) TMI 711
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....ferred to as Appellant) against the advance Ruling No. KAR/ADRG 14/2018 Dated: 27th July 2018. = 2018 (8) TMI 933 - AUTHORITY FOR ADVANCE RULINGS, KARNATAKA Brief Facts of the case: 1. M/s. OPTA Cabs Pvt. Ltd. is engaged in business of taxi aggregation service wherein it provides the IT platform including Mobile App and website both to the customers and taxi drivers to integrate both of them on a single platform. For the usage of this facility the appellant is collecting monthly usage charges from the taxi drivers and not collecting any amount from the customers. 2. The Appellant submitted that for having used the service of the taxi by the consumer, invoicing is done by the taxi driver directly to customer using the platform of OPTA who provides the service for such platform. The payment for a trip is collected by driver himself directly from the customer on the completion of the trip either through cash or through e-payment. 3. The appellant filed an application for Advance Ruling under section 98 of the CGST Act, 2017, and KGST Act, 2017 on the question as to whether the money paid by the customer directly to the driver of the cab for the service of the trip is liabl....
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....enting such electronic commerce operator for any purpose in the taxable territory shall be liable to pay tax: Provided further that where an electronic commerce operator does not have a physical presence in the taxable territory and also he does not have a representative in the said territory, such electronic commerce operator shall appoint a person in the taxable territory for the purpose of paying tax and such person shall be liable to pay tax." vi. Authority for Advance Ruling verified the model of OPTA and held that as per Section 9(5) of the Central Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017 and Notification No. 17/2017- Central tax (RATE) dated 28th June 2017 electronic commerce operator shall be liable to pay tax in respect of the services of transportation of passengers by a motor cab or maxi cab or motor cycle or radio taxi, if such services are supplied through it and it shall be deemed that e-commerce operator is the supplier in such case. However, the said ruling is unable to appreciate the words used in section 9(5) "such services are supplied through it". Section 9(5) makes it amply clear that the notification would be applicable in the scenario only when "such serv....
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....ve gone through the records of the case and taken into account the submissions made by the Appellant in their written submissions as well as at the time of personal hearing. Briefly stated the facts are that the Appellant is in the business of operating taxi aggregation service wherein the Appellant provides an IT platform whereby services of information technology is provided to both the customers and the taxi operators for the usage of service. The business model of the Appellant is that a potential customer would book the taxi by using the IT platform provided by the Appellant and the taxi operator would be intimated about the potential customer through the same IT platform. On completion of the journey, the Appellant sends an invoice to the customer using the IT platform and the charges for the taxi ride are paid by the customer directly to the taxi driver by way of cash, mobile wallets or online payment. The Appellant does not charge any commission from the taxi driver for the trip. For providing this digital platform, the Appellant collects a prepaid monthly subscription from the taxi operators to whom the IT service is provided, on this subscription amount GST is paid by the....
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....the Central Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017 further states as under "(5) The Government may, on the recommendations of the Council, by notification, specify categories of services the tax on intra-State supplies of which shall be paid by the electronic commerce operator if such services are supplied through it, and all the provisions of this Act shall apply to such electronic commerce operator as if he is the supplier liable for paying the tax in relation to the supply of such services." 13. Under the provisions of sub-section (5) of section 9 of the CGST Act and Notification No. 17/2017 - Central Tax (Rate) dated 28^th Junes 2017 was issued whereby, the services by way of transportation of passengers by a radio-taxi, motorcab, maxicab and motor cycle was notified as the category of services, the tax on intra-State supplies of which shall be paid by the electronic commerce operator. 14. Section 9(5) of the CGST Act shifts the liability to pay the tax from the actual supplier of the notified services to the e-commerce operator. The provisions of Section 9(5) Of the CGST Act do not in any way imply that the Supplier of the service is the e-commerce operator. Only the liabil....