TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2023 (6) TMI 1183
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....GGST Act, 2017)] M/s Satyam Balajee Rice Industries Private Limited, Village Amaseoni, Post GSI, Mandhar, Raipur, Chhattisgarh, 493111, having GSTIN 22AAJCS2131A1Z5 has furnished an application in form ARA-01, duly filled application with all documents received on 27.12.2022 under section 97 of the Chhattisgarh Goods & Services Tax Act, 2017 seeking advance ruling regarding GST leviablility on export of pre-packaged and labelled rice upto 25 Kgs, to foreign buyer, to exporter on "bill to ship to" basis i.e., bill to exporter and ship to customs port and to the factory of exporter. 2. Facts of the case: - 2.1. Satyam Balajee Rice Industries Private Limited, Village Amaseoni, Post GSI, Mandhar, Raipur, Chhattisgarh, 493111, the applicant having GSTIN 22AAJCS2131A1Z5 are engaged in the business of manufacturing and supplying of rice. 2.2. The applicant is supplying rice to customers in pre-packaged and labelled packages, having quantity upto 25 kilograms (25 kgs). Three types of customers to whom sales are executed are as under;- A. Customers located abroad ("foreign buyer"):- (i) Foreign buyer provides the specification which have to be printed/labelled on the packages of ric....
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....o 25 kg for the purpose of Export will be exempt from GST. Hence, following compliances under the GST law would not be required on export of exempt goods:- a. Issuance of E-way bill b. Issuance of E-invoice c. Obtaining Letter of Undertaking/Bond for export Hence, it will be very difficult to prove to the field officers inspecting the lorry/truck carrying the pre-packaged rice, that the said goods are being transported for exports. 4. Personal Hearing:- Keeping with the established principles of natural justice, personal hearing in the matter was extended to the applicant in virtual mode. Shri Pradeep Tayal CA, along with Ms. Suman Bansal CS both authorized representative of the applicant, M/s Satyam Balajee Rice Industries Pvt. Ltd., Village Amaseoni, Post-GSI, Mandhar Raipur Chhattisgarh having GSTIN 22AAJCS2131A1Z5 attended the personal hearing through virtual mode in the matter on 15.3.2023. It was their submission that they are engaged in the business of manufacturing and supplying of rice and that they are seeking advance ruling as to (i) whether GST would be leviable on export of pre-packaged and labelled rice up to 25Kgs, to foreign buyer? (ii) Whether GST would b....
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....ty of a notification issued under the provisions of this Act; (c) determination of time and value of supply of goods or services or both; (d) admissibility of input tax credit of tax paid or deemed to have been paid; (e) determination of the liability to pay tax on any goods or services or both; (f) whether applicant is required to be registered; (g) whether any particular thing done by the applicant with respect to any goods or services or both amounts to or results in a supply of goods or services or both, within the meaning of that term. Further, section 103 of CGST Act, 2017 stipulates about the ruling pronounced as under: - The advance ruling pronounced by the Authority or the Appellate Authority under this Chapter shall be binding only - a. On the applicant who had sought it in respect of any matter referred to in sub-section (2) of section 97 for advance ruling; b. On the concerned officer or the jurisdictional officer in respect of the applicant. Thus, in view of the above section 103 of CGST Act, 2017, the ruling so sought by the applicant would be binding only on the applicant and on the concerned officer or the jurisdictional officer as stipulated above.....
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.....2022 on export of pre-packaged and labelled rice up to 25Kgs directly to a foreign buyer / to an Exporter on "bill to ship to" basis/ to the factory of exporter. To bring home their point, the applicant has also cited reference to FAQ 2, vide press release dated 18.7.2022 on the issue, that if specified commodities are supplied in a package that do not require declarations/compliances under the Legal Metrology Act, 2009 (1 of 2010), and the rules made thereunder, the same would not be treated as pre-packaged and labelled for the purposes of GST levy and that rice supplied in pre-packaged form would fall in the definition of "pre-packaged commodity under Legal Metrology Act, 2009 and rules made thereunder, if such pre-packaged and labelled packages contains a quantity up to 25 Kgs. 9.1 It is worthwhile to mention here that Section 9 of the CGST Act and respective SGST Acts and Section 5 of IGST Act inter alia provides for levy of tax ".at such rates, not exceeding forty percent, as may be notified by the government on the recommendation of the council and collected in such manner as may be prescribed ................................................................" A plain reading....
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....) of the said Schedules, falling under the tariff item, sub-heading, heading or Chapter, as the case may be, as specified in the corresponding entry in column (2) of the said Schedules. Schedule I-2.5% S. No Chapter / Heading / Subheading / Tariff item Description of Goods (1) (2) (3) 1. ....... ............ 2. ....... ............ 3. ....... ............. ....... ....... ....... 51. 1006 Rice pre-packaged and labelled ....... ....... ....... Schedule II - 6 %............. Schedule III -9% Schedule IV- 14% Schedule V- 1.5% Schedule VI-0.125% Further, as per explanation (ii) to Notification no. 1/2017- Central Tax (Rate), the expression 'pre-packaged and labelled' means a 'pre-packaged commodity' as defined in clause (I) of section 2 of the Legal Metrology Act, 2009 (1 of 2010) where, the package in which the commodity is pre-packed or a label securely affixed thereto is required to bear the declarations under the provisions of the Legal Metrology Act, 2009 (1 of 2010) and the rules made thereunder.' 10.2 It is also seen that consequent upon amendment in Sr. no. 51 in Notification no. 1/2017-Central Tax (Rate) vide Notificati....
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....flour etc.), the supply of specified pre-packaged food articles would fall within the purview of the definition of 'pre-packaged commodity' under the Legal Metrology Act, 2009, and the rules made thereunder, if such prepackaged and labelled packages contained a quantity up to 25 kilogram [or 25 litre] in terms of rule 3(a) of Legal Metrology (Packaged Commodities) Rules, 2011, subject to other exclusions provided in the Act and the Rules made thereunder. For such commodities (food items- pulses, cereals, flour, etc.), rule 3 (a) of Chapter-II of Legal Metrology (Packaged Commodities) Rules, 2011, prescribes that package of commodities containing quantity of more than 25 kg or 25 litre do not require a declaration to be made under rule 6 thereof. Accordingly, GST would apply on such specified goods where the pre-packaged commodity is supplied in packages containing quantity of less than or equal to 25 kilograms. 10.3 It would also be not out of place to mention here that the applicant in their application has cited three scenarios of clearances of rice to customers to whom sales are executed viz. Customer located abroad (foreign buyer), Customer located in India who purchas....
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....ase of situation referred to in condition (vii). the registered recipient shall endorse receipt of goods on the tax invoice and also obtain acknowledgement of receipt of goods in the registered warehouse from the warehouse operator and the endorsed fax invoice and the acknowledgment of the warehouse operator shall be provided to the registered supplier as well as to the jurisdictional tax officer of such supplier: and (ix) when goods have been exported, the registered recipient shall provide copy of shipping bill or bill of export containing details of Goods and Services Tax Identification Number (GSTIN) and tax invoice of the registered supplier along with proof of export general manifest or export report having been filed to the registered supplier as well as jurisdictional lax officer of such supplier. The registered supplier shall not be eligible for the above-mentioned exemption if the registered recipient fails to export the said goods within a period of ninety days from the date of issue of tax invoice. 10.2 Thus, from the above it gets abundantly clear that that if specified commodities are supplied in a package that do not require declarations / compliances under the ....