Facilities – Whether Commission of purpose of TDS under section 194H

1. Meaning of Commission for purpose of TDS under section194H

Section 194H provides for deduction of tax at source from any income by the way of Commission or brokerage to a resident.

Explanation (i) to section 194H explains the meaning of the term ‘Commission or brokerage. Accordingly, “Commission or Brokerage” includes any payment received or receivable, directly or indirectly, by a person acting on behalf of another person for services rendered (not being professional services) or for any services in the course of buying or selling of goods or in relation to any transaction relating to any asset, valuable article or thing, not being securities.

2. Nature of payment made to bank on account of utilization of credit card facilities.

Where credit card company retained commission while making payment to merchant establishment then it cannot be said that the bank acted on behalf of the merchant establishment or that even the merchant establishment conducted the transaction for the bank. The sale made on the basis of a credit card is clearly a transaction of the merchant establishment only and the credit card company only facilitates the electronic payment, for a certain charge. The commission retained by the credit card company is therefore in the nature of normal bank charges and not in the nature of commission/brokerage for acting on behalf of the merchant establishment. Accordingly, there is no requirement for making TDS on the commission retained by the credit card companies:- Vide Dy.CIT v. Vah Magna Retail (P) Ltd. 2012 TaxPub(DT) 2855 (Hyd-Trib).

In Germs Paradise v. Asstt.CIT ITA No.746/Jp/2011 ITA No.841/Jp/2011 (Jp ‘A’-Trib). it was observed that there is no relationship of a principal and commission agent between the bank and assessee shop keeper. It is not the case that bank has advised the assessee to sell their goods to its customers, then he will pay the commission. It is reversed in a situation as bank issued credit cards to the credit card holders on certain fees or whatever the case may be and the card holder purchases material from the market through his credit card without making any payment and that shop keeper presents the bill to the bank against whose credit card the goods were sold and on presentation of bill as stated above the bank makes the payment. Therefore, provisions of section194H are not attracted.

Where bank made payment to dealer for sales against credit cards and deducted handling charges before making payment to assessee, the transactions were principal basis and no element of agency was involved therein, the charges thus not being in the nature of commission, no liability to TDS under section 194H arose. – Vide ITO v. The Mobile Store Ltd 2016 TaxPub (DT) 4629 (Mum-Trib).

No tax is deductible on credit card charges collected by bank and paid by assessee as said commission paid to the credit card companies cannot be considered as  falling within the purview of section 194H – Vide ITO v. Hotel Leela Venture Ltd. 2016 TaxPub(DT) 2796 (Mum-Trib).

3. Recent decision in Velankani Information System Ltd.’s case

In Velankani Information System Ltd v. Dy.CIT ITA Nos. 218,283 (Bang.) of 2017 the Bangalore Bench of the Tribunal followed its earlier decision in Tata Tele Services Ltd. V. DCIT (TDS) (2013) 29 taxmann.com 261 (Bang-Trib) : 2013 TaxPub (DT) 652 (Bang-Trib) wherein the Tribunal observed that payment to banks on account of utilization of credit card facilities would be in the nature of bank charge and not in the nature of commission within the meaning of section194H of the Act. The same cannot also be said to be in the nature of professional services as services rendered by Banks is neither a service specified in the section nor notifies. The CBDT by notification under section 197A of the Act vide Notification No.56/2012, dt 31.12.2012 specified that credit/debit card commission for transaction between the merchant establishment and acquirer bank need not be subject to TDS. The notification is only recognition of the position as it always prevailed and as interpreted by several decisions rendered by the different benches of ITAT. The notification cannot be the basis on which it can be said that the amount retained by the bank was in the nature of commission within the meaning of section 194-H of the Act.

The CBDT Notification No.56/2012, dt. 31.12.2012 has been suppressed by Notification No.SO 2143€, No.47/2016. Dt.17.6.2016 with certain addition but having no relevance. This notification was passed under section 197A (1F) of the Act through which exemption from TDS was granted to certain categories of payments. One of such category is “(Vii) credit card or Debit card Commission for transaction between merchant establishment and acquirer bank” and the same was effective from 1.1.2013. The assumption of assessing officer that since such exemption was not available to the Appellant during the relevant assessment year thus deduction of tax has to be done, is not correct as this notification is clarificatory in nature and not making a fresh concession.

Therefore no addition can be made on account of non-deduction of tax at source under section 194H on the Commission retained by the credit card companies.

4. Concluding remark

From the above discussion it can be concluded that payments to banks on account of utilization of credit card facilities would be in the nature of bank charge and not in the nature of commission within the meaning of section 194H of the Act.

Focus on your core business by outsourcing all your accounting work to ADCA, which is one of the best accounting outsourcing companies in Bangalore.

1. Introduction:

Under the GST regime, Goods and Services Tax (GST) is leviable on supply of goods or services or both. The scope of Supply is explained under section 7 of the Central Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017 (CGST Act). As per clause (a) of sub-section (1) of section7 of the CGST Act, the “supply” includes all forms of supply of goods or services or both such as sale, transfer, barter, exchange, license, rental, lease or disposal made or agreed to be made for a consideration by a person in the course or furtherance of business.

The two limbs of any supply under GST are “consideration” and in the course or furtherance of
business. Where the consideration is not extant in a transaction, such a transaction does not fall within the ambit of supply. But, in certain scenarios, as elucidated in Schedule I of the CGST Act, the key element of consideration is not required to be present for treating certain activities as supply.
One such activity which has been detailed in paragraph 3 of Schedule I to the Act, according to which supply of goods:-

(a) By a principal to his agent where the agent undertakes to supply such goods on behalf of the principal; or
(b) By an agent to his principal where the agent undertakes to receive such goods on behalf of
the principal, would be regarded as supply even if made without consideration.

It may be noted that all the activities between the principal and the agent and Vice versa do not fall within the scope of the said entry. Firstly, the supply of services between the principal and the agent and vice versa is outside the ambit of the said entry, and would therefore require
“consideration” to consider it as supply and thus, be liable to GST.

Secondly, the element identified in the definition of “agent”, i.e. “supply or receipt of goods on
behalf of the principal” has been retained in this entry.

2. Agent and Principal – Defined

Clause (5) of the CGST Act defies the term “agent” to mean 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 or both on behalf of another.

The term is also defined under section 182 of the Indian Contract Act, 1872, according to which the “agent” is a person employed to do any act for another, or to represent another in dealings with third person. The person for whom such act is done, or who is so represented, is called the “principal”. As delineated in the definition, an agent can be appointed for performing any act on behalf of the principal which may or may not have the potential for representation on behalf of the principal. So, the crucial element here is the representative character of the agent which enables him to carry out activities on behalf of the principal.

The following two key elements emerge from the above definition of agent:
(a) The term “agent” is defined in terms of the various activities being carried out by the person
concerned in the principal-agent relationship; and

(b) The supply or receipt of goods or services has to be undertaken by the agent on behalf of
the principal.
From this, it can be deduced that the crucial component for covering a person within the ambit
of the term “agent” under the CGST Act is corresponding to the representative character
identified in the definition of “agent” under the Indian Contract Act, 1872.
As per clause (88) of section 2 of the CGST Act, “principal” means a person on whose behalf an agent carries on the business of supply or receipt of goods or services or both.

3. Key ingredient to determine Principal-agent relationship

The crucial factor is how to determine whether the agent is wearing the representative hat and
is supplying or receiving goods on behalf of the principal. Since in the commercial world, there
are various factors that might influence this relationship, it would be more prudent that an
objective criteria is used to determine whether a particular principal-agent relationship falls
within the ambit of the said entry or not.

Thus, the key ingredient for determining relationship under GST would be whether the invoice
for the further supply of goods on behalf of the principal is being issued by the agent or not.
Where the invoice for further supply is being issued by the agent in his name then, any provision of goods from the principal to the agent would fall within the fold of the said entry. However, it may be noted that in cases where the invoice is issued by the agent to the customer in the name
of the principal, such agent shall not fall within the ambit of Schedule I of the CGST Act.

Similarly, where the goods being procured by the agent on behalf of the principal are invoiced in the name of the agent then further provision of the said goods by the agent to the principal
would be covered by the said entry. In other words, the crucial point is whether or not the agent has the authority to pass or receive the title of goods on behalf of the principal.

Finding it difficult to understand GST? We are here to help. Contact ADCA - One of the reputed GST Consultants In Bangalore - for the complete assistance.

In order to develop Indian economy and attract talented entrepreneurs, the Government of India, under the leadership of PM Narendra Modi, has started the Startup India initiative to recognize,promote and support startups.

Incorporate your business

Incorporate your business as a Private Limited Company or a Partnership firm or a Limited Liability Partnership. You have to follow the normal procedures for registration of any business like obtaining the certificate of Incorporation/Partnership registration, PAN, and other required compliances.

Register with Startup India

The business must be registered as a startup. All you need to do is log on to the Startup India website and fill up the form with details of your business and upload certain documents.

Documents to be uploaded (in PDF format only)

a) A letter of recommendation/support

• A letter of recommendation must be submitted along with the registration form. Any of the following will be valid-

• A recommendation (regarding innovative nature of business) from an Incubator established in a post-graduate college in India, in a format specified by the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP); OR

• A letter of support by an incubator, which is funded (in relation to the project) by Government of India as part of any specified scheme to promote innovation; OR

• A letter of  recommendation (regarding innovative nature of business), from an Incubator, recognized by the Government of India in DIPP specified format; OR

• A letter of funding of not less than 20% in equity, by any Incubation Fund/Angel Fund/Private Equity Fund/Accelerator/Angel Network, duly registered with SEBI that endorses innovative nature of the business; OR

• A letter of funding by Government of India or any State Government as part of any specified scheme to promote innovation ;OR

• A patent filed and published in the Journal by the Indian Patent Office in areas affiliated with the nature of the business being promoted.

b) You need to upload the certificate of incorporation of your company/LLP (Registration Certificate in case of partnership)

c) A brief description of the innovative nature of your products/services.

Answer whether you would like to avail tax benefits

Startups are exempted from income tax for 3 years. Inorder to avail these benefits, they must be certified by the Inter-Ministerial Board (IMB). Start-ups recognized by DIPP, Govt. of India can now directly avail IPR related benefits without requiring any additional certification from IMB.

Self-certify that you satisfy the following conditions

• You must register your new company as a Private Limited Company, Partnership firm or a Limited Liability Partnership

• Your business must be incorporated/registered in India, not before 5 years.

• Turnover must be less than 25 crores per year.

• Innovation is a must– the business must be working towards innovating something new or significantly improving the existing used technology.

• Your business must not be as a result of splitting up or reconstruction of an existing business.

Get a recognition number

On applying you will immediately get a recognition number for your startup. The certificate of recognition will be issued after the examination of all your documents.

However, be careful while uploading the documents. If on subsequent verification, it is found to be obtained that the required document is not uploaded/wrong document uploaded or a forged document has been uploaded then you shall be liable to a fine of 50% of your paid-up capital of the startup with a minimum fine of Rs. 25,000.

Patents, trademarks and/or design registration

If you need a patent for your innovation or a trademark for your business, you can easily approach any from the list of facilitators issued by the government. You will need to bear only the statutory fees thus getting an 80% reduction in fees.

Funding

In order to provide funding support, Government has set up a fund with an initial corpus of INR 2,500 crore and a total corpus of INR 10,000 crore over a period 4 years (i.e. INR 2,500 crore per year). The Fund is in the nature of Fund of Funds, which means that it will not invest directly into Startups, but shall participate in the capital of SEBI registered Venture Funds.

Need personal assistance in dealing with GST Registration & filing? Get in touch with ADCA - One of the best ca firms in bangalore.