Now the travel agents who are into the online ticketing business and providing other services on the E-Commerce portals are considered as E-Commerce operators by the CBEC. The GST Council and the Central Board of Excise and Customs decided that the travel agents will have to deduct 1% tax collected at source (TCS) from the customers and will have to deposit it with the tax department.
As decided by the GST Council and also mentioned into the goods and Service Tax rules and regulations, every E-Commerce operator will have to deduct 1% of the tax from the net value of taxable products and supplies. This is called as tax collected at source or TCS, which will have to be deposited with the government authority.
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This time the GST Council and the government have classified online travel agents as The E-Commerce operators which requires them to deduct TCS. While it is also to be considered that the TCS is not applicable to those who are selling their own products through online portal or websites, which is also cleared into frequently asked questions released by the Central Board of Excise and Customs.
According to the Electronic Commerce, any supply of goods and services through the online platform Along with the operation and Management is considered as e commerce business and every transaction will be deducted with 1% TCS according to the rules of GST. In a Statement of CBEC, “Online travel agents providing services through digital or electronic platform will fall under the category of ECO (e- commerce operator) liable to deduct TCS under Section 52 of the CGST Act, 2017.”
It is also to be noted that the E-Commerce operators are not under the threshold exemption called at 20 lakh, and have to be registered even if the operations are going through the online portal. While the TCS of 1% will be deducted in course of making payments to the goods suppliers, according to the Central GST (CGST) act.
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The collected tax will have to be deposited to the government authority after 10 days of every month end, whatever the amount is collected. In the CGST act, there also mentions the authority of information regarding sales and stock supply details of every e-commerce operators.
The CBEC also stated that “Any officer not below the rank of Deputy Commissioner may issue a notice to the electronic commerce operator to furnish such details within a period of 15 working days from the date of service of such notice.”
Even the traders who are selling or trading their products on an online website posted by themselves will be under the definition of e-commerce operator but there is no need of TCS to be deducted by them. As cleared by the CBEC itself, “In cases where someone is selling their own products through a website, there is no requirement to collect tax at source, These transactions will be liable to GST at the prevailing rates.”
