ADVERTISEMENT

Online Retailers Face Audit On Extra GST Collected After Rate Cut

National Anti-Profiteering Authority to audit companies to check for extra GST collections, after the rate reduction

Flipkart Logo sits on its website with Amazon India and Paytm Mall websites open on different tabs in this arranged photograph in Mumbai, India. (Photographer: Anirudh Saligrama/Bloombergquint)
Flipkart Logo sits on its website with Amazon India and Paytm Mall websites open on different tabs in this arranged photograph in Mumbai, India. (Photographer: Anirudh Saligrama/Bloombergquint)

The taxman will audit all major e-commerce companies to check if they collected extra goods and services tax even after the GST Council cut rates on a range of products.

The National Anti-Profiteering Authority—constituted under the GST—in a recent judgment directed the Director General of Audit at the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs to conduct the audit. It will have to submit the findings to the authority, according to an order uploaded on its website.

BloombergQuint’s emailed queries to Flipkart and Paytm didn’t elicit a response. An Amazon India spokesperson declined to comment.

A recent complaint filed with the authority against Flipkart said India’s largest online retailer had charged 28 percent GST on an almirah. At the time the product was delivered, the levy on it was reduced to 18 percent in November, and the invoice had the lower tax rate.

The extra GST collected on the item was refunded by the supplier of the almirah, Godrej and Boyce, to the buyer. The authority gave Flipkart a clean chit.

The online retailer, however, informed it that there were 7,254 such cases in which GST collected was higher at the time of booking but was reduced when the item was delivered. Flipkart said it has started refunding the differential amount as per instructions of the sellers.

The authority’s order asks Flipkart to refund the excess tax collected without delay.

Opinion
GST Council Meet: Rates Reduced, Return Simplified