Reverse charge mechanism is the case in which the receiver of the goods is obligated to pay GST rather than the supplier.
This article covers the following details
- What is Reverse Charge Mechanism under GST
- When is RCM under GST applicable?
- Registration for RCM
- Time of Supply for Reverse charge Mechanism (RCM)
- Payment of Tax on a reverse charge
- Input tax credit (ITC)
- Self-Invoicing
- What if an Input Service Distributor receives supplies liable to Reverse Charge?
- What if the receiver of goods / services who is required to pay tax under RCM himself an Unregistered Dealer?
Reverse Charge Mechanism refers to the situation where the recipient of the provision of goods or services bears the tax burden rather than the supplier of those goods or services.
Reverse Charge Mechanism
GST is normally charged by the Supplier of Goods/Services. The supplier is liable to collect tax from the recipient and pay the total tax amount to the Government. But in some cases, the Recipient of Goods/Services is liable to pay GST instead of the supplier. This is in essence Reverse Charge.
1. When is RCM under GST applicable?
Under GST, there are three types of reverse charge scenarios, which are:
i. Nature of Supply/Nature of Supplier
The reverse charge mechanism is applicable upon the nature of the given goods/services as notified by CBIC which will be covered under RCM. This scenario is covered by section 9 (3) of the CGST/SGST (UTGST) Act and section 5 (3) of the IGST Act.
List of Goods Notified for RCM under section 9(3) of CGST Act, 2017
| S No | Particulars of supply of Goods | Supplier of Goods | Recipient of Goods |
| 1 | Cashew nuts, not shelled or peeled | Agriculturist | Any registered person |
| 2 | Bidi wrapper leaves (tendu) | Agriculturist | Any registered person |
| 3 | Tobacco leaves | Agriculturist | Any registered person |
| 4 | Silk yarn | Any person who manufactures silk yarn from raw silk or silk worm cocoons for supply of silk yarn | Any registered person |
| 5 | Raw cotton | Agriculturist | Any registered person. |
| 6 | Supply of lottery | State Government, Union Territory or any local authority | Lottery distributor or selling agent |
| 7 | Used vehicles, seized and confiscated goods, old and used goods, waste and scrap | Central Government, State Government, Union territory or a local authority | Any registered person |
List of the Services Notified for RCM under section 9(3) of CGST Act, 2017
| S No | Description of supply of Service | Supplier of service | Recipient of service |
| 1 | Any service supplied by any person who is located in a non-taxable territory to any person other than nontaxable online recipient. | Any person located in a non-taxable territory | Any person located in the taxable territory other than nontaxable online recipient. |
| 2 | GTA Services | Goods Transport Agency (GTA) who has not paid integrated tax at the rate of 12% | Any factory, society, cooperative society, registered person, body corporate, partnership firm, casual taxable person; located in the taxable territory |
| 3 | Legal Services by advocate | An individual advocate including a senior advocate or firm of advocates | Any business entity located in the taxable territory |
| 4 | Services supplied by an arbitral tribunal to a business entity | An arbitral Tribunal | Any business entity located in the taxable territory |
| 5 | Services provided by way of sponsorship to any body corporate or partnership firm | Any person | Anybody corporate or partnership firm located in the taxable territory |
| 6 | Services supplied by the Central Government, State Government, Union territory or local authority to a business entity excluding, – (1) renting of immovable property, and (2) services specified below- (i)services by the Department of Posts by way of speed post, express parcel post, life insurance, and agency services provided to a person other than Central Government, State Government or Union territory or local authority; | Central Government, State Government, Union territory or local authority | Any business entity located in the taxable territory |
| (ii) services in relation to an aircraft or a vessel, inside or outside the precincts of a port oran airport (iii) transport of goods or passengers. | |||
| 6A | Services supplied by the Central Government, State Government, Union territory or local authority by way of renting of immovable property to a person registered under theCentral Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017Â (12 of 2017). | Central Government, State Government, Union territory or | Any person registered under the |
| ** Added with effect from 25.01.2018 | local authority | Central Goods and Services | |
| Tax Act, 2017Â read with clause (v) of section 20 of | |||
| Integrated Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017. | |||
| 7 | Services supplied by a director of a company or a body corporate to the said company or the body corporate | A director of a company or a body corporate | The company or a body corporate located in the taxable territory |
| 8 | Services supplied by an insurance agent to any person carrying on insurance business | An insurance Agent | Any person carrying on insurance business, located in the taxable territory |
| 9 | Services supplied by a recovery agent to a banking company or a financial institution or a non banking financial company | A recovery Agent | A banking company or a financial institution or a non banking financial company, located in the taxable territory |
| 10 | Services supplied by a person located in non- taxable territory by way of transportation of goods by a vessel from a place outside India up to the customs station of clearance in India | A person located in non-taxable territory | Importer, as defined in clause (26) of section 2 of the Customs Act, 1962 (52 of 1962), located in the taxable territory |
| 11 | Supply of services by an author, music composer, photographer, artist or the like by way of transfer or permitting the use or enjoyment of a copyright covered under section 13(1) (a) of the Copyright Act, 1957 relating to original literary, dramatic, musical or artistic works to a publisher, music company, producer or the like | Author or music composer, photograph her, artist, or the like | Publisher, music company, producer or the like, located in the taxable territory |
| 12 | Supply of services by the members of Overseeing Committee to Reserve Bank of India | Members of Overseeing Committee constituted by the Reserve Bank of India | Reserve Bank of India. |
ii. Taxable Supplies from Unregistered Person to Registered Person
As per section 9 (4) of the CGST/SGST (UTGST) Act and section 5 (4) of the IGST Act, if a registered person purchases goods/services from an unregistered dealer (URD) then the registered taxpayer is liable to pay GST on reverse charge basis( only for certain goods/services). All the provisions of the Act will apply to such recipient as if he were the person liable for paying the tax in relation to the supply of goods or services.
This provision will apply if the below conditions are met:
- Supply of taxable goods or services
- Supply must be by an unregistered person.
- Supply must be to a registered person
- Supply must be an intra-state supply as compulsory registration is required for inter-state sales
iii. Reverse charge mechanism (RCM )on Services through an e-commerce operator
An e-commerce operator that provides a platform to buyers and sellers of services is liable to pay GST on behalf of his suppliers.
For example, Ola provides services of transportation of passengers through Radio Taxis. Then Ola has to pay GST on behalf of actual service provider i.e. Driver.
If the e-commerce operator does not have a physical presence in the taxable territory, then a person representing such electronic commerce operator for any purpose will be liable to pay tax. If there is no representative, the operator shall appoint a representative who will be held liable to pay GST.
2. Who needs to Register for RCM under GST?
For a person required to pay GST under reverse charge mechanism, it is mandatory for him to be registered under GST and is exempted from the threshold limit of Rs. 40 lakh (Rs. 20 lakh for special category states except for J & K) is not applicable to them.
3. What is the time of Supply for Reverse charge Mechanism (RCM)?
i. For Supply of Goods
In case of reverse charge applicable on the supply of goods, the time of supply shall be the earliest of the following dates:
a. Date of receipt of goods.
b. The 30th day from the date of issuance of an invoice by the supplier.
ii. For Supply of Services
In case of reverse charge applicable on the supply of services, the time of supply shall be the earliest of the following dates:
a. Date of payment
b. 60th day from the date of issuance of the invoice by the supplier
*If it is not possible to determine the time of supply, the time of supply shall be the date of entry in the books of account of the recipient.
For instance, the ‘Date of Receipt’ for the purchased goods is 01/02/2022, ‘Issue of invoice’ is on 21/02/2019 and ‘date of entry’ in the book is 02/02/2019. In this case, the Time of supply is 01/02/2022.
4. How to determine the payment of tax on a Reverse Charge?
Any amount payable under reverse charge shall be paid by debiting the electronic cash ledger. The reverse charge liability cannot be discharged by using input tax credit.
Advance paid for reverse charge supplies is also liable to procure GST. The person making advance payment has to pay tax on a reverse charge basis.
5. Can you get Input tax credit (ITC) on transactions under RCM?
Under the reverse charge mechanism, the recipient of goods cannot claim ITC as the supplier has not paid any tax for their sales. Input Tax Credit(ITC) is available only on the receipt of supplies for which tax has been paid and the supplied goods/services were consumed for business purposes.
6. Who generates invoices under RCM transactions?
If a person is not registered under GST, he cannot issue GST-compliant invoices. Thus, in such scenarios, the recipient is required to prepare the invoice himself for the purchase made as well as the taxes paid.
7. What if an Input Service Distributor receives supplies liable to Reverse Charge?
The Input Service Distributor (ISD) mechanism is only to facilitate distribution of credit of taxes paid,. Hence an ISD cannot make purchases liable to Reverse Charge. If the ISD wants to procure such supplies and take the Reverse Charge paid as credit, the ISD should register as a Normal Taxpayer.
8. What if the receiver of goods and/or services who is required to pay tax under RCM himself is an Unregistered Dealer?
All taxpayers required to pay tax under reverse charge have to register for GST and the threshold of Rs 40 Lakhs/10Lakhs is not applicable to them.
Provision Applicable from 01.02.2019 onwards:
The Central Goods and Service Tax (Amendment) Act, 2018 has been put to effect from February 1, 2019, through GST notification no 02/2019 – Central Tax dated 29th January 2019’. However, with the introduction of the new provisions, the scope of section 9 (4) of the CGST Act, 2017 has been restricted, as given below
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- Prior to the CGST Act, 2018, purchases up to Rs. 5,000 per day from an unregistered supplier were free from any GST. On the other hand, for purchases exceeding Rs. 5000/ day, the purchaser was required to pay the reverse charge. This requirement has been cancelled from 1st Feb 2019 onwards.
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- Under CGST Act, 2018, only the specified categories of goods and/or services purchased by a person registered under a specified category, from the unregistered person shall be liable to pay the tax on a reverse charge basis.
Madam,
Please inform that RCM is applicable on Freight Inward and Outward from 01/10/2019. Because up to 30/09/2019 the govt. suspended the RCM.
Please clarify
If it is applicable and what will be the rate of IGST, CGST & SGST on the transport service received by the Road?
Kindly check tax rate applicable for your services from the below mentioned link
https://cbic-gst.gov.in/gst-goods-services-rates.html
Madam – When DTA unit buying materials from SEZ Unit, the SEZ Unit can give the invoice without GST to the DTA buyer.