West Bengal Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017
No: 28 Dated: Aug, 10 2017
THE WEST BENGAL GOODS AND SERVICES TAX ACT, 2017
West Bengal Act XXVIII of 2017
An Act to make a provision for levy and collection of tax on intra-State supply of goods or services or both by the State of West Bengal and the matters connected therewith or incidental thereto.
Whereas it is expedient to make a provision for levy and collection of tax on intra-State supply of goods or services or both by the State of West Bengal and the matters connected therewith or incidental thereto;
It is hereby enacted in the Sixty-eighth Year of the Republic of India, by the Legislature of West Bengal, as follows: -
CHAPTER I
Preliminary
1. Short title, extent and commencement. - (1) This Act may be called the West Bengal Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017.
(2) It extends to the whole of the State of West Bengal.
(3) The provisions of sections 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 10, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 139, 146 and 164 of this Act, shall be deemed to have come into force with effect from the 22nd day of June, 2017 and provisions of sections 6 to 9, 11 to 21, 31 to 41, 42 [except the proviso to sub-section (9) of section 42], 43 [except the proviso to subsection (9) of section 43], 44 to 50, 53 to 138, 140 to 145, 147 to 163, 165 to 174, shall be deemed to have come into force with effect from the 1st day of July, 2017 and remaining provisions of this Act shall come into force on such date as the State Government may, by notification in the Official Gazette, appoint:
Provided that different dates may be appointed for different provisions of this Act (except sections mentioned herein-above) and any reference in any such provision to the commencement of this Act shall be construed as a reference to the coming into force of that provision.
2. Definitions. - In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires,-
(1) "actionable claim" shall have the same meaning as assigned to it in section 3 of the Transfer of Property Act, 1882 (4 of 1882);
(2) "address of delivery" means the address of the recipient of goods or services or both indicated on the tax invoice issued by a registered person for delivery of such goods or services or both;
(3) "address on record" means the address of the recipient as available in the records of the supplier;
(4) "adjudicating authority" means any authority, appointed or authorized to pass any order or decision under this Act, but does not include the Commissioner, the Revisional Authority, the Authority for Advance Ruling, the Appellate Authority for Advance Ruling, the Appellate Authority and the Appellate Tribunal;
(5) "agent" means a 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;
(6) "aggregate turnover" means the aggregate value of all taxable supplies (excluding the value of inward supplies on which tax is payable by a person on reverse charge basis), exempt supplies, exports of goods or services or both and inter-State supplies of persons having the same Permanent Account Number, to be computed on all India basis but excludes central tax, State tax, Union territory tax, integrated tax and cess;
(7) "agriculturist" means an individual or a Hindu Undivided Family who undertakes cultivation of land-
(a) by own labour, or
(b) by the labour of family, or
(c) by servants on wages payable in cash or kind or by hired labour under personal supervision or the personal supervision of any member of the family;
(8) "Appellate Authority" means an authority appointed or authorized to hear appeals as referred to in section 107;
(9) "Appellate Tribunal" means the Goods and Services Tax Appellate Tribunal as referred to in section 109;
(10) "appointed day" means the date on which the provisions of this Act shall come into force;
(11) "assessment" means determination of tax liability under this Act and includes self-assessment, re-assessment, provisional assessment, summary assessment and best judgment assessment;
(12) "associated enterprises" shall have the same meaning as assigned to it in section 92A of the Income-tax Act, 1961 (43 of 1961);
(13) "audit" means the examination of records, returns and other documents maintained or furnished by the registered person under this Act or the rules made thereunder or under any other law for the time being in force to verify the correctness of turnover declared, taxes paid, refund claimed and input tax credit availed, and to assess his compliance with the provisions of this Act or the rules made thereunder;
(14) "authorized bank" shall mean a bank or a branch of a bank authorized by the Central Government to collect the tax or any other amount payable under this Act;
(15) "authorized representative" means the representative as referred to under section 116;
(16) "Board" means the Central Board of Excise and Customs constituted under the Central Boards of Revenue Act, 1963 (54 of 1963);
(17) "business" includes-
(a) any trade, commerce, manufacture, profession, vocation, adventure, wager or any other similar activity, whether or not it is for a pecuniary benefit;
(b) any activity or transaction in connection with or incidental or ancillary to sub-clause (a);
(c) any activity or transaction in the nature of sub-clause (a), whether or not there is volume, frequency, continuity or regularity of such transaction;
(d) supply or acquisition of goods including capital goods and services in connection with commencement or closure of business;
(e) provision by a club, association, society, or any such body (for a subscription or any other consideration) of the facilities or benefits to its members;
(f) admission, for a consideration, of persons to any premises;
(g) services supplied by a person as the holder of an office which has been accepted by him in the course or furtherance of his trade, profession or vocation;
(h) services provided by a race club by way of totalizator or a licence to book maker in such club; and
(i) any activity or transaction undertaken by the Central Government, a State Government or any local authority in which they are engaged as public authorities;
(18) "business vertical" means a distinguishable component of an enterprise that is engaged in the supply of individual goods or services or a group of related goods or services which is subject to risks and returns that are different from those of the other business verticals.
Explanation. - For the purposes of this clause, factors that should be considered in determining whether goods or services are related include-
(a) the nature of the goods or services;
(b) the nature of the production processes;
(c) the type or class of customers for the goods or services;
(d) the methods used to distribute the goods or supply of services; and
(e) the nature of regulatory environment (wherever applicable), including banking, insurance or public utilities;
(19) "capital goods" means goods, the value of which is capitalized in the books of account of the person claiming the input tax credit and which are used or intended to be used in the course or furtherance of business;
(20) "casual taxable person" means a person who occasionally undertakes transactions involving supply of goods or services or both in the course or furtherance of business, whether as principal, agent or in any other capacity, in the taxable territory where he has no fixed place of business;
(21) "central tax" means the central goods and services tax levied under section 9 of the Central Goods and Services Tax Act;
(22) "cess" shall have the same meaning as assigned to it in the Goods and Services Tax (Compensation to States) Act;
(23) "chartered accountant" means a chartered accountant as defined in clause (b) of sub-section (1) of section 2 of the Chartered Accountants Act, 1949 (38 of 1949);
(24) "Commissioner" means the Commissioner of State tax appointed under section 3;
(25) "Commissioner in the Board" means the Commissioner referred to in section 168 of the Central Goods and Services Tax Act;
(26) "common portal" means the common goods and services tax electronic portal referred to in section 146;
(27) "common working days" shall mean such days in succession which are not declared as gazetted holidays by the Central Government or the Government of West Bengal;
(28) "company secretary" means a company secretary as defined in clause (c) of sub-section (1) of section 2 of the Company Secretaries Act, 1980 (56 of 1980);
(29) "competent authority" means such authority as may be notified by the Government;
(30) "composite supply" means a supply made by a taxable person to a recipient consisting of two or more taxable supplies of goods or services or both, or any combination thereof, which are naturally bundled and supplied in conjunction with each other in the ordinary course of business, one of which is a principal supply.
Illustration - Where goods are packed and transported with insurance, the supply of goods, packing materials, transport and insurance is a composite supply and supply of goods is a principal supply;
(31) "consideration" in relation to the supply of goods or services or both includes-
(a) any payment made or to be made, whether in money or otherwise, in respect of, in response to, or for the inducement of, the supply of goods or services or both, whether by the recipient or by any other person but shall not include any subsidy given by the Central Government or a State Government;
(b) the monetary value of any act or forbearance, in respect of, in response to, or for the inducement of, the supply of goods or services or both, whether by the recipient or by any other person but shall not include any subsidy given by the Central Government or a State Government:
Provided that a deposit given in respect of the supply of goods or services or both shall not be considered as payment made for such supply unless the supplier applies such deposit as consideration for the said supply;
(32) "continuous supply of goods" means a supply of goods which is provided, or agreed to be provided, continuously or on recurrent basis, under a contract, whether or not by means of a wire, cable, pipeline or other conduit, and for which the supplier invoices the recipient on a regular or periodic basis and includes supply of such goods as the Government may, subject to such conditions, as it may, by notification, specify;
(33) "continuous supply of services" means a supply of services which is provided, or agreed to be provided, continuously or on recurrent basis, under a contract, for a period exceeding three months with periodic payment obligations and includes supply of such services as the Government may, subject to such conditions, as it may, by notification, specify;
(34) "conveyance" includes a vessel, an aircraft and a vehicle;
(35) "cost accountant" means a cost accountant as defined in clause (c) of sub-section (1) of section 2 of the Cost and Works Accountants Act, 1959 (23 of 1959);
(36) "Council" means the Goods and Services Tax Council established under article 279A of the Constitution;
(37) "credit note" means a document issued by a registered person under sub-section (1) of section 34;
(38) "debit note" means a document issued by a registered person under sub-section (3) of section 34;
(39) "deemed exports" means such supplies of goods as may be notified under section 147;
(40) "designated authority" means such authority as may be notified by the Commissioner;
(41) "document" includes written or printed record of any sort and electronic record as defined in clause (t) of section 2 of the Information Technology Act, 2000 (21 of 2000);