ELECTRONIC CASH LEDGER

[Mr. M. GOVINDARAJAN]

Electronic cash ledger

In the pre-GST era, the tax or duty was paid to the Department through the bank payment by using the challan. On making the payment the bank will transfer the said amount to the respective heads of the tax. After introduction of GST every thing has been automated. The erstwhile system of payment of tax has been dispensed with. GST portal is there for having each and every transaction. The payment of tax is also to be done through GST portal. For making payment the portal is having Electronic Cash Ledger for each registered person.  The registered person has to deposit amount in the Electronic Cash Ledger in advance, i.e., before the due date for payment of tax.  On the due date the said amount may be debited for payment of tax.

Form

Electronic Cash Ledger is maintained in the GST portal in Form GST PMT – 05.  It contains a summary of all the deposits/payments made by a taxpayer.  There are two heads – major heads and minor heads.  The major heads are IGST, CGST, SGST/UTGST, and CESS. Each major head is divided into five minor heads - Tax, Interest, Penalty, Fee, and Others.

Cash deposit

A registered person shall generate Form GST PMT – 06 before making deposit in the electronic cash ledger.  The details of   the amount to be deposited by him towards tax, interest, penalty, fees or any other amount are to be entered in the said form.  The generated form is valid for 15 days.  The deposit of cash in the ledger can be made in any one of the following ways-

• Internet Banking through authorised banks;
• Unified Payment Interface (UPI) from any bank;
• Immediate Payment Services (IMPS) from any bank;
• Credit card or Debit card through the authorised bank;
• National Electronic Fund Transfer or Real Time Gross Settlement from any bank; or
• Over the Counter payment through authorised banks for deposits up to ten thousand rupees per challan per tax period, by cash, cheque or demand draft.

Where the payment is made by way of National Electronic Fund Transfer or Real Time Gross Settlement or Immediate Payment Service mode from any bank, the mandate form shall be generated along with the challan on the common portal and the same shall be submitted to the bank from where the payment is to be made.

The tax collected at source, deducted at source are to be deposited in this ledger for making payment.

Commission

For making payment of any amount indicated in the challan, the commission, if any, payable in respect of such payment shall be borne by the person making such payment.

Restrictions on OTC payment

The payment made through OTC is restricted for deposit upto Rs.10,000/-.  Such restriction is not available to-

• Government Departments or any other deposit to be made by persons as may be notified by the Commissioner in this behalf;
• Proper officer or any other officer authorised to recover outstanding dues from any person, whether registered or not, including recovery made through attachment or sale of movable or immovable properties;
• Proper officer or any other officer authorised for the amounts collected by way of cash, cheque or demand draft during any investigation or enforcement activity or any ad hoc deposit.

Payment by Online Service providers

A person supplying online information and database access or retrieval services from a place outside India to a non-taxable online recipient, or a person supplying online money gaming from a place outside India to a person in India of the Integrated Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017  may also make the deposit through international money transfer through Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication payment network, from the date to be notified by the Board.

Payment by unregistered person

A payment may be made by an unregistered person on the basis of a temporary identification number generated through the common portal.

Challan Identification Number

When the payment is made through any one of the above said modes into the respective government accounts, a Challan Identification Number will be generated by the collecting bank.  The Challan identification number will be reflected in the challan.  The bank will share the challan identification number to the GST portal.   The said amount shall be credited to the electronic cash ledger of the person on whose behalf the deposit has been made and the common portal shall make available a receipt to this effect.

If no Challan Identification Number is not generated or if generated but not communicated to the GST portal, the said person may represent electronically in FORM GST PMT-07 through the common portal to the bank or electronic gateway through which the deposit was initiated.  If the bank fails to communicate details of Challan Identification Number to the Common Portal, the Electronic Cash Ledger may be updated on the basis of e-Scroll of the Reserve Bank of India in cases where the details of the said e-Scroll are in conformity with the details in challan generated in FORM GST PMT-06 on the Common Portal.

Transfer of amount

 A registered person may, on the common portal, transfer any amount of tax, interest, penalty, fee or any other amount available in the electronic cash ledger under the Act to the electronic cash ledger for integrated tax, central tax, State tax or Union territory tax or cess in FORM GST PMT-09.  He may transfer any amount of tax, interest, penalty, fee or any other amount available in the electronic cash ledger under the Act to the electronic cash ledger for central tax or integrated tax of a distinct person a in FORM GST PMT- 09.

No such transfer shall be allowed if the said registered person has any unpaid liability in his electronic liability register.

Payment of tax

The amount available in the Electronic Cash Ledger can be utilised for payment of any liability for the respective major and minor heads. For example, liability for the tax under SGST/UTGST can be settled only from the available amount of cash under SGST/UTGST Major head.   Amount available under one major head (SGST/UTGST, CGST, IGST or CESS) cannot be utilised for discharging the liability under any other major head. For example, amount available in SGST/UTGST cannot be utilised for discharging liabilities under CGST, IGST, or CESS and vice versa.

If the payments made are not reflected in the ledger, then then tax payer should raise a grievance on the GST Portal 24 hours after the successful payment communication is made by the Bank to the Taxpayer using the GST PMT-07 form.  If the displayed figure is erroneous then he may raise a grievance on the GST portal.

Inadvertent deposit

Any amount deposited inadvertently will remain in the Electronic Cash Ledger and can be used to discharge liabilities in subsequent tax periods. Alternatively, the excess amount deposited in the Electronic Cash Ledger can be claimed as refund by selecting the relevant option while filing the periodic return or via refund application.

Checking the balance           

A taxpayer can log on to the GST Portal and navigate to the electronic cash ledger home page in the following way: Services > Ledgers > Electronic cash Ledger. The balance is shown on the right-hand corner under the head “Cash balance as on Date:”. A summary of the major head wise balance is displayed when the cursor is placed on the same. To know the details of the transaction the taxpayer needs to submit a request for the report by giving the date range.

Viewing of ledger

Electronic Cash Ledger can only be viewed by the taxpayers themselves, or their authorized signatories and GST Practitioner. It can also be viewed by their Jurisdictional Officials.  The taxpayer can view the Electronic Cash Ledger for a maximum period of 12 months.

Refund           

If a person has claimed refund of any amount from the electronic cash ledger, the said amount shall be debited to the electronic cash ledger.   If the refund so claimed is rejected, either fully or partly, the amount debited, to the extent of rejection, shall be credited to the electronic cash ledger by the proper officer by an order made in FORM GST PMT-03.

The refund shall be deemed to be rejected if the appeal is finally rejected.  a refund shall be deemed to be rejected, if the appeal is finally rejected or if the claimant gives an undertaking to the proper officer that he shall not file an appeal.

Other points

• Unless the taxpayer makes a debit entry from a cash ledger for a specific liability, the amount lying in the cash ledger cannot be assigned to any liability.
• In exceptional circumstances, especially when the amount of additional demand is not stayed by the Appellate Authority, Tribunal, or Court, the amount can be debited from Electronic Cash Ledger to the extent of the demand.
• Input Tax Credits is only available in the Electronic Credit Ledger.