Entitlement of ITC by the insurance companies on the expenses incurred for repair of motor vehicles in case of reimbursement mode of insurance claim settlement - GST - States - TRADE CIRCULAR No. 11/2024

GOVERNMENT OF WEST BENGAL DIRECTORATE OF COMMERCIAL TAXES 14, BELIAGHATA ROAD, KOLKATA-700015 TRADE CIRCULAR No. 11/2024 ( Corresponding Central Circular No. 217/11/2024-GST ) DATED: 08.07.2024 Subject: Entitlement of ITC by the insurance companies on the expenses incurred for repair of motor vehicles in case of reimbursement mode of insurance claim settlement. The insurance companies, which are engaged in providing general insurance services in respect of insurance of motor vehicles, insure the cost of repairs/ damages of motor vehicles incurred by the policy holders and settle the claims in two modes i.e., Cashless or Reimbursement. 1.2 Under both modes of settlement, the insurance company accounts for repair liability (as assessed by the Surveyor/ Loss Assessor) as claim cost and is liable to make payment of approved repair charges to the garage. In both the cases, the invoices are generally issued by the garages in the name of Insurance companies. While in case of Cashless Mode, the insurance companies directly make the payment of approved repair charge to the Network Garage, in case of Reimbursement mode, the payment is first made by the Insured to the Non-Network Garage, which is subsequently reimbursed by the insurance company to the Insured, to the extent of approved repair/ claim cost. Accordingly, the insurance companies may be availing input tax credit (ITC) on the tax paid in respect of such repair services provided by the garages in Cashless Mode of claim settlement as well as in Reimbursement Mode of claim settlement on the basis of the invoices issued by the garages in their name. 1.3 It has been represented by the insurance companies that in case of reimbursement mode of claim settlement, some field formations are raising objections on availment of ITC by insurance companies in respect of repair invoices issued by the non-network garages on insurance companies. It is being claimed by the said field formations that in case of reimbursement mode of claim settlement, there is no credit facility offered by the garages to the Insurance Companies and therefore, the supply of repair service is made by the garage to the insured and not to the insurer. Accordingly, it is being claimed that ITC of repair invoices, in such cases, should not be available to the insurance companies. 1.4 Request has been received seeking clarity on availability of ITC in respect of repair expenses incurred in case of reimbursement mode of claim settlement. 2. In order to ensure uniformity in the implementation of the provisions of the law across field formations, the Commissioner, in exercise of his powers conferred by section 168 of the West Bengal Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017 (hereinafter referred to as the WBGST Act ), hereby clarifies the following: S. No. Issue Clarification 1 The insurance companies, which are engaged in providing general insurance services in respect of insurance of motor vehicles, insure the cost of repairs/ damages of motor vehicles incurred by the policyholders and settle the claims in two modes i.e., Cashless or Reimbursement. Whether ITC is available to insurance companies in respect of repair expenses reimbursed by the insurance company in case of reimbursement mode of claim settlement. Under reimbursement mode of claim settlement, the insured avails repair services from non-network garages with which the insurance companies do not have routine business relationship. The said garages issue the invoice in the name of the insurance company while not extending credit facility for the repair costs. Accordingly, the policy holder/ insured makes payment of such repair services, and subsequently, the insurance company reimburses the approved claim cost to the insured. Section 17(5) of the WBGST Act provides that ITC in respect of services of repair of motor vehicles shall be available where received by a taxable person engaged in the supply of general insurance services in respect of motor vehicles insured by him. Section 16 of WBGST Act provides that every registered person shall, subject to such conditions and restrictions as may be prescribed and in the manner specified in section 49 of the said Act, be entitled to take credit of input tax charged on any supply of goods or services or both to him which are used or intended to be used in the course or furtherance of his business and the said amount shall be credited to the electronic credit ledger of such person. Further, section 2(93) of WBGST Act defines recipient of supply of goods or services or both, as the person who is liable to pay the consideration, where such consideration is payable for the said supply of goods or services or both. Moreover, as per section 2(31) of WBGST Act, consideration includes any payment made or to be made in relation to supply of the goods or services or both, whether by the recipient or by any other person. In reimbursement mode of claim settlement, the payment is made by the insurance company for the approved cost of repair services through reimbursement to the insured. Further, irrespective of the fact that the payment of the repair services to the garage is first made by the insured, which is then reimbursed by the insurance company to the insured to the extent of the approved claim cost, the liability to pay for the repair service for the approved claim cost lies with the insurance company, and thus, the insurance company is covered in the definition of recipient in respect of the said supply of services of vehicle repair provided by the garage under section 2(93) of WBGST Act, to the extent of approved repair liability. Moreover, availment of credit in respect of input tax paid on motor vehicle repair services received by the insurance company for outward supply of insurance services for such motor vehicles is not barred under section 17(5) of WBGST Act. Accordingly, it is clarified that ITC is available to Insurance Companies in respect of motor vehicle repair expenses incurred by them in case of reimbursement mode of claim settlement. 2. Where the invoice raised by the garage also includes an amount in excess of the approved claim cost, the insurance company only reimburses the approved claim cost to the garage after considering the standard deductions viz. the compulsory deductibles to be borne by the insured, depreciation, improvements outside the coverage, value of salvage of the damaged parts of the motor vehicles, etc. The remaining amount is to be paid by the insured to the garage. What is the extent of ITC available to the insurer in such cases? In cases where the garage issues two separate invoices in respect of the repair services, one to the insurance company in respect of approved claim cost and second to the customer for the amount of repair service in excess of the approved claim cost, input tax credit may be available to the insurance company on the said invoice issued to the insurance company subject to reimbursement of said amount by insurance company to the customer. However, if the invoice for full amount for repair services is issued to the insurance company while the insurance company makes reimbursement to the insured only for the approved claim cost, then, the input tax credit may be available to the insurance company only to the extent of reimbursement of the approved claim cost to the insured, and not on the full invoice value. 3. Whether ITC is available to the insurer where the invoice for the repair of the vehicle is not in name of the insurance company. In such a case, condition of clause (a) and (aa) of section 16(2) of WBGST Act is not satisfied and accordingly, input tax credit will not be available to the insurance company in respect of such an invoice. 3. Difficulty, if any, in the implementation of this Trade Circular may be brought to the notice of the Commissioner. Sd/- (DEVI PRASAD KARANAM, IAS) Commissioner, State Tax West Bengal