These are the statutory definitions/terms as per the GST (Goods and Services) Act.

Introduction To GST:

• GST stands for ‘Goods and Services Tax’.
• The brand ambassador chosen to promote the Goods and Services Tax (GST) was Amitabh Bachchan.
• The first nation to implement GST in 1954 was France.
• India has adopted the GST model from the Country, Canada.
• GST is 122nd Amendment Bill, 2014 and 101 Constitutional Amendment Act.
• 101 Constitutional Amendment Act, makes sure that the various indirect taxes are paid to the government by introducing a substitute; in the form of GST, making it a single indirect tax. GST is a comprehensive tax, which permits both the Central government and the State governments to assess excise duty, Octroi tax, customs duty, service tax, entry tax, entertainment tax, other indirect taxes, all substituted by the GST.
• Assam was the first State to accept GST, whereas, Jammu and Kashmir was the last State to implement GST.
• The Vijay Kelkar Committee recommended GST.
• GST was introduced with the intent to demolish the cascading effect which was prevalent before its introduction. The cascading effect is defined as the tax which is charged on taxes paid. It increases the price payable of goods and services.

Features of GST:

• GST stands for Goods and Services Tax.
• It is a One Nation One Tax.
• GST is a substitute for all the indirect taxes.
• It is of an indirect nature.
• GST is a comprehensive tax.
• It reduces the transaction and compliance costs.
• Reduces tax evasion, dishonest dealings or frauds.
• GST includes 17 types of indirect taxes.
• It is a multi-staged or multilevel tax.
• GST has a unique number known as the (GST- IN) GST- Identification Number consisting of 15 digits.
• It is a destination based tax. For example; A car is produced in Maharashtra and further sold in the State of Gujarat, in this case the consumer state which is Gujarat, will be considered as the destination of the tax. The consumer state will get the tax.
• The GST offers facility of multislabs of tax rates which range from 0% to 28%.
• It is based primarily on VAT (Value Added Tax) and further demolishes the cascading effect.

The cascading effect is defined as the tax which is charged on taxes paid. It is the tax which is levied on goods and services at every stage. The tax that is levied on the value includes the tax that was paid by the previous buyer. This means that the consumer ends up paying tax on tax that was already paid. It increases the price payable of goods and services. 

Audit

Statutory definition:

In terms of section 2(13) of the CGST Act, 2017, “audit” means 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, input tax credit availed and to assess his compliance with the provisions of this act or the rules made thereunder.

• In simple terms, audit is an independent examination of the business transactions and final accounts by an independent external auditor to verify the true and fair financial position and correctness of the final accounts.
• Audit means the examination of records returns and other documents maintained or furnished by the registered person or business concern.
• Auditing is nothing but the systematic and critical examination and verification of the books of accounts. It can be undertaken throughout the year or periodically.
• The primary aim is to find out whether the financial statements exhibit a true and fair view of the business.
• Origin of the term audit is said to be in the Latin term audire which means to listen.
• Audit of accounts by a duty qualified chartered accountant is mandatory for the registered joint stock companies, public trusts, bigger co-operative societies and for income tax and VAT tax payers above a particular limit.

Need:

A tax system that relies on the accurate assessment has put in place a robust audit mechanism to verify the various compliances and provisions of law by the taxable person. Audit of records of taxpayers is the basis for proper functioning of the self assessment based tax system. GST audit plays an important role and is an important financial metric in the tax administration to ensure compliance of law and prevent revenue leakage or evasion of taxes.

Business

Statutory definition:

According to section 2(17), the term “business” includes:

1. Any trade, commerce, manufacture, profession, vocation, adventure, wager or any other similar activity, whether or not it is for a peculiar benefit.
2. Any activity transaction in connection with or incidental or ancillary to sub clause (1);
3. Any activity or transaction sub clause (1), whether or not there is volume, frequency, continuity or regularity of such transactions.
4. Supply or acquisition of goods including capital goods and services in connection with commitment or closure of business.
5. Provision by a club, association, society or any such body (for a subscription or any other consideration) of the facilities or benefits of its members.
6. Admission, for a consideration, of persons to any premises.
7. 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.
8. Activities of a race club including by way of totalisator or a licence to bookmaker or activities of the licence book maker in such a club; and
   • In the context of India’s Goods and Services Tax (GST), a totalisator refers to a machine that registers bets and automatically calculates the total amount wagered in horse racing, lottery, or gambling activities. The significance for GST is that the tax is levied on this totalisator amount for race clubs, which is the full amount paid into the machine, not just the commission earned by the club for providing the service
9. Any activity or transaction undertaken by the Central Government, a State Government or any other local authority in which they are primarily engaged as public authorities.

Consideration

According to section 2(31), a “consideration” in relation to the supply of goods or services or both includes:

• 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.
• 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 State Government.

Illustration: (Non-Monetary Consideration)

The following transactions A and B provide services to each other for non-monetary considerations:

• A agrees to maintain and repair B’s assets, and in retun B agrees to supply grocery.
• A agrees to construct 4 flats for B on land owned by B, and in retun B agrees to provide one flat to A without any monetary consideration.

Illustration: (Monetary Consideration)

Gifts received from family and friends: Consideration is not involved, as in this case, gifts are given out of free will and not in lieu of any supply.

Donations given to a charitable trust with the condition that in every event organised by such trust, the name of the donor shall be displayed on the stage: Donations to a charitable trust are not considerations unless the charity is obligated to provide something in return. Consideration is involved, as in this case, donations are given to the charitable trust with the condition that in every event organised by such trust, the name of the donor shall be displayed on the stage, hence, the donations would amount to consideration.

Services provided by A to B. However, payment for the services is made by C, a debtor of C, on the standing instructions of C: Consideration is involved in this case, The consideration for a supply may be provided by a person other than the person receiving the supply as long as there is a link between the supply and the consideration. Since in the given case, the payment for the supply is made by C, a debtor of B (recipient of supply), on the instructions of B, the payment will be treated as consideration for the above mentioned supply by A to B.

Illustration: (Supplies Without Consideration)

Donations, gifts, free charities are generally supplies without any consideration.

Provision of free tourism information and data, access to free channels on T.V. and a large number of Governmental services provided by the Government to its public at large are considered to be supplies without consideration.

General grants for research activities, where the researcher is under no obligation to carry out a particular/specific research will not amount to supply for a consideration or a taxabe supply.

Fines and penalties which are legal consequences of an individual’s actions are not in the nature of consideartion for any supply. Fine incurred for the violation of the law cannot be a consideration for the activity of breaking the law.

Security deposit as a primary or collateral security that is returnable eventually is in the nature of security and hence does not represent consideration for supply.

NOTE:
Payments without contract do not arise out of any pre-existing contracts and do not amount to supply of any service.

• For Example; Award Received for contribution over a life-time.
  • Grant of pocket money
  • Any kind of voluntary reward.

Electronic Commerce Operator

According to section 2(45), “electronic commerce operator” means any person who owns, operates or manages digital or electronic faculty or platform for electronic commerce.

It primarily includes every person who, directly or indirectly, owns, operates or manages a digital or electronic facility or platform for the supply of various goods or services or both.

Aggregator

An aggregator for example Ola, Uber, Swiggy, Zomato etc, are the companies who connect the customer with the supplier or the service provider, an E-Commerce operator like the Amazon or Flipkart facilitates the entire process of the supply chain management right from the supply of goods and services.

Under the GST law, even aggregators would be covered under the definition of the electronic commerce operator. Under the electronic commerce operator framework it may be noted that the threshold limits for registration would not apply and these operators would be required to obtain registration irrespective of the turnover ratios.

Goods

Statutory definition:

According to section 2(52), “goods” means every kind of movable property other than money and securities but includes actionable claim, growing crops, grass and things attached to or forming part of the land which are agreed to be served before supply or under a contract of supply.

diagram

Movable goods primarily include:

• Movable property.
• Immovable properties are not considered as goods.
• However, intangible property can be considered under the definition of goods. For example, copyrights trademarks, carbon credit certificate, duty credit scripts, licence are goods.
• The item must primarily be such that it is capable of being bought or sold. This is the test/examination of the concept of its ‘Marketability’.

Excludes the concept of money:

Money means the Indian legal tender or any foreign currency, cheque, promissory note, bill of exchange letter of credit, draft, pay order, traveller cheque, money order, postal or electronic remittance or any other instrument recognised by the Reserve Bank of India when used as a consideration to settle an obligation or exchange with Indian legal tender of another denomination but shall not include any currency that is held for its numismatic value.

Numismatic Value, section 2(76), defines, Numismatic value is the value of a coin or currency based on its collectible worth, determined by factors like rarity, age, condition, and collector demand, rather than its face value (its designated monetary value) or its metal content (bullion value). 

Excludes security:

Securities are specifically excluded from the definition of both goods and services hence, the supply of securities is not subject to GST tax region. Securities primarily include shares, debentures, the units of mutual funds, government securities, bonds or rights in security.

Includes actionable Claim:

The definition of goods specifically includes’ actionable claim’. Actionable claim in simple terms, means a claim for any amount receivable (debt) or claim benefit of any movable property not in possession for which relief can be claimed in Civil Court. Such a claim can be assigned or transferred.

As per Schedule III of CGST Act 2017, actionable claims other than lottery, betting and gambling are neither a supply of goods nor a supply of services-

Examples of actionable claims not subject to GST are,

• Insurance policy
• A partner’s right to sue for account of a dissolved partnership
• Claim for arrears of rent
• Right to claim provident fund
• Unsecured loans
• An option to purchase securities either movable or immovable property
• Right to sue for infringement of brand or copyright

Includes growing crops, grass, things attached to earth

Growing crops grass things attached to earth or forming part of the land which are agreed to be served before supply or under the contract of supply are specifically defined as goods.

Non-Taxable Supply

Statutory definition:

According to section 2(78), “non-taxable supply” means a supply of goods or services or both which is not leviable to tax under this act or the Integrated Goods and Services Tax Act.

In simple terms, it is a supply of products which are not subject to GST or exempted from the law.

Principal Supply

Statutory definition:

According to section 2(90), “principal supply” is the supply of goods or services which constitutes the predominant element of a composite supply and to which any other supply forming part of that composite supply is ancillary.

Recipient

Statutory definition:

According to section 2 (93), recipient of supply of goods or services or both, means

• Where a consideration is payable for the supply of goods or services or both, the person who is liable to pay that consideration;
• Where no consideration is payable for the supply of goods, the person to whom the goods are delivered or made available, or to whom the possession or use of the goods is given or made available;
• Where no consideration is payable for the supply of a service, the person to whom the services rendered,
• And any reference to a person to whom a supply is made shall be constructed as a reference to the recipient of the supply and shall include and agent acting as such on behalf of the recipient in relation to the goods or services or both supplied.

Where is consideration is payable: The person who is liable for the payment of the consideration would be the recipient. 
Where no consideration is payable: The actual receiver of the goods or the services would be the recipient. 

Reverse Charge

Statutory definition:

According to section 2(98), “reverse charge” means the liability to pay tax by the recipient of supply of goods or services or both instead of the supplier of such services under sub section (3) or subsection (4) of section 9, or under subsection (3) or sub section (4) of section 5 of the Integrated Goods and Services Tax Act.

Services

Statutory definition:

According to section 2(102), “services” mean anything other than/excluding goods, money and securities but includes activities relating to the use of money or its conversion by cash or any other more, from one form, currency or denomination, to another form, currency or denomination for which is separate consideration is charged.

Diagram

Supplier

Statutory definition

According to section 2(105), “supplier” in relation to any goods or services or both, shall mean the person supplying the said specific goods or services or both and shall include an agent acting as such on behalf of such supplier in relation to any goods or services or both supplied. In simple terms, a supplier is a person supplying goods and/or services.

Taxable Person

Statutory definition

According to section 2(107), “taxable person” means a person who is registered or liablie to be registered under section 22 or 24.

Taxable Supply

Statutory definition

According to section 2(108), “taxable supply” means a supply of goods or services or both which is leviable to tax under the Goods and Services Act.

For the transaction to qualify as a taxable supply, the following components need to be met:

• The transaction must involve either goods or services, or both.
• Such goods or services should not be specified under Schedule III (neither supply of goods nor a supply of services);
• The transaction must fall within the definition as by the GST Act of “supply” in terms of section 7 of the CGST Act.