When will a taxpayer have to pay taxes under the GST regime?

A regular taxpayer will have to pay taxes by the 20th of the following month for sales generated in the current month. Hence, it will be a monthly activity.

How will the taxpayer make the payment of taxes?

A taxpayer will be able to pay taxes by using one (or both) of the methods mentioned below:

Method 1: Making cash payments – The tax amount would be first deposited in the electronic cash ledger and the taxpayer shall debit the ledger while making monthly tax payment (net of ITC) and shall show the relevant debit entry number in his monthly return.

Method 2: Using Input Tax Credit (ITC) – ITC gets credited in the electronic credit ledger and the tax payer will have to debit the ledger to make monthly tax payment (to the extent ITC is available). He would have to show the relevant debit entry number in his monthly return.

When will a taxpayer pay taxes for sales in the month of March?

He would have to pay taxes for March by 20th of April between 00:00 hours and 20:00 hours.

Will there be a provision for a taxpayer to pay GST taxes in installments?

No, taxpayer is not allowed to pay taxes in installments in case of self-assessed liability (when a business owner is eligible to determine his sales and tax and report these details in his monthly return). In other cases, a competent authority will be empowered to extend the time period or allow payment in installments (refer to Section 74 of Revised Model GST Law).

Please explain these three dates related to GST taxation – date of presentation of cheque , date of payment and date of credit of amount in the account of government.

Date of presentation of cheque is the date when cheque is submitted to the bank. Date of payment is the date when amount is debited from the account of the taxpayer. Date of credit of amount in the account of government is the date of deposit in the electronic cash ledger of the taxpayer.

Which date will be considered as the date of deposit of tax dues?

The date of credit of amount in the account of government will be considered as the date of deposit of tax dues.

For more detailed information, visit the GST portal.

GST Portal

*The guidance provided above is as per the Model GST law (released in November 2016) and draft Rules. Please refer to GST/ CBEC website for further details.