Section 174 ·

(1) Save as otherwise provided in this Act, on and from the date of commencement of this Act, (i) The Puducherry Value Added Tax Act, 2007 (Act No. 9 of 2007), except in respect of goods included in the Entry 54 of the State List of the Seventh Schedule to the Constitution, and (ii) The Puducherry Sugarcane Development and Levy of Cess Act, 1965 (Act No. 17 of 1965), (hereafter referred to as the repealed Acts) are hereby repealed. (2) The repeal of the said Acts and the amendment of the Act specified in section 173 (hereafter referred to as "such amendment" or "amended Act", as the case may be) to the extent mentioned in sub-section (1) or section 173 shall not- (a) revive anything not in force or existing at the time of such amendment or repeal; or (b) affect the previous operation of the amended Acts or repealed Acts and orders or anything duly done or suffered thereunder; or (c) affect any right, privilege, obligation, or liability acquired, accrued or incurred under the amended Acts or repealed Acts or orders under such repealed or amended Acts: *** Amended vide Act No. 6 of 2020. Provided that any tax exemption granted as an incentive against investment through a notification shall not continue as privilege if the said notification is rescinded on or after the appointed day; or (d) affect any tax, surcharge, penalty, fine, interest as are due or may become due or any forfeiture or punishment incurred or inflicted in respect of any offence or violation committed against the provisions of the amended Acts or repealed Acts; or (e) affect any investigation, inquiry, verification (including scrutiny and audit), assessment proceedings, adjudication and any other legal proceedings or recovery of arrears or remedy in respect of any such tax, surcharge, penalty, fine, interest, right, privilege, obligation, liability, forfeiture or punishment, as aforesaid, and any such investigation, inquiry, verification (including scrutiny and audit), assessment proceedings, adjudication and other legal proceedings or recovery of arrears or remedy may be instituted, continued or enforced, and any such tax, surcharge, penalty, fine, interest, forfeiture or punishment may be levied or imposed as if these Acts had not been so amended or repealed; or (f) affect any proceedings including that relating to an appeal, revision, review or reference, instituted before, on or after the appointed day under the said amended Acts or repealed Acts and such proceedings shall be continued under the said amended Acts or repealed Acts as if this Act had not come into force and the said Acts had not been amended or repealed. (3) Notwithstanding anything contained in this section, any action or proceedings already initiated by invoking the powers vested under section 81 of the Puducherry Value Added Tax Act, 2007 (Act No. 9 of 2007), shall continue to be valid till the final disposal of the proceedings. (4) The mention of the particular matters referred to in section 173 and sub-section (1) shall not be held to prejudice or affect the general application of section 2 of the Puducherry General Clauses Act, 1965 (Act No. 13 of 1965), with regard to the effect of repeal. THE SCHEDULE-I [See section 7] ACTIVITIES TO BE TREATED AS SUPPLY EVEN IF MADE WITHOUT CONSIDERATION 1. Permanent transfer or disposal of business assets where input tax credit has been availed on such assets. 2. Supply of goods or services or both between related persons or between distinct persons as specified in section 25, when made in the course or furtherance of business: Provided that gifts not exceeding fifty thousand rupees in value in a financial year by an employer to an employee shall not be treated as supply of goods or services or both. 3. Supply of goods- (a) by a principal to his agent where the agent undertakes to supply such goods on behalf of the principal; or (b) by an agent to his principal where the agent undertakes to receive such goods on behalf of the principal. 4. Import of services by a *[person] from a related person or from any of his other establishments outside India, in the course or furtherance of business. THE SCHEDULE-II [See section 7] ACTIVITIES +[OR TRANSACTIONS] TO BE TREATED AS SUPPLY OF GOODS OR SUPPLY OF SERVICES 1. Transfer- (a) any transfer of the title in goods is a supply of goods; (b) any transfer of right in goods or of undivided share in goods without the transfer of title thereof, is a supply of services; (c) any transfer of title in goods under an agreement which stipulates that property in goods shall pass at a future date upon payment of full consideration as agreed, is a supply of goods. 2. Land and Building- (a) any lease, tenancy, east 80 da (a) any lease, tenancy, easement, licence to occupy land is a supply of services; (b) any lease or letting out of the building including a commercial, industrial or residential complex for business or commerce, either wholly or partly, is a supply of services. 3. Treatment or process- Any treatment or process which is applied to another person's goods is a supply of services. 4. Transfer of business assets- (a) where goods forming part of the assets of a business are transferred or disposed of by or under the directions of the person carrying on the business so as no longer to form part of those assets, [ *** omitted] such transfer or disposal is a supply of goods by the person; (b) where, by or under the direction of a person carrying on a business, goods held or used for the purposes of the business are put to any private use or are used, or made available to any person for use, for any purpose other than a purpose of the business, [ *** omitted] the usage or making available of such goods is a supply of services; * Amended vide Act No. 7 of 2018 w.e.f. 1st day of February, 2019. *** Amended vide Act No. 6 of 2020 w.e.f. 01-07-2017. + Deemed to have come into force w.e.f. 1st day of July, 2017. (c) where any person ceases to be a taxable person, any goods forming part of the assets of any business carried on by him shall be deemed to be supplied by him in the course or furtherance of his business immediately before he ceases to be a taxable person, unless- (i) the business is transferred as a going concern to another person; or (ii) the business is carried on by a personal representative who is deemed to be a taxable person. 5. Supply of services- The following shall be treated as supply of services, namely :- (a) renting of immovable property; (b) construction of a complex, building, civil structure or a part thereof, including a complex or building intended for sale to a buyer, wholly or partly, except where the entire consideration has been received after issuance of completion certificate, where required, by the competent authority or after its first occupation, whichever is earlier. Explanation .- For the purposes of this clause- (1) the expression "competent authority" means the Government or any authority authorised to issue completion certificate under any law for the time being in force and in case of non- requirement of such certificate from such authority, from any of the following, namely :- (i) an architect registered with the Council of Architecture constituted under the Architects Act, 1972 (Central Act 20 of 1972); or (ii) a chartered engineer registered with the Institution of Engineers (India); or (iii) a licensed surveyor of the respective local body of the city or town or village or development or planning authority; (2) the expression "construction" includes additions, alterations, replacements or remodeling of any existing civil structure; (c) temporary transfer or permitting the use or enjoyment of any intellectual property right; (d) development, design, programming, customisation, adaptation, upgradation, enhancement, implementation of information technology software; (e) agreeing to the obligation to refrain from an act, or to tolerate an act or a situation, or to do an act; and (f) transfer of the right to use any goods for any purpose (whether or not for a specified period) for cash, deferred payment or other valuable consideration. 6. Composite supply- The following composite supplies shall be treated as a supply of services, namely :- (a) works contract as defined in clause (119) of section 2; and (b) supply, by way of or as part of any service or in any other manner whatsoever, of goods, being food or any other article for human consumption or any drink (other than alcoholic liquor for human consumption), where such supply or service is for cash, deferred payment or other valuable consideration. 7. Supply of Goods- The following shall be treated as supply of goods, namely :- Supply of goods by any unincorporated association or body of persons to a member thereof for cash, deferred payment or other valuable consideration. THE SCHEDULE-III [See section 7] ACTIVITIES OR TRANSACTIONS WHICH SHALL BE TREATED NEITHER AS A SUPPLY OF GOODS NOR A SUPPLY OF SERVICES 1. Services by an employee to the employer in the course of or in relation to his employment. 2. Services by any court or Tribunal established under any law for the time being in force. 3. (a) the functions performed by the Members of Parliament, Members of State Legislature, Members of Panchayats, Members of Municipalities and Members of other local authorities; (b) the duties performed by any person who holds any post in pursuance of the provisions of the Constitution in that capacity; or (c) the duties performed by any person as a Chairperson or a Member or a Director in a body established by the Central Government or a State Government or local authority and who is not deemed as an employee before the commencement of this clause. 4. Services of funeral, burial, crematorium or mortuary including transportation of the deceased. 5. Sale of land and, subject to clause (b) of paragraph 5 of schedule II, sale of building. 6. Actionable claims, other than lottery, betting and gambling. *[7. Supply of goods from a place outside India to another place outside India without such goods entering into India. 8. (a) Supply of warehoused goods to any person before clearance for home cosumption; (b) Supply of goods by the consignee to any other person, by endorsement of documents of title to the goods, after the goods have been dispatched from the port of origin located outside India but, before clearance for home consumption;] * Amended vide Act No. 7 of 2018 w.e.f. 1st day of February, 2019. *[Explanation 1] .- For the purposes of paragraph 2, the term "court" includes District Court, High Court and Supreme Court. *[Explanation 2 .- For the purposes of paragraph 8, the expression "warehoused goods" shall have the same meaning as assigned to it in the Customs Act, 1962 (Central Act 52 of 1962)]. STATEMENT OF OBJECTS AND REASONS FOR THE PUDUCHERRY GOODS AND SERVICES TAX ACT, 2017 At present, value added tax is being levied on the sale or purchase of goods in the Union territory of Puducherry. Also, some states levy tax on entry of goods in the State in the form of entry tax, luxury tax and purchase tax, etc. Similarly, the Central Government levies tax on, manufacture of certain goods in the form of Central Excise duty, provision of certain services in the form of service tax, inter-State sale of goods in the form of Central Sales tax. Accordingly, there is multiplicity of taxes which are being levied on the same supply chain. 2. In the present tax system on goods and services, taxes levied by the Central Government are not available as set off in the form of input tax credit against the taxes being levied by the State Governments, resulting in cascading of taxes. The present levy under the Central Tax Act, 1956 on inter-State movement of goods adds to the cost of the goods. Further, due to multiplicity of taxes, taxpayers are burdened with high compliance cost in the form of number of registration, returns, payments, etc. 3. In view of the aforesaid intricacies, all the above mentioned taxes are proposed to be subsumed in a single tax called the goods and services tax which will be levied on supply of goods or services or both at each stage of supply chain starting from manufacture or import and till the level of consumption. So, any tax that is presently being levied by the State Governments or the Central Government on the supply of goods or services is going to be converged in goods and services tax which is proposed to be a dual levy where the State Government will levy and collect tax in the form of state goods and services tax on intra-State supply of goods or services or both and the Central Government will levy and collect tax in the form of central goods and services tax on intra-State supply of goods or services or both. 4. In view of the above, it has become necessary to have a Legislation, namely the Puducherry Goods and Services Tax Bill, 2017. The proposed legislation will confer power upon the Union territory of Puducherry for levying goods and services tax on the intra-State supply of goods or services or both. Due to the seamless transfer of input tax credit from one stage to another in the chain of value addition, there is an in-built mechanism in the design of goods and services tax that would incentivise tax compliance by taxpayers. The proposed goods and services tax will broaden the tax base, and result in better tax compliance due to a robust information technology infrastructure. * Amended vide Act No. 7 of 2018 w.e.f. 1st day of February, 2019. 5. The Puducherry Goods and Services Tax Bill, 2017, inter alia, provides for the following, namely :- (a) to levy tax on all intra-State supplies of goods or services or both except supply of alcoholic liquor for human consumption and petroleum products at a rate to be notified, not exceeding twenty per cent. as recommended by the Goods and Services Tax Council (the Council); (b) to broad base the input tax credit by making it available in respect of taxes paid on any supply of goods or services or both used or intended to be used in the course or furtherance of business; (c) to impose obligation on electronic commerce operators to collect tax at source, at such rate not exceeding one per cent. of net value of taxable supplies, out of payments to suppliers supplying goods or services through their portals; (d) to provide for self-assessment of the taxes payable by the registered person; (e) to provide for conduct of audit of registered persons in order to verify compliance with the provisions of the Act; (f) to provide for recovery of arrears of tax using various modes including detaining and sale of goods, movable and immovable property of defaulting taxable person; (g) to provide for powers of inspection, search, seizure and arrest to the officers; (h) to establish the Authority for Advance Ruling to give advance ruling on matters or on questions in relation to the supply of goods or services or both; (i) to establish the Appellate Authority for Advance Ruling for hearing appeals against the advance ruling pronounced by the Advance Ruling Authority; (j) to make provision for penalties for contravention of the provisions of the proposed legislation; (k) to provide for an anti-profiteering clause in order to ensure that business passes on the benefit of reduced tax incidence on goods or services or both to the consumers; and (l) to provide for elaborate transitional provisions for smooth transition of existing taxpayers to goods and services tax regime. 6. For the purpose, a bill titled as "The Puducherry Goods and Services Tax Bill, 2017" is proposed to be enacted. 7. The Bill seeks to achieve the above objectives. STATEMENT OF OBJECTS AND REASONS FOR THE PUDUCHERRY GOODS AND SERVICES TAX (AMENDMENT) ACT, 2018 The Puducherry Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017 was enacted with a view to make a provision for levy and collection of tax on intra-State supply of goods or services or both by the Government. 2. The Act provides for certain provisions for smooth transition of existing taxpayers to new goods and services tax regime. However, the new tax regime had faced certain difficulties. One of the major inconveniences caused to the taxpayers, especially small and medium enterprises, was the process of filing return and payment of tax under the Goods and Services Tax laws. In this regard, the proposed new return filing system envisages quarterly filing of return and tax payment for small taxpayers along with minimum paperwork. In order to implement the new return filing system, and also to overcome the above difficulties, it is proposed to amend the Puducherry Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017. 3. The proposed Puducherry Goods and Services Tax (Amendment) Bill, 2018, inter alia, provides for the following, namely :- (i) to amend section 7 of the Act to clarify the scope of supply; (ii) to amend section 9 of the Act empowering the State Government to notify classes of registered persons to pay the tax on reverse charge basis in respect of receipt of supplies of certain specified categories of goods or services or both from unregistered suppliers; (iii) to amend section 10 of the Act so as to enhance the limit of composition levy from one crore rupees to one crore and fifty lakh rupees; (iv) to amend section 17 of the Act to specify the scope of input tax credit; (v) to amend section 25 of the Act so as to facilitate taxpayer to have the option to obtain multiple registrations for multiple places of business located within the same State or Union Territory and to provide for separate registration for Special Economic Zone unit or developer; (vi) to amend section 29 of the Act so as to insert a provision for temporary suspension of registration while cancellation of registration is under process; (vii) to insert a new section 43A so as to provide for the new system of filing return and availing input tax credit; (viii) to amend sub-section (6) of section 107 of the Act relating to Appeals so as to provide that the amount of pre-deposit payable for filing of appeal shall be capped at twenty five crore rupees; and (ix) to amend section 129 of the Act so as to increase the period relating to detention or seizure of goods and conveyance in transit from seven days to fourteen days. 4. The Bill seeks to achieve the above objectives. STATEMENT OF OBJECTS AND REASONS FOR THE PUDUCHERRY GOODS AND SERVICES TAX (AMENDMENT) ACT, 2020 The Puducherry Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017 was enacted by Act No. 6 of 2017 with a view to make a provision for levy and collection of tax on intra-State supply of goods or services or both by the Government. 2. The GST Council in its 35th meeting held on 21st June, 2019 had recommended various amendments in the GST Law. Further, in its 37th meeting held on 18th September, 2019, the GST Council had decided to bring into force the amendments with effect from 1st January, 2020. As the Legislative Assembly of the Union Territory was not in session, the Administrator of the Union Territory, after obtaining the instructions of the President of India as required under the proviso to clause (1) of Article 239B of the Constitution, promulgated the Puducherry Goods and Services Tax (Amendment) Ordinance, 2019 on the 30th day of December, 2019. 3. The Puducherry Goods and Services Tax (Amendment) Bill, 2020 which seeks to replace the Puducherry Goods and Services Tax (Amendment) Ordinance, 2019, inter alia, provides for the following, namely :- (a) to provide alternative composition scheme for supplier of services or mixed suppliers (not eligible for the earlier composition scheme) having an annual turnover in preceding financial year up to rupees fifty lakhs. (b) to provide for higher threshold exemption limit from rupees twenty lakhs to such amount not exceeding rupees forty lakhs in case of supplier who is engaged exclusively in the supply of goods. (c) to provide for mandatory Aadhaar submission or authentication for persons who intend to take or have taken registration. (d) to provide that supplier shall mandatorily offer facility for digital payments to his recipient. (e) to provide facility to the tax payer to transfer an amount from one head to another in the electronic cash ledger. (f) to empower the Commissioner to extend the due date for furnishing Annual return and reconciliation statement by the tax payers. (g) to empower the Commissioner to extend the due date for furnishing of monthly and annual statement by the person collecting tax at source. (h) to provide for charging interest only on the net cash tax liability, except in certain cases. (i) to provide for transfer of amount in the electronic cash ledger between the State and Centre as a consequence of the new facility given to the tax payer. (j) to provide that the National Appellate Authority for Advance Ruling constituted under the Central Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017 as the National Appellate Authority for Advance Ruling under the Puducherry Goods and Services Tax, 2017. (k) to empower the Anti Profiteering Authority to impose penalty equivalent to ten per cent. of the profiteered amount. (l) to amend the notification of the Commercial Taxes Secretariat issued vide G.O. Ms. No. 2/2017-Puducherry GST (Rate) dated 29th June, 2017 under sub-section (1) of section 11 of the Puducherry Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017, so as to give deemed retrospective exemption with effect from 1st day of July, 2017 to "Uranium Ore Concentrate" from the levy of State tax for the period from 1st July, 2017 to 14th November, 2017. 4. The Bill seeks to replace the Puducherry Goods and Service Tax (Amendment) Ordinance, 2019 so as to achieve the above objects. adac STATEMENT OF OBJECTS AND REASONS FOR THE PUDUCHERRY GOODS AND SERVICES TAX (SECOND AMENDMENT) ACT 2020 The Puducherry Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017 was enacted by Act No. 6 of 2017 with a view to make a provision for levy and collection of tax on intra-State supply of goods or services or both by the Government. 2. The GST Council in its 38th meeting held on 18th December, 2019 recommended amendments in the GST Law to provide for revenue augmentation measures, trade facilitation and simplification measures and enforcement measures. In order to carry out the amendments as recommended by the GST Council, amendments are proposed in the Puducherry Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017. 3. The proposed Puducherry Goods and Services Tax (Second Amendment) Bill, 2020, inter alia, provides for the following, namely :- (i) to align the definition of "Union territory" in line with the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act, 2019 and the Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu (Merger of Union territories) Act, 2019. (ii) to harmonise the conditions for eligibility for opting to pay composition tax. (iii) to delink the date of issuance of debit note from the date of issuance of the underlying invoice for purposes of availing input tax credit. (iv) to provide for cancellation of registration of taxpayers who have got voluntary registration. (v) to empower the jurisdictional tax authorities to extend the period for filing application for revocation of cancellation of registration. (vi) to empower the Government to notify the categories of services or supplies in respect of which tax invoice shall be issued and to make rules regarding the time and manner of its issuance. (vii) to empower the Government to make rules to provide for the form and manner in which a certificate of tax deduction at source shall be issued. (viii) to make the beneficiary of certain transactions which are declared as offence under the Act and at whose instance such transactions are conducted, liable for penalty. (ix) to make the offence of fraudulent availment of input tax credit without invoice or bill cognizable and non-bailable offence and to make any person who retains the benefit of certain transactions and at whose instance such transactions are conducted liable for punishment. (x) to prescribe the time limit and the manner for availing input tax credit of unavailed credit under the existing law, retrospectively from the 1st day of July, 2017. empower the body from the 1st day (xi) to empower the Government, on the recommendations of the Council, by notification, to extend the time limit specified in, or prescribed or notified under, the Act in respect of actions which cannot be completed or complied with due to force majeure. (xii) to extend the time limit provide for removal of difficulties from three years to five years. (xiii) to amend provisions relating to "transfer of business entries" in Schedule II of the Act which deals with activities to be treated as supply of goods and supply of services, so as to bring in clarity. (xiv) to provide retrospective exemption from State tax on supply of fishmeal, during the period from the 1st day of July, 2017 up to 30th day of September, 2019. (xv) to retrospectively levy State tax at the reduced rate of six per cent. on supply of pulley, wheels and other part used as parts of agricultural machinery. 4. The Bill seeks to achieve the above objects.