THE MEANING AND SCOPE OF SUPPLY

The taxable event in GST is supply of goods or services or both. Various taxable events like manufacture, sale, rendering of service, purchase, entry into a territory of state etc. have been done away with in favour of just one event i.e. supply. The constitution defines “Goods and Services Tax” as any tax on supply of goods, or services or both, except for taxes on the supply of the alcoholic liquor for human consumption.

The Central and State governments will have simultaneous powers to levy the GST on Intra-State supply. However, the Parliament alone shall have exclusive power to make laws with respect to levy of Goods and Services Tax on Inter-State supply.

The term, “supply” has been inclusively defined in the Act. The meaning and scope of supply under GST can be understood in terms of following six parameters, which can be adopted to characterize a transaction as supply:

Supply of goods or services. Supply of anything other than goods or services does not attract GST

Supply should be made for a consideration

Supply should be made in the course or furtherance of business

Supply should be made by a taxable person

Supply should be a taxable supply

Supply should be made within the taxable territory

While these six parameters describe the concept of supply, there are a few exceptions to the requirement of supply being made for a consideration and in the course or furtherance of business. Any transaction involving supply of goods or services without consideration is not a supply, barring few exceptions, in which a transaction is deemed to be a supply even without consideration. Further, import of services for a consideration, whether or not in the course or furtherance of business is treated as supply.

Supply of Goods or Services or Both

Goods as well as services have been defined in the GST Law. The securities are excluded from the definition of goods as well as that of services. Money is also excluded from the definition of goods as well as services, however, activities relating to the use of money or its conversion by cash or by any other mode, from one form, currency or denomination, to another form, currency or denomination for which a separate consideration is charged are included in services.

Schedule II to the CGST Act, 2017 lists a few activities which are to be treated as supply of goods or supply of services. For instance, any transfer of title in goods would be a supply of goods, whereas any transfer of right in goods without transfer of title would be considered as services.

Further Schedule III to the CGST Act, 2017 spells out activities which shall be treated as neither supply of goods nor supply of services or outside the scope of GST. This includes:

Services by an employee to the employer in the course of or in relation to his employment.

Services of funeral, burial, crematorium or mortuary including transportation of the deceased.

Sale of land and sale of building where the entire consideration has been received after completion certificate is issued or after its first occupation.

Actionable claims are included in the definition of goods, however, Schedule III provides that actionable claims other than lottery, betting and gambling shall be neither goods nor services.

Supply for Consideration

Consideration has specifically been defined in the CGST Act, 2017. It can be in money or in kind. Any subsidy given by the Central Government or a State Government is not considered as consideration. It is immaterial whether the payment is made by the recipient or by any other person.

A deposit given in respect of the supply of goods or services or both shall not be considered as payment made for such supply unless the supplier applies such deposit as consideration for the said supply.   

Further, when there is barter of goods of services, the same activity constitutes supply as well as a consideration. When a barber cuts hair in exchange for a painting, hair cut is a supply of services by the barber. It is a consideration for the painting received.

However, there are exceptions to the requirement of ‘Consideration’ as a pre-condition for a supply to be called a supply as per GST. As per schedule to CGST Act, 2017, activities as mentioned below shall be treated as supply even if made without consideration:

Permanent transfer or disposal of business assets where input tax credit has been availed on such assets.

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.

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.

Import of services by a taxable person from a related person or from any of his other establishments outside India, in the course or furtherance of business.

Supply in the Course or Furtherance of Business

GST is essentially a tax only on commercial transactions. Hence, only those supplies that are in the course or furtherance of business qualify as supply under GST. Hence, any supplies made by an individual in his personal capacity do not come under the ambit of GST unless they fall within the definition of business as defined in the Act. Sale of goods or service even as a vocation is a supply under GST. Therefore, even if a famous politician paints paintings for charity and sells the paintings even as a one-time occurrence, the sale would constitute supply. However, there is one exception to this ‘Course or Furtherance of Business’ rule i.e., import of services for a consideration.

Supply by a Taxable Person

A supply to attract GST should be made by a taxable person. Hence, a supply between two non-taxable persons does not constitute supply under GST. A “taxable person” is a person who is registered or liable to be registered under section 22 or section 24. Hence, even an unregistered person who is liable to be registered is a taxable person. Similarly, a person not liable to be registered but has taken voluntary registration and got himself registered is also a taxable person. It should be noted that GST in India is State-centric. Hence, a person making supplies from different States needs to take separate registration in each State. Further, the person may take more than one registration within a State if the person has multiple business verticals. A person who has obtained or is required to obtain more than one registration, whether in one State or Union territory or more than one State or Union territory shall, in respect of each such registration, be treated as distinct persons for the purposes of GST. Hence, a supply between these entities constitutes supply under GST.

Taxable Supply

For a supply to attract GST, the supply must be taxable. Taxable supply has been broadly defined and means any supply of goods or services or both which, is leviable to tax under the Act. Exemptions may be provided to the specified goods or services or to a specified category of persons/ entities making supply.

Supply in the Taxable Territory

For a supply to attract GST, the place of supply should be in India except for the State of Jammu and Kashmir. The place of supply of any goods or services is determined based on Sections 10, 11, 12 and 13 of IGST Act 2017.

Inter/Intra State Supply

The location of the supplier and the place of supply determines whether a supply is treated as an Intra State supply or an Inter State supply. Determination of the nature of supply is essential to ascertain whether integrated tax is to be paid or Central plus State tax are to be paid. Inter- State supply of goods means a supply of goods where the location of the supplier and place of supply are in different States or Union territories. Intra State supply of goods means supply of goods where the location of the supplier and the place of supply are in the same State or Union territory. Imports, Supplies from and to SEZs are treated as deemed Inter-State supplies.

Composite/Mixed Supply

A composite supply means a supply made by a taxable person to a recipient comprising two or more supplies of goods or services or any combination thereof, which are naturally bundled and supplied in conjunction with each other in the ordinary course of business, one of which is a principal supply. For instance, a travel ticket from Mumbai to Delhi may include service of food being served on board, free insurance, and the use of airport lounge. In this case, the transport of passenger, constitutes the pre-dominant element of the composite supply, and is treated as the principal supply and all other supplies are ancillary.

The GST Law lays down the tax liability on a composite or mixed supply in the following manner.

Composite Supply comprising two or more supplies one of which, is a principal supply, shall be treated as supply of such principal supply.

Mixed Supply comprising two or more supplies, shall be treated as supply of that particular supply which attracts the highest rate of tax.

Job-work Under GST

Introduction

Job-work sector constitutes a significant industry in Indian economy. It includes outsourced activities that may or may not culminate into manufacture. The term Job-work itself explains the meaning. It is processing of goods supplied by the principal. The concept of job-work already exists in Central Excise, wherein a principal manufacturer can send inputs or semi-finished goods to a job worker for further processing. Many facilities, procedural concessions have been given to the job workers as well as the principal supplier who sends goods for job-work. The whole idea is to make the principal responsible for meeting compliance on behalf of the job-worker on the goods processed by him (job-worker), considering the fact that typically the job-workers are small persons who are unable to comply with the discrete provisions of the law.

The GST Act makes special provisions with regard to removal of goods for job-work and receiving back the goods after processing from the job-worker without the payment of GST. The benefit of these provisions shall be available both to the principal and the job-worker.

What is job-work?

Section 2(68) of the CGST Act, 2017 defines job-work as ‘any treatment or process undertaken by a person on goods belonging to another registered person’. The one who does the said job would be termed as ‘job-worker’. The ownership of the goods does not transfer to the job-worker but it rests with the principal. The job-worker is required to carry out the process specified by the principal on the goods. 

Job-work procedural aspects:

Certain facilities with certain conditions are offered in relation to job-work, some of which are as under:

A registered person (Principal) can send inputs/ capital goods under intimation and subject to certain conditions without payment of tax to a job-worker and from there to another job-worker and after completion of job-work bring back such goods without payment of tax. The principal is not required to reverse the ITC availed on inputs or capital goods dispatched to job-worker.

Principal can send inputs or capital goods directly to the job-worker without bringing them to his premises and can still avail the credit of tax paid on such inputs or capital goods.

However, inputs and/or capital goods sent to a job-worker are required to be returned to the principal within 1 year and 3 years, respectively, from the date of sending such goods to the job-worker.

After processing of goods, the job-worker may clear the goods to-

Another job-worker for further processing

(ii) Dispatch the goods to any of the place of business of the principal without payment of tax

Remove the goods on payment of tax within India or without payment of tax for export outside India on fulfilment of conditions.

The facility of supply of goods by the principal to the third party directly from the premises of the job-worker on payment of tax in India and likewise with or without payment of tax for export may be availed by the principal on declaring premise of the job-worker as his additional place of business in registration. In case the job-worker is a registered person under GST, even declaring the premises of the job-worker as additional place of business is not required.

Before supply of goods to the job-worker, the principal would be required to intimate the Jurisdictional Officer containing the details of the description of inputs intended to be sent by the principal and the nature of processing to be carried out by the job-worker. The said intimation shall also contain the details of the other job-workers, if any.

The inputs or capital goods shall be sent to the job-worker under the cover of a challan issued by the principal. The challan shall be issued even for the inputs or capital goods sent directly to the job-worker. The challan shall contain the details specified in Rule 10 of the Invoice Rules.

The responsibility for keeping proper accounts for the inputs or capital goods shall lie with the principal.

Input Tax credit on goods supplied to job worker

Section 19 of the CGST Act, 2017 provides that the principal (a person supplying taxable goods to the job-worker) shall be entitled to take the credit of input tax paid on inputs sent to the job-worker for the job-work. Further, the proviso also provides that the principal can take the credit even when the goods have been directly supplied to the job-worker without being brought into the premise of the principal. The principal need not wait till the inputs are first brought to his place of business.

Time Limits for the return of processed goods

As per section 19 of the CGST Act, 2017, inputs and capital goods after processing shall be returned back to principal within one year or three years respectively of their being sent out. Further, the provision of return of goods is not applicable in case of moulds and dies, jigs and fixtures or tools supplied by the principal to job-worker.

Extended meaning of input

As per the explanation provided in Section 143 of the CGST Act, 2017, where certain process is carried out on the input before removal of the same to the job-worker, such product after carrying out the process is to be referred as the intermediate product. Such intermediate product can also be removed without the payment of tax. Therefore, both input and intermediate product can be cleared without payment of duty to job-worker.

Waste clearing provisions

Pursuant to Section 143 (5) of the CGST Act, 2017, waste generated at the premises of the job-worker may be supplied directly by the registered job-worker from his place of business on payment of tax or such waste may be cleared by the principal, in case the job-worker is not registered.

Transitional provisions

Inputs, as such, or partially processed inputs which are sent to a job-worker prior to introduction of GST under the provisions of existing law [Central Excise] and if such goods are returned within 6 months from the appointed day

i.e. the day on which GST will be implemented] no tax would be payable. If such goods are not returned within prescribed time, the input tax credit availed on such goods will be liable to be recovered. If the manufactured goods are removed, prior to the appointed day, without payment of duty for testing or any other process which does not amount to manufacture, and such goods are returned within 6 months from the appointed day, then no tax will be payable. For the purpose of these provisions during the transitional period, the manufacturer and the job-worker are required to declare the details of such goods sent/received for job-work in prescribed format GST TRAN-1, within 90 days of the introduction of GST.     

Inspection, Search, Seizure and Arrest in GST

1. In any tax administration the provisions for Inspection, Search, Seizure and Arrest are provided to protect the interest of genuine tax payers (as the Tax evaders, by evading the tax, get an unfair advantage over the genuine tax payers) and as a deterrent for tax evasion. These provisions are also required to safeguard Government’s legitimate dues. Thus, these provisions act as a deterrent and by checking evasion provide a level playing field to genuine tax payers.

2. It may be mentioned that the options of Inspection, Search, Seizure and Arrest are exercised, only in exceptional circumstances and as a last resort, to protect the Government Revenue. Therefore, to ensure that these provisions are used properly, effectively and the rights of tax payers are also protected, it is stipulated that Inspection, Search or Seizure can only be carried out when an officer, of the rank of Joint Commissioner or above, has reasons to believe the existence of such exceptional circumstances. In such cases the Joint Commissioner may authorise, in writing, any other officer to cause inspection, search and seizure. However, in case of arrests the same can be carried out only where the person is accused of offences specified for this purpose and the tax amount involved is more than specified limit. Further, the arrests under GST Act can be made only under authorisation from the Commissioner.                             

The circumstances which may warrant exercise of these options are as follows: 

Inspection

‘Inspection’ is a softer provision than search which enables officers to access any place of business or of a person engaged in transporting goods or who is an owner or an operator of a warehouse or godown. As discussed above the inspection can be carried out by an officer of CGST/SGST only upon a written authorization given by an officer of the rank of Joint Commissioner or above. A Joint Commissioner or an officer higher in rank can give such authorization only if he has reasons to believe that the person concerned has done one of the following actions:

Suppression of any transaction relating to supply of goods or services or stock in hand

Claimed excess input tax credit

Contravention of any provisions of the Act or the Rules to evade tax

Transporting or keeping goods which escaped payment of tax or manipulating accounts or stocks which may cause evasion of tax

Inspection can also be done of the conveyance, carrying a consignment of value exceeding specified limit. The person in charge of the conveyance has to produce documents/devices for verification and allow inspection. Inspection during transit can be done even without authorisation of Joint Commissioner.      

Inspection in movement

Any consignment, value of which, is exceeding Rs. 50,000/-, may be stopped at any place for verification of the documents/ devices prescribed for movement of such consignments.                                                                    

If on verification of the consignment, during transit, it is found that the goods were removed without prescribed document or the same are being supplied in contravention of any provisions of the Act then the same can be detained or seized and may be subjected to penalties as prescribed.

To ensure transparency and minimise hardships to the trade, the law provides that if during verification, in transit, a consignment is held up beyond 30 minutes the transporter can feed details on the portal. This will ensure accountability and transparency for all such verifications. Moreover, for verification during movement of consignment will also be done through a Digital interface and therefore the physical intervention will be minimum and as has already been mentioned that in case of a delay beyond 30 minutes the transporter can feed the details on the portal.                                                                                                                                                                                  

Search & Seizure

The provisions of search and seizure also provides enough safeguards and the GST Law stipulates that search of any place of business etc. can be carried out only under authorisation from an officer not below the rank of Joint Commissioner and if he has a reason to believe that the person concerned has done at least one of the following:-

Goods liable to confiscation or any documents/ books/record/things, which may be useful for or relevant to any proceedings, are secreted in any place then all such places can be searched

All such goods/documents/books/record/things may be seized, however, if it is not practicable to seize any such goods then the same may be detained. The person from whom these are seized shall be entitled to take copies/extracts of seized records   

The seized documents/books/things shall be retained only till the time the same are required for examination/enquiry/proceedings and if these are not relied on for the case then the same shall be returned within 30 days from the issuance of show cause notice

The seized goods shall be provisionally released on execution of bond and furnishing a security or on payment of applicable tax, interest and penalty

In case of seizure of goods, a notice has to be issued within six months, if no notice is issued within a period of six months then all such goods shall be returned. However, this period of six months can be extended by Commissioner for another six months on sufficient cause.

An inventory of the seized goods/documents/ records is required to be made by the officer and the person, from whom the same are seized, shall be given a copy of the same.

To ensure that the provisions for search and seizure are implemented in a proper and transparent manner, the Act stipulates that the searches and seizures shall be carried out in accordance with the provisions of Criminal Procedure Code, 1973. It ensures that any search or seizure should be made in the presence of two or more independent witnesses, a record of entire proceedings is made and forwarded to the Commissioner forthwith.

Arrests

In the administration of taxation the provisions for arrests are created to tackle the situations created by some unscrupulous tax evaders. To some these may appear very harsh but these are necessary for efficient tax administration and also act as a deterrent   and instil a sense of discipline. The provisions for arrests under GST Law have sufficient inbuilt safeguards to ensure that these are used only under authorisation from the Commissioner. Besides this, the GST Law also stipulates that arrests can be made only in those cases where the person is involved in offences specified for the purposes of arrest and the tax amount involved in such offence is more than the specified limit. The salient points of these provisions are:

Provisions for arrests are used in exceptional circumstance and only with prior authorisation from the Commissioner.

The law lays down a stringent criteria and procedure to be followed for arresting a person. A person can be arrested only if the criteria stipulated under the law for this purpose is satisfied i.e. if he has committed specified offences (not any offence) and the tax amount is exceeding rupees 200 lakhs. However, the monetary limit shall not be applicable if the offences are committed again even after being convicted earlier i.e. repeat offender of the specified offences can be arrested irrespective of the tax amount involved in the case.

(c ) Further, even though a person can be arrested for specified offences involving  tax amount exceeding  200 lakhs, however, where the tax involved is less than Rs. 500 lakhs, the offences are classified as non-cognizable and bailable and all such arrested persons shall be released on Bail  by Deputy/ Assistant Commissioner. But in case of arrests for specified offences where the tax amount involved is more than Rs. 500 lakhs, the offence is classified as cognizable and non-bailable and in such cases the bail can be considered by a Judicial Magistrate only.   

GST Practitioners

Section 48 of the CGST Act provides for the authorisation of an eligible person to act as approved GST practitioner. A registered person may authorise an approved GST practitioner to furnish information, on his behalf, to the government. The manner of approval of goods and services tax practitioners, their eligibility conditions, duties and obligations, manner of removal and other conditions relevant for their functioning have been prescribed in the Rule 24 and 25 of the Return Rules. Standardised formats from GST PCT-1 to GST PCT-5 have been prescribed for making application for enrolment as GST practitioner, certificate of enrolment, show cause notice for disqualification, order of rejection of application of enrolment, list of approved GST practitioners, authorisation letter and withdrawal of authorisation. A goods and services tax practitioner enrolled in any State or Union Territory shall be treated as enrolled in the other States/Union territories.

Eligibility Criteria for becoming GST practitioner

Rule 24 of the Return rules, provides the eligibility conditions to get enrolled as GST Practitioner. Any person who

(i)   is a citizen of India

(ii) is a person of sound mind

(iii)          is not adjudged as insolvent

(iv)         has not been convicted by a competent court for an offence with imprisonment not less than two years. 

In addition, the person should also satisfy any of the following conditions:

(a)           Is a retired officer of the Commercial Tax

Department of any State Government or of the CBEC and has worked in a post not lower in rank than that of a Group-B gazetted officer for minimum period of two years or

(b)           Has been enrolled as a sales tax practitioner or tax return preparer under the existing law for a period of not less than five years

(c)Has passed:

(i)   a graduate or postgraduate degree or its equivalent examination having a degree in Commerce, Law, Banking including Higher Auditing, or Business Administration or Business Management from any Indian University established by any law for the time being in force or

     (ii) a degree examination of any Foreign University recognized by any Indian University as equivalent to the degree examination mentioned in sub clause (i) or

    (iii)                   any other examination notified by the

Government, on the recommendation of the Council, for this purpose or

    (iv)                   any degree examination of an Indian University or of any Foreign University recognized by any Indian University as equivalent of the degree examination or

    (v)has passed any of the following examinations, namely :

    (a)   final examination of the Institute of

Chartered Accountants of India or

   (b)           final examination of the Institute of Cost

Accountants of India or

(c)final examination of the Institute of

Company Secretaries of India

A person desirous of becoming GST Practitioner has to submit an application in the form GST PCT-1. The application shall be scrutinised and GST practitioner certificate shall be granted in the form GST PCT-2. In case, the application is rejected, proper reasons shall have to be mentioned in the form GST PCT-4. The enrolment once done remains valid till it is cancelled. But no person enrolled as a goods and services tax practitioner shall be eligible to remain enrolled unless he passes such examination conducted at such periods and by such authority as may be notified by the Commissioner on the recommendations of the Council. Any person who has been enrolled as goods and services tax practitioner by virtue of him being enrolled as a sales tax practitioner or tax return preparer under the existing law shall remain enrolled only for a period of one year from the appointed date unless he passes the said examination within the said period of one year.

Activities by GST practitioner

A goods and services tax practitioner can undertake any or all of the following activities on behalf of a registered person:

(a)           furnish details of outward and inward supplies

(b)           furnish monthly, quarterly, annual or final return

(c)make deposit for credit into the electronic cash ledger

(d)           file a claim for refund and

(e)           file an application for amendment or cancellation of registration.

But it has been provided that a confirmation from a registered person shall be sought where an application relating to a claim for refund or an application for amendment or cancellation of registration has been submitted by the goods and services tax practitioner. In addition, a GST practitioner shall also be allowed to appear as authorised representative before any officer of department, Appellate Authority or Appellate

Tribunal, on behalf of such a registered person who has authorised him to be his GST practitioner.                                        

Conditions for GST Practitioner

Any registered person may give consent and authorise a GST practitioner in the form GST PCT-5 by listing the authorised activities in which he intends to authorise the GST practitioner. The registered person authorising a GST Practitioner shall have to authorise in the standard form Part A of form GST PCT-5 and the GST practitioner will have to accept the authorisation in Part B of the form GST PCT-5. The GST practitioner shall be allowed to undertake only such tasks as indicated in the authorisation form GST PCT-5. The registered person may, at any time, withdraw such authorisation in the prescribed form GST PCT-5.

Responsibility for correctness of particulars: The responsibility for correctness of any particulars furnished in the return or other details filed by the

GST practitioners shall continue to rest with the registered person on whose behalf such return and details are furnished.

Any statement furnished by the GST practitioner shall be made available to the registered person on the GST Common Portal. For every statement furnished by the GST practitioner, a confirmation shall be sought from the registered person over email or SMS.

The registered person before confirming, should ensure that the facts mentioned in the return are true and correct before signature. However, failure to respond to request for confirmation shall be treated as deemed confirmation.

The GST practitioner shall prepare all statements with due diligence and affix his digital signature on the statements prepared by him or electronically verify using his credentials. If the GST practitioner is found guilty of misconduct, his enrolment will be liable to be cancelled. A show cause notice would be issued to him in the form GST PCT-3.

Special Audit in GST

Introduction

GST is a trust based taxation regime wherein the assessee is required to self-assess his returns and determine tax liability without any intervention by the tax official.  Therefore a tax regime that relies on self-assessment has to put in place a robust audit mechanism to measure and ensure compliance of the provisions of law by the taxable person.

“Audit” has been defined in section 2(13) of the CGST Act, 2017 and it means the examination of records, returns and other documents maintained or furnished by the registered person under the GST Acts or the rules made there under or under any other law for the time being in force to verify the correctness of turnover declared, taxes paid, refund claimed and input tax credit availed, and to assess his compliance with the provisions of the GST Acts or the rules made thereunder.
Types of Audit
GST envisages three types of Audit. The first audit is by a chartered accountant or a cost accountant.
Every registered person whose aggregate turnover during a financial year exceeds two crore rupees has to get his accounts audited by a chartered accountant or a cost accountant and furnish a copy of audited annual accounts and a reconciliation statement, duly certified, in FORM GSTR-9C.
In the second type which is the normal audit, the Commissioner or any officer authorised by him, can undertake audit of any registered person for such period, at such frequency and in such manner as may be prescribed. The third type of audit is called the Special Audit. In Special Audit the registered person can be directed to get his records including books of account examined and audited by a chartered accountant or a cost accountant during any stage of scrutiny, inquiry, investigation or any other proceedings; depending upon the complexity of the case.
Procedure
•     During the scrutiny, inquiry, investigation or any other proceedings of a registered person, the Assistant Commissioner or any officer senior to him, having regard to the nature and complexity of the case and the interest of revenue, might be of the opinion that the value has not been correctly declared or the credit availed is not within the normal limits.
•     In such cases, with the prior approval of the Commissioner, the Assistant Commissioner or any officer senior to him can direct the registered person in FORM GST ADT-03 to get his records including books of account examined and audited by a specified chartered accountant or a cost accountant. The chartered accountant or a cost accountant will be nominated by the Commissioner.
•     The chartered accountant or cost accountant so nominated has to submit a report of such audit within the period of ninety days, duly signed and certified by him to the Assistant Commissioner.
•     On an application made by the registered person or the chartered accountant or cost accountant or for any material and sufficient reason, the Assistant Commissioner can extend the said period by a further period of ninety days.
•     The provisions of special audit shall have effect even if the accounts of the registered person have been audited under any other provisions of the GST Act or any other law for the time being in force.
•     The registered person shall be given an opportunity of being heard in respect of any material gathered on the basis of special audit and which is proposed to be used in any proceedings against him under this Act or the rules made thereunder.
•     The expenses of the examination and audit of records, including the remuneration of such chartered accountant or cost accountant, shall be determined and paid by the Commissioner.
•     On conclusion of the special audit, the registered person shall be informed of the findings of the special audit in FORM GST ADT-04.
•     Where the special audit results in detection of tax not paid or short paid or erroneously refunded, or input tax credit wrongly availed or utilised, the process of demand and recovery will be initiated against the registered person.
Conclusion                               
Special audit provides a lawful and legal way for the GST officers to take the assistance of a chartered accountant or cost accountant to determine tax liabilities in complex cases. The professional expertise of a chartered accountant or cost accountant will be of great significance in ensuring that the interest of revenue is safeguarded at all times.