BUSINESS STANDARD TUESDAY, APRIL 25 2017 z ECONOMY Wi eicitiliciaiiimam enn ‘Under GST regime, no tax payable on exports of goods or services’ CHATROOM How will our exports be treat- edunder the Goods and Services Tax (GST) regime? Exports will be treated as zero-rated supplies. No tax will be payable on exports of goods or services. However, you can take input tax credit (TC). You will have the option to pay tax on the export goods/services and claim refund of Integrated GST (IGST) or export under Bond without payment of IGST and claim refund of ITC. However, no refund of unutilised ITC will be allowed in cases where the goods exported out of India are subjected to export duty ‘or when you avail of draw- back in respect of Central GST (CGST) or claim refund ofthe IGST paid on such sup- plies. The principle of unjust entichment would not be applicable to zero-rated sup- plies. In case of refund on Business Standard invites readers’ SME queries related to excise, VAT and exim policy. ve ve ansevietta ta nentemacharahsmail I account of export of goods, the refund rules do not pre- scribe Bank Realisation Certificate (BRC) as a neces- sary document for filing of refund claim. However, for export of services, details of BRC are required to be sub- mitted along with the appli- cation for refund. There may be no provision similar to the present dispensation of procuring inputs required for export production from domestic _ manufacturers without excise duty payment or under rebate claim. On export promotion schemes such as advance authorisa- tion scheme or Export Promotion Capital Goods scheme, there is, as yet, no clarity on how these will be dealt with. Weare thinkingof converting our manufacturing unit in the domestic tariffarea (DTA) into an Export Oriented Unit (EU). Weare told that CBEC Circular no.77/99-Cus dated November 18, 1999 does not allow us to carry overour Cenvat Credit to an EOU. Is there any changein that instruction? Yes. CBEC Circular no. 41/2016-Cus dated August 30, 2016 withdraws Circular no. 77/99-Cus dated November 18, 1999 and clarifies that on conversion ftom a DTA unit to an EOU, the transfer of unutilised Cenvat credit lying in the books of the DTA unit onthe date ofconversion into EOU unit is admissible. Section 46(3) of the Customs Act, 1962 has been amended to provide for levy of charges forlate presentation of bill of entry. Will these charges attract service tax on the ground that these are not fines or penalties but consid- eration for tolerating the act of not presenting the bill of entry within the specified time? In my opinion, the essential nature of the levy is that of penalty/fine for delay, although Section 46(3) calls it “charges” and hence, no need to pay service tax. As manufacturers, we have opted to authenticate invoic- es with a digital signature. Some customers demand manually authenticated invoices. Can weauthenticate invoices by manual signature also? Yes. You may print a copy of the invoice, sign it manually and forward the same to the customer. Such an invoice in effect would be authenticated by two signatures, digital as well as manual. Such an invoice would also be a valid document to avail of Cenvat Credit. y