QUESTION

Mr X registered in Maharashtra, planning to participate in exhibition at Bangalore , as per section 10(1)(a) of IGST Act, he argue that he is sending goods from Maharashtra for exhibition purpose, so when ultimate customer who will take delivery if sold, then movement gets terminated. So place of supply will be Bangalore. Person registered in Maharashtra planning to charge IGST tax for sale in Bangalore at exhibition. Whether this contention of not getting registered at Bangalore and charging IGST to end customer is correct? Also department has clarified in FAQ that intention of multiple registration is not there. However one should registered at Bangalore as casual GST person and charge CGST/SGST of karnataka as per section 10(1)(a) ,while movement of goods is from Maharashtra to Banglore, no customer has crystallized, so no supply initiated, even though person is registered at Maharashtra, then section 24 and 25 of registration will be redundant, otherwise nobody will register in other state, also E-way bill issue will arise for transferring goods from Maharashtra to Bangalore and while bringing goods back from Bangalore to Maharashtra.

ANSWER

FACTS OF THE CASE:
Mr.X is registered under GST in Maharashtra and is planning to do a sale on exhibition in Bangalore.

LAW APPLICABLE:
1. Subsection (20) of Section (2) CGST defines Casual Taxable Person as follows
" 2(20) 'casual taxable person' means a person who occasionally undertakes transactions involving supply of goods or services or both in the course or furtherance of business, whether as principal, agent or in any other capacity, in a State or a Union territory where he has no fixed place of business "

2. Clause (ii) of section 24 CGST specifies that
" Notwithstanding anything contained in sub-section (1) of section 22, the following categories of persons shall be required to be registered under this Act -
(ii) casual taxable persons making taxable supply "

INTERPRETATION:
Mr. X is a casual taxable person going to undertake sale in an exhibition in Bangalore since he is not registered in Bangalore. Section 24 CGST mandates the registration of casual taxable person.
The GST lays down the definition of 'Location of Supplier of Service' however no definition has been given for 'Location of Supplier of Goods'. Therefore 'Location of Supplier of Goods' shall generally construed to be 'Location of Goods' when the supply is effected. In this case location of goods when the supply is effected is Bangalore. Since Location of Supplier of Goods is in Bangalore therefore Mr. X is covered by the definition of Casual Taxable Person u/s 2(20) and must get a registration by the law laid under section 24(ii).
Moreover, the argument that equivalent amount of CGST+SGST is paid to the government instead of IGST is tenuous because as per Section 17 of IGST apportionment of taxes is done by the government depending upon the nature of tax that is collected. Also such an argument renders the whole structure of GST taxation being a destination based tax flawed. The sections 10,11,12,13 of IGST which dictate the place of supply would be futile. Section 77 deals with cases where SGST+CGST has been deposited instead of IGST which makes it all the more evident that the lawmaker differentiates between the nature of taxes.

CONCLUSION:
Contention of Mr. X can not be upheld. Your stance on the situation is correct. Casual Registration is required in Bangalore. (Reply dt. 16/08/2021)