GST - 5% tax on cereals sold with Brand Name - No tax if actionable claim given up: Govt
By TIOL News Service
NEW DELHI, SEPT 20, 2017: AS soon as the GST law made it clear that there would be tax rate on cereals, pulses and flours sold in units with a Mark or a brand name, registered with the Trade Mark authorities. Quick came the response from the tax planners who advised even some of the mega brands to deregister their brand names so that they could avoid paying 5% tax rate. Some of these brands are well known names for sale of rice, sugar and pulses.
To countervail such advisories of tax planners, the GST Council, at its 21st meeting, had recommended that for 5% GST rate on cereals, pulses and flours etc. put up in unit container and bearing a registered brand name:
a) A brand registered as on 15.05.2017 shall be deemed to be a registered brand for the purposes of levy of 5% GST, irrespective of whether or not such brand is subsequently deregistered.
b) A brand registered as on 15.05.2017 under the Copyright Act, 1957 shall also be treated as a registered brand for the purposes of levy of 5% GST.
c) A brand registered as on 15.05.2017 under any law for the time being in force in any other country shall also be deemed to be a registered brand for the purposes of levy of 5% GST. d) A mark or name in respect of which actionable claim is available shall be deemed to be a registered brand name for the purposes of levy of 5% GST.
Notifications giving effect to the Council’s recommendations relating to changes in GST rates on goods and conditions appended thereto are proposed to be issued on September 22, 2017.
Regarding these recommendations of the Council, these notifications provide that 5% GST will apply if on brand name [as defined in the notification] an actionable claim or enforceable right in court of law is available. In this context, these notifications also provide that this 5% GST will, however, not apply if the person concerned voluntarily foregoes any actionable claim or enforceable right on such brand name, subject to the conditions that he:
a) files an affidavit to the effect that he is voluntarily foregoing his actionable claim or enforceable right on such brand name with the jurisdictional Commissioner of Central Tax or State Tax, or the jurisdictional officer of Union Territory Tax, as the case may be, and
b) prints in indelible ink, both in English and local language on each such unit container, that in respect of brand name printed on the unit containers he has voluntarily foregone his actionable claim or enforceable right.