Changes to India GST impacting all airlines issuing tickets where travel commences in India

Transcription

1 Airline Distribution Standards Airline Brief ver2 Changes to India GST impacting all airlines issuing tickets where travel commences in India This is the second version of this brief. Changes from the first version appear in blue. Date Issued 9 June 2017 (originally issued 1 June 2017) Issued by Distributed to registered participants of standard setting groups Schedules Information (SISC) Reservations (RESCom) Tariffs (COMP/RADWG) IATA Airline Distribution Standards Ticketing (TKTCom) DCS (DCSMWG) Messaging Passenger and Airport Data Interchange (PADIS) BSP Data Interchange (BDISG) Revenue (IBSOPS) Accounting Prorate (GPM) Passenger (PSC) Services Issue From 1 July 2017, a new GST regime in India becomes effective. Information on this change is available at This regime will replace the existing Service Tax regime, as well as several other Central and State-level taxes and surcharges. The new GST regime will apply differently depending on whether the passenger is traveling on behalf of a GST registered business (a Business to Business or B2B transaction), or traveling on his or her own personal account (a Business to Customer or B2C transaction). The GST will be a dual-administered tax between the Central Government and various States/Union Territories within India, and will consist of several GST rates, including: IGST, SGST, CGST and UTGST. These various rates will be harmonized upon implementation on 1 July 2017, but may vary over time, particularly in the case of the State GST (SGST). Airlines must be able to correctly apply this tax at the time of pricing. For any tickets where travel originates in India, regardless of point of sale, paid for by a business registered for GST 1 of 12

2 ( B2B transactions), the airline must send a GST invoice to the business within 30 days of the date of ticket issuance regardless of the form of payment. This invoice must include the GST Number, Name and Address of the business entity Registered for GST. These will differ from the passenger s own name and address. IATA Action Taken To-Date IATA has engaged directly with airlines through the Industry Taxation Working Group, and through officers of the Reservations Committee and the Ticketing Committee. Airline CFOs have been briefed through the IATA Financial Committee Steering Group. IATA and ATPCO have worked closely together on solutions for tax calculation. IATA has liaised directly with system providers to discuss changes to pricing and distribution processes. IATA has liaised directly with the Indian Government. Rates The IGST rates for air transport were announced after the most recent GST Council meeting on May These are: 5% for air travel in economy class, domestic and international. 12% for air travel in a premium class, domestic and international. Clarity on exact determination of class at a document level has not been obtained at this point. More information will be provided as this becomes available. Application and Interpretation of Taxes There is still uncertainty from the regulator around some aspects of the application and interpretation of these taxes. On these issues, IATA is not able to provide industry direction. This includes the definition of continuous journey for GST pricing purposes, GST treatment of ancillary services, and record keeping requirements. Advocacy with the Indian Government is ongoing, and IATA will provide further information as soon as this is available. 2 of 12

3 IATA has worked closely with ATPCO and with system providers to ensure a consistent approach to pricing, and also to ensure airlines have the ability to apply their own interpretation where this differs from default assumptions. IATA has also facilitated industry discussions on solutions to compliance and distribution challenges, which are outlined below. Penalties for Non Compliance To date, there has been no official confirmation from the Indian authorities that there will be any form of transition period associated with the new GST regime. In spite of IATA s efforts, it is not anticipated that there will be any transitional measures afforded by the Indian Government. The Indian Model GST Law details various offenses that are subject to penalties, including: making a supply [provision of transport services] without invoice or with false/ incorrect invoice. The penalties associated with non-compliance vary depending on the nature and repetitiveness of the infraction, but are potentially significant in the case of air transport given the daily volumes of transactions between airlines and passengers. TTBS Bulletin A TTBS bulletin has not yet been issued. This will be issued when further details are confirmed by the regulator. It is anticipated that four codes will be assigned in respect of the new GST regime, for SGST, CGST, IGST, UTGST. There may be an interim GST code that is issued by TTBS to assist airlines in levying the appropriate amount of GST while pricing systems are developed in order to fully account for the different GST treatments associated with the different types of transactions. Changes to tax calculation at time of pricing From a tax calculation and pricing perspective, IATA has worked with ATPCO and pricing systems to develop a default application and pricing logic. All Indian domestic, and international carriers selling tickets for commercial air transportation within India and/or international travel originating in India, will be required to report the states/union territories in which they are registered, in India, to ATPCO. ATPCO will then issue 3 of 12

4 a Tax Exception Notification so that the GDS/pricing systems can align tax data pricing with ATPCO. As a default position, pricing engines will treat the application of the GST in a similar manner to the application of the current JN tax. For airlines that do not support this interpretation, the airline should ensure this is communicated to ATPCO and to pricing engines. The following assumptions will be made in calculating and applying the tax. 1. The location of supply (journey origin of the itinerary) of commercial air transportation is in the same State/Union Territory as the place of GST registration of the selling carrier for SGST/UGST and CGST application. 2. Where the journey origin is in a state/union territory other than the state/union territory where the selling carrier is GST registered, only IGST will be applied, and neither SGST/UGST nor CGST will be applied. 3. All transactions will be handled as B2C with a roadmap for B2B developments to follow. Airlines Individual Interpretation Where a carrier s interpretation of the application of these tax differs from this default processing, that carrier is able to contact ATPCO to request the filing of a tax exception. ATPCO will then issue a Tax Exception Notification so that the GDS/pricing systems can align tax data pricing with ATPCO. Providing Data to the Validating Carrier For any tickets where travel originates in India, regardless of point of sale, paid for by a business registered for GST (a B2B transaction, where the passenger is travelling for work, but a GST registered business pays for the ticket), the airline must send a GST invoice to the business within 30 days of date of ticket issuance. This invoice must be sent, regardless of the form of payment. This invoice must include the GST Number, Name and Address of the business entity Registered for GST. These will differ from the passenger s own name and address. To support this process, the validating carrier may also require, additional contact details for the GST registered business. This may include a telephone number and address. 4 of 12

5 The airline must issue the GST invoice, regardless of form of payment. The invoice serves as an official record the GST has been collected on the ticket and facilitates the process by which the GST registered business customer can reclaim the GST paid on the ticket as an input tax credit. The GST number is a 15 digit alphanumeric ID. A register of these numbers, and the details of associated businesses is not available. The name and address of the business must be collected with every sale. This information must be provided to the validating carrier by the booking source (airline or travel agent). This requirement has been discussed by the Reservation and Ticketing Committee officers, and an industry solution has been developed for capturing and transmitting this information. This involves four new industry standard Special Service Request (SSR) codes: GSTN Goods and Services Tax Number to collect the name and registered number of the business purchasing the goods and services. GSTA Goods and Services Tax Business Address to collect the address of the business purchasing the goods and services GSTP Goods and Services Tax Business Phone Number(s) to collect the business telephone number(s) of the business purchasing the goods and services GSTE Goods and Services Tax Business to collect the address of the business purchasing the goods and services This proposal has been circulated to system providers, and is currently subject to a mail vote within the Reservation Committee. Subject to the outcome of this mail vote, this standard will be declared effective on 9 June 2017 at which time an updated version of this Brief will be published. The Reservations Committee has agreed to the mail vote introducing four new SSRs for effect 1 July Please refer to Appendix B for more details on the amendments made to A4A/IATA Reservations Interline Message Procedures Passenger (AIRIMP). Scenarios where the Validating Carrier is not Participating in the Itinerary The SSR solution described above will allow all data to be transmitted from the booking source to all participating carriers in the itinerary. Where the validating carrier is not participating in the itinerary, validating carriers will need to obtain this information from the booking source separately. For airlines that routinely validate documents in India where they do not participate in the itinerary, a process will need to be developed to meet this requirement. This process must be communicated to all travel agents within India. This may impact airlines where a joint venture or alliance relationship allows one airline to validate all documents within India on behalf of other airlines. Airlines may consider limiting this practice to better manage compliance. 5 of 12

6 No immediate changes to ticketing standards or BSP Data Interchange Specifications (HOT file) No changes will be made to ticketing standards. There is no opportunity to pass all required information (the GST Number, Name and Address of the business entity Registered for GST) within ticketing issuance messages without requiring message version upgrades which will not be implemented in time for the 1 July 2017 implementation date. It is noted that some system providers send financial identification numbers related to other tax regimes within the passenger name element, and then allow input or display of this data separately within user interfaces. It is not possible to enforce an industry standard approach to this, due to system differences. No changes will be made to BSP Data Interchange Specifications, as implementation would not be possible within the required time frames. This issue will however continue to be investigated by the IATA BSP Data Interchange Standards Group (BDISG). It is noted that systems may be able to send the GST number only in the PXDA field in RET files, which would then be returned to the validating carrier in the HOT file. This is not a complete solution however, as the data element only allows 29 characters, so the supporting information cannot be sent. Systems and airlines may already be using this data element for other purposes also. It was also suggested to use the FPIN free text data element, with a standard structured format. There is also the possibility to explore the creation of new data elements, or the reuse of others. This would require significant implementation effort by systems and the IATA BSP. All options will continue to be investigated. In the short term the SSR solution described above provides an immediate solution. However, as no data will be provided within HOT files, airlines must ensure they are able to capture data from reservation records to support invoicing processes and compliance. Refunds or Reissue/Exchange Transactions Issues around refund and exchange transactions are still being discussed by the Industry Taxation Working Group. To the extent that tickets are re-issued or changed for a fee, the fees would be subject to GST and a separate/revised GST invoice may need to be generated. The same data elements (e.g., business name and address) would need to be captured and 6 of 12

7 transmitted in such instances. Work is ongoing on this issue and will be communicated as soon as further clarification is available. Ancillary Services Ancillary or optional services (when an EMD may be issued) will be subject to GST, although it is currently unclear what rate of GST will apply. While IATA has made multiple submissions to the Indian authorities on this matter and requesting clarification, no clarification has been received and it is likely none will be received before 1 July Given that there is no official clarity and documentation on the GST treatment of such services, TTBS cannot issue a bulletin on the GST applicability to EMDs. A default mechanism for ancillary taxation is not considered at this time. Airlines may establish processing of GST application on ancillary services and should report their interpretation to ATPCO and pricing engines for automated filing and distribution. Action Required by Airlines Compliance with this regime requires immediate action by a number of teams within airlines. Airlines should: Assess ATPCO default processing, determine if exceptions need to be filed with ATPCO if your airline s interpretation is different. Ensure you have provided ATPCO with a complete listing of each State and Union Territory in which you are GST registered. Such a listing will assist in the appropriate determination of GST (i.e., IGST, SGST/UTGST and CGST) based on where you are GST registered and will be communicated to pricing engines so that they may align their data and pricing. This can be reported to taxes@atpco.net. Discuss implementation of the SSR solution with you Passenger Service System (PSS) provider. Ensure you have systems in place to capture data from reservation records to allow invoices to be issued 30 days from purchase of any applicable tickets, paid for by a business registered for GST. Communicate all internal processes and policies to internal teams including sales, reservations and ticketing, finance, revenue accounting, taxation. 7 of 12

8 Communicate all processes to travel agents in India, to ensure they are familiar with the requirement to capture information within their reservation record, together with any additional requirements. Update ticketing policies and communicate to agents explaining processes for circumstances where your airline is validating documents but is not participating in the itinerary. Next steps IATA will continue to liaise directly with stakeholders, and will issue an update to the brief when new information becomes available. Queries For further information, please contact the IATA Airline Distribution Standards team at 8 of 12

9 Appendix A GST Number Format and List of India State Codes The format of the 15 character GST number is as follows. The first two characters are the two digit TIN number. The State Codes and TIN numbers are provided below for information. State Name TIN number First Two State Code Digits to Indicate State Andaman and Nicobar Islands 35 AN Andhra Pradesh 28 AP Andhra Pradesh (New) 37 AD Arunachal Pradesh 12 AR Assam 18 AS Bihar 10 BH Chandigarh 04 CH Chattisgarh 22 CT Dadra and Nagar Haveli 26 DN Daman and Diu 25 DD Delhi 07 DL Goa 30 GA Gujarat 24 GJ Haryana 06 HR Himachal Pradesh 02 HP Jammu and Kashmir 01 JK Jharkhand 20 JH Karnataka 29 KA Kerala 32 KL Lakshadweep Islands 31 LD Madhya Pradesh 23 MP Maharashtra 27 MH Manipur 14 MN Meghalaya 17 ME Mizoram 15 MI Nagaland 13 NL Odisha 21 OR Pondicherry 34 PY Punjab 03 PB Rajasthan 08 RJ Sikkim 11 SK Tamil Nadu 33 TN Telangana 36 TS Tripura 16 TR Uttar Pradesh 09 UP Uttarakhand 05 UT West Bengal 19 WB 9 of 12

10 Appendix B GST SSRs Amendments to AIRIMP Goods and Services Taxes (GST) Members may be required to collect information for governments that have implemented Goods and Services Taxes. This may be accomplished with the use of any or all four of the following SSRs: GSTN - Goods and Services Tax Number GSTA - Goods and Services Tax Business Address GSTP - Goods and Services Tax Business Phone Number(s) GSTE Goods and Services Tax Business Construction Rules and Sequence of Components GSTN GSTN is used to collect the name and registered number of the business purchasing the goods and services. Components Number and Examples Type of Characters (a) Element Identifier 3a SSR (b) SSR Service Code 4a GSTN (c) Airline Designator (3 character codes are 2an or 3a AI or /AIC preceded with an oblique) (d) Status Code 2a HK (e) Number of services (without leading zeros) 1-2n 1 (f) Country owning GST 1-3a /IND (g) GST Number Max. 20an /22AAAAA0000A1Z5 (h) Name of Company whose GST number is Max. 35an /IBM (i) provided If applicable, Name Element preceded by a hyphen Refer to Name Element paragraph -1SMITH/SOPHIEMS Examples SSR GSTN AI HK1/IND/22AAAAA0000A1Z5/IBM-1SMITH/SOPHIEMS SSR GSTN AI HK1/IND/12ABCDA0000A1Z6/ECLIPSE-1JOHNSON/TEDDYMR 10 of 12

11 Construction Rules and Sequence of Components - GSTA GSTA is used to collect the address of the business purchasing the goods and services. Components Number and Examples Type of Characters (a) Element Identifier 3a SSR (b) SSR Service Code 4a GSTA (c) Airline Designator (3 character codes are 2an or 3a AI or /AIC preceded with an oblique) (d) Status Code 2a HK (e) Number of services (without leading zeros) 1-2n 1 (f) Country 1-3a /IND (g) Address Line 1 Max. 35 an /11 FLOOR ONE HORIZON CENTER (h) Address Line 2 Max. 25 an /SECTOR 43 DLF PH V (i) City Max. 25 an /CHENNAI (j) State or Province or County Max. 25 an /TAMIL NADU (k) Zip Code or Postal Code 17an / (l) If applicable, Name Element preceded by a hyphen Refer to Name Element paragraph -1SMITH/SOPHIEMS Component (f) through (k) must be proceeded by an oblique /. Where the components of the supplementary information are not provided, an oblique / is inserted to indicate an element is missing Example SSR GSTA AI HK1/IND/11 FLOOR ONE HORIZON CENTER/SECTOR 43 DLF PH V/ SSR GSTA AI ///CHENNAI/TAMIL NADU/ SMITH/SOPHIEMS SSR GSTA AI HK1/IND/18 RAGHUVANSHI MILLS COMP//MUMBAI/ SSR GSTA ///MAHARASHTRA 1JOHNSON/TEDDYMR 11 of 12

12 Construction Rules and Sequence of Components GSTP GSTP is used to collect the business telephone number(s) of the business purchasing the goods and services. Components Number and Examples Type of Characters (a) Element Identifier 3a SSR (b) SSR Service Code 4a GSTP (c) Airline Designator (3 character codes are 2an or 3a AI or /AIC preceded with an oblique) (d) Status Code 2a HK (e) Number of services (without leading zeros) 1-2n 1 (f) Country 1-3a /IND (g) First Business Telephone Max. 15n / (h) Second Business Telephone Max. 15n / (i) If applicable, Name Element preceded by a hyphen Refer to Name Element paragraph -1SMITH/SOPHIEMS Examples SSR GSTP AI HK1/IND/ / SMITH/SOPHIEMS SSR GSTP AI HK1/IND/ SMITH/SOPHIEMS Construction Rules and Sequence of Components GSTE GSTE is used to collect the address of the business purchasing the goods and services. NOTE: Use // (double slash) in place (at sign), use.. (double dot) in place of _ (underscore), and use./ in place of a - in addresses. Components Number and Type of Characters Examples (a) Element Identifier 3a SSR (b) SSR Service Code 4a GSTE (c) Airline Designator (3 character codes are 2an or 3a AI or /AIC preceded with an oblique) (d) Status Code 2a HK (e) Number of services (without leading zeros) 1-2n 1 (f) Country 1-3a /IND (i) Business Max. 35an /GST.INFO//IBMGST.IN (j) If applicable, Name Element preceded by a hyphen Examples SSR GSTE AI HK1/IND/GST.INFO//IBMGST.IN-1SMITH/SOPHIEMS Refer to Name Element paragraph -1SMITH/SOPHIEMS 12 of 12