Whether Del Creder Agent (DCA) is termed as Agent under GST
Issues regarding differentiation of DCA from other agents
- In commercial trade parlance, a DCA is a selling agent who is engaged by a principal to assist in supply of goods or services by contacting potential buyers on behalf of the principal.
- DCA guarantees the payment to the supplier.
- Where the buyer fails to make payment to the principal by the due date, DCA makes the payment to the principal on behalf of the buyer (effectively providing an insurance against default by the buyer
- As a result, commission paid to the DCA may be relatively higher than that paid to a normal agent.
- In order to guarantee timely payment to the supplier, the DCA can resort to various methods including extending short-term transaction-based loans to the buyer or paying the supplier himself and recovering the amount from the buyer with some interest at a later date.
- This loan is to be repaid by the buyer along with an interest to the DCA at a rate mutually agreed between DCA and buyer.
Concerns have been expressed regarding the valuation of supplies from Principal to recipient where the payment for such supply is being discharged by the recipient through the loan provided by DCA or by the DCA himself.
Whether a DCA falls under the ambit of agent under Para 3 of Schedule I of the CGST Act?
Whether or not the DCA will fall under the ambit of agent under Para 3 of Schedule I of the CGST Act depends on the following possible scenarios: Yes/No based on circumstances.
- a) In case where the invoice for supply of goods is issued by the supplier to the customer, either himself or through DCA, the DCA does not fall under the ambit of agent.
- b) In case where the invoice for supply of goods is issued by the DCA in his own name, the DCA would fall under the ambit of agent.
Whether the temporary short-term transaction based loan extended by the DCA to the recipient (buyer), for which interest is charged by the DCA, is to be included in the value of goods being supplied by the supplier (principal) where DCA is not an agent under Para 3 of Schedule I of the CGST Act? – NO
In such a scenario following activities are taking place:
- Supply of goods from supplier (principal) to recipient;
- Supply of agency services from DCA to the supplier or the recipient or both;
- Supply of extension of loan services by the DCA to the recipient.
It is clarified that in cases where the DCA is not an agent under Para 3 of Schedule I, the temporary short-term transaction based loan being provided by DCA to the buyer is a supply of service by the DCA to the recipient on Principal to Principal basis and is an independent supply. Therefore, the interest being charged by the DCA would not form part of the value of supply of goods supplied (to the buyer) by the supplier. Furthermore, vide notification No. 12/2017-Central Tax (Rate) dated 28th June, 2017 (S. No. 27), services by way of extending deposits, loans or advances in so far as the consideration is represented by way of interest or discount (other than interest involved in credit card services) has been exempted.
Where DCA is an agent under Para 3 of Schedule I of the CGST Act and makes payment to the principal on behalf of the buyer and charges interest to the buyer for delayed payment along with the value of goods being supplied, whether the interest will form a part of the value of supply of goods also or not?- YES
In such a scenario following activities are taking place:
- Supply of goods by the supplier (principal) to the DCA;
- Further supply of goods by the DCA to the recipient;
- Supply of agency services by the DCA to the supplier or the recipient or both;
- Extension of credit by the DCA to the recipient.
It is clarified that in cases where the DCA is an agent under Para 3 of Schedule I of the CGST Act, the temporary short-term transaction based credit being provided by DCA to the buyer no longer retains its character of an independent supply and is subsumed in the supply of the goods by the DCA to the recipient. It is emphasized that the activity of extension of credit by the DCA to the recipient would not be considered as a separate supply as it is in the context of the supply of goods made by the DCA to the recipient. Therefore, the value of the interest charged for such credit would be required to be included in the value of supply of goods by DCA to the recipient as per section 15(2)(d) of the CGST Act.
