CBIC gives a week’s time to ecommerce firms to give views, promises clarification
The Central Board of Indirect Taxes & Customs (CBIC) on Monday gave a week's time to app-based ride hailing companies to furnish their views in writing on where each of them stands on the applicabily of GST on rides booked through their platforms.
A three-member team led by CBIC chairman Sanjay Kumar Agarwal met with representatives from the app-based transportation companies at North Block in Delhi and listened to them for about 90 minutes. Uber representatives talked about the lack of uniformity on the applicability of taxes, while Namma Yatri said they follow a model of business different from others.
According to sources privy to discussions at the CBIC meeting, Uber India explained there were two models of business, but the end purpose was to provide transportation services to customers. Uber, its representatives said, followed an algorithm model of pricing of rides as adopted in airlines. The fare moved in sync with the demand and in conformity with local regulations in different states. The taxation too, in the same way, should be uniform regardless of the business model.
