Circular No. 72/46/2018-GST

Circular No. 72/46/2018-GST

Circular No. 72/46/2018-GST

F. No. CBEC/20/16/04/2017-GST
Government of India
Ministry of Finance
Department of Revenue
Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs
GST Policy Wing

New Delhi, Dated the 26th October 2018

To,
The Principal Chief Commissioners/Chief Commissioners/Principal Commissioners/Commissioners of Central Tax (All)
The Principal Directors General/Directors General (All)

Madam/Sir,

Subject: Circular to clarify the procedure in respect of return of time expired drugs or medicines – Reg.

Various representations have been received seeking clarification on the procedure to be followed in respect of return of time expired drugs or medicines under the GST laws. The issues raised in the said representations have been examined and to ensure uniformity in the implementation of the law across the field formations, the Board, in exercise of its powers conferred under section 168(1) of the Central Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017 (hereinafter referred to as the “CGST Act”) hereby clarifies the issue in succeeding paragraphs.

2. The common trade practice in the pharmaceutical sector is that the drugs or medicines (hereinafter referred to as “goods”) are sold by the manufacturer to the wholesaler and by the wholesaler to the retailer on the basis of an invoice/bill of supply as the case may be. It is significant to mention here that such goods have a defined life term which is normally referred to as the date of expiry. Such goods which have crossed their date of expiry are colloquially referred to as time expired goods and are returned back to the manufacturer, on account of expiry, through the supply chain.

3. It is clarified that the retailer/ wholesaler can follow either of the below-mentioned procedures for the return of the time expired goods:

Download the full Circular No. 72/46/2018-GST by clicking the below image:

(A) Return of time expired goods to be treated as fresh supply:

a) In case the person returning the time expired goods is a registered person (other than a composition taxpayer), he may, at his option, return the said goods by treating it is as a fresh supply and thereby issuing an invoice for the same (hereinafter referred to as the, “return supply”). The value of the said goods as shown in the invoice on the basis of which the goods were supplied earlier may be taken as the value of such return supply. The wholesaler or manufacturer, as the case may be, who is the recipient of such return supply, shall be eligible to avail Input Tax Credit (hereinafter referred to as “ITC”) of the tax levied on the said return supply subject to the fulfilment of the conditions specified in Section 16 of the CGST Act.

b) In case the person returning the time expired goods is a composition taxpayer, he may return the said goods by issuing a bill of supply and pay tax at the rate applicable to a composition taxpayer. In this scenario there will not be any availability of ITC to the recipient of return supply.

c) In case the person returning the time expired goods is an unregistered person, he may return the said goods by issuing any commercial document without charging any tax on the same.

d) Where the time expired goods which have been returned by the retailer/wholesaler are destroyed by the manufacturer, he/she is required to reverse the ITC availed on the return supply in terms of the provisions of clause (h) of sub-section (5) of section 17 of the CGST Act. It is pertinent to mention here that the ITC which is required to be reversed in such scenario is the ITC availed on the return supply and not the ITC that is attributable to the manufacture of such time expired goods.

Illustration: Supposedly, manufacturer has availed ITC of Rs. 10/- at the time of manufacture of medicines valued at Rs. 100/-. At the time of return of such medicine on the account of expiry, the ITC available to the manufacturer on the basis of fresh invoice issued by wholesaler is Rs. 15/-. So, when the time expired goods are destroyed by the manufacturer he would be required to reverse ITC of Rs. 15/- and not of Rs. 10/-.

Source: CBIC