e-Ledgers under GST

What are e-Ledgers?

e-Ledgers are electronic ledger in GST that are available to the registered taxable person in the electronic form on the GST Portal.

Types of e-Ledgers

Currently, three types of e-ledgers are available on the GST Portal. Section 49(7) of the CGST Act deals with the provision regarding the maintenance of records. These 3 types of e-ledgers include: (i) e-Cash Ledger (ii) e-Credit Ledger (iii) e-Liability Ledger Let us descriptively understand these ledgers:

e-Cash Ledger

e-Cash ledger indicates the amount that has been paid by the taxpayer to the government. The amount in this ledger can be used to make payment of tax, interest, liability, fees and so forth. To make any payment through this ledger the taxpayer needs to generate the payment challan using the GST PMT-06 form. However, it shall be noted that the challan generates through this is valid for 15 days only. Any of the following modes of the payment can be used by the taxpayer: (i) Credit or Debit Card of authorized banks (ii) Internet Banking of authorized banks (iii) RTGS or NEFT through any bank (iv) Cheque or Demand Draft of any bank (v) Over-the-counter of the authorized banks only for the amounts not exceeding 10,000 INR per challan.

e-Credit Ledger in GST

e-Credit ledger or electronic credit ledger in GST is maintained in the form GST PMT-02 on the GST Portal. This GST ledger helps in tracking all the Input Tax Credit (ITC) claims made by the taxpayer. However, it shall be noted that any remaining amount in the e-Credit ledger can be used in making the payment of output tax liability.  This ledger contains the following information: (i) ITC available on the purchases made from the registered taxpayers (ii) ITC eligible against the distribution from an ISD (iii) ITC available on semi-finished goods held in stock on the day immediately after the date on which he becomes liable to pay tax. (iv) ITC eligible on semi-furnished inputs or inputs held in stock on the date on which the registered taxable person becomes a normal dealer from a composition dealer. (v) ITC available on the payment made by the taxpayer under the RCM (Reverse Charge Mechanism).

e-Liability Ledger

e-Liability register or commonly known as an electronic tax liability register is a ledger that is maintained by the taxpayer on the GST Portal. For maintaining the GST Liability ledger the taxpayer needs to furnish the GST PMT-01 form. This ledger shows the below-mentioned things: (i) Output tax liability (ii) Tax, interest, penalty, fees or any other amount payable based on the return filed by the taxpayer or arisen due to any legal proceedings (iii) Any tax or interest payable due to any mismatch of ITC or (iv) Any accrued interest (v) Reversal of ITC (Input Tax Credit) (vi) Reversal of interest

How to Discharge the liabilities under GST?

Here is the GST law prescribing on how a taxpayer needs to discharge the liabilities: (i) The taxpayer first needs to discharge the tax liability of the previous tax period. (ii) Once he/she has paid all the remaining tax liability of the previous period, he/she can pay the dues of the current tax period. (iii) Post discharging the above liabilities the taxpayer can discharge any other liability.