Electronic Cash Ledger-A Comprehensive Discussion

The Electronic Cash Ledger contains a summary of all the deposits/payments made by a taxpayer. In the ledger, information is kept minor head wise for each major head. Each major head is divided into five minor heads i.e., Tax, Interest, Penalty, Fee, and Others. It can be accessed under the post-login mode on the GST portal under Services > Ledgers > Electronic Cash Ledger. In this article we are going to discuss in detail about some important points related to electronic cash ledger.

The electronic cash ledger under sub-section (1) of section 49 shall be maintained in FORM GST PMT-05 on the common portal for crediting the amount deposited and debiting the payment therefrom towards tax, interest, penalty, fee or any other amount.

The registered person shall generate a challan in FORM GST PMT-06 on the common portal and enter the details of the amount to be deposited by him towards tax, interest, penalty, fees or any other amount. Such generated challan on the common portal shall be valid for a period of fifteen days.

The amount in electronic cash ledger can be deposited in any of the following modes:
(i) Internet Banking through authorised banks
(ii) Unified Payment Interface (UPI) from any bank
(iii) Immediate Payment Services (IMPS) from any bank
(iv) Credit card or Debit card through the authorised banks
(v) National Electronic Fund Transfer or Real Time Gross Settlement from any bank
(iv) Over the Counter payment through authorised banks for deposits up to ten thousand rupees per challan per tax period, by cash, cheque or demand draft

On successful credit of the amount to the concerned government account maintained in the authorised banks, a Challan Identification Number shall be generated by the collecting bank and the same shall be indicated in the challan.

On receipt of the Challan Identification Number from the collecting bank, the said amount shall be credited to the electronic cash ledger of the person on whose behalf the deposit has been made and the common portal shall make available a receipt to this effect.

For example, A taxpayer made a cash deposit of INR 1000 to IGST – Tax through net banking. After successful payment, the Bank reference number communicated by the bank along with the CIN to the GST system will be reflected in the Electronic Cash Ledger as reference number. The tax payer can utilise this cash deposit of INR 1000 in the cash ledger to make payment ONLY of the IGST – Tax liability by debiting the Cash Ledger.

Usage of amount available in electronic cash ledger:
The amount available in the Electronic Cash Ledger can be utilised for payment of any liability for the respective major and minor heads. For example, liability for the tax under SGST can be settled only from the available amount of cash under SGST Major head.

The amount available under one major head (SGST, CGST, IGST or CESS) cannot be utilised for discharging the liability under any other major head. For example, amount available in SGST cannot be utilised for discharging liabilities under CGST, IGST, or CESS and vice versa.

For example, an amount of INR 1000 is available under minor head ‘tax’ of major head ‘SGST/UTGST’ and the taxpayer has a liability of INR 200 for minor head ‘interest’ under the same major head ‘SGST/UTGST’. Since, there is no amount available under minor head ‘interest’ under major head “SGST/UTGST”, therefore, interest payment cannot be made from the amount available under ‘tax’ of the same major head.

Transfer of amount from one head to another:
Sub rule 13 & 14 of Rule 87 of CGST rules 2017 are relevant in this respect:
Sub rule 13 of rule 87 states that a registered person may, on the common portal, transfer any amount of tax, interest, penalty, fee or any other amount available in the electronic cash ledger under the Act to the electronic cash ledger for integrated tax, central tax, State tax or Union territory tax or cess in FORM GST PMT-09.

Further, as per sub rule 14 of rule 87 of CGST Rules 2017 a registered person may, on the common portal, transfer any amount of tax, interest, penalty, fee or any other amount available in the electronic cash ledger under the Act to the electronic cash ledger for central tax or integrated tax of a distinct person as specified in section 25(4) & (5), in FORM GST PMT-09:

Provided that no such transfer shall be allowed if the said registered person has any unpaid liability in his electronic liability register.

Thus from the above it is clear that the Form GST PMT-09 enables any registered taxpayer to perform, intra-head or inter-head transfer of amount, as available in Electronic Cash Ledger. Thus, a registered taxpayer can now file Form GST PMT-09 for transfer of any amount of tax, interest, penalty, fee or others, under one (major or minor) head to another (major or minor) head, as available in the Electronic Cash Ledger.

How can a taxpayer check the available balance in the Electronic Cash Ledger?

A taxpayer can log on to the GST Portal and navigate to the electronic cash ledger home page in the following way: Services > Ledgers > Electronic cash Ledger. The balance is shown under the head “Cash balance as on Date”.  To know the details of the transaction the taxpayer needs to submit a request for the report by giving the date range.

Refund of amount available in cash ledger:
If a person has claimed refund of any amount from the electronic cash ledger, the said amount shall be debited to the electronic cash ledger. If the refund so claimed is rejected, either fully or partly, the amount debited, to the extent of rejection, shall be credited to the electronic cash ledger by the proper officer by an order made in FORM GST PMT-03. The refund shall be deemed to be rejected if the appeal is finally rejected. a refund shall be deemed to be rejected, if the appeal is finally rejected or if the claimant gives an undertaking to the proper officer that he shall not file an appeal.

Disclaimer: The information given in this article is solely for purpose of understanding the law. It is completely based on the interpretation of the author and cannot be constituted as a legal advise, the author of this article and Lawcrux team is not responsible for any legal issues if arises on the basis of the interpretation given above.