Section 269ST- How to Compute Limit in different circumstances

Article explains What is Section 269ST,  Limit Of Receipt From A Single Entity In Cash Etc. In A Day under section 269ST,  Limit under section 269ST When Partial Payment Is Through Permissible Mode And Partial Through Other Mode,  Limit under Section 269ST In Respect Of Single Transaction, Limit In Respect Of Single Transaction Jointly With Two Or More Entities under section 269ST, Limit In Respect Of All The Transactions Related With One Event Or Occasion and Practical Steps That May Be Followed To Ensure Compliance With Section 269ST.

Restrictions Levied On Cash Etc. Receipts U/S. 269ST Of The Income Tax Act– How to Compute Limit of Rs. 2 Lakhs or More in Different Circumstances

1. Introduction to Section 269ST:

The Finance Act, 2017 has introduced a new section 269ST in the Income Tax Act with effect from 01^st April, 2017, whereby a restriction is imposed on receipt of any amount of Rs. 2 lakhs or more through modes other than the modes prescribed in that section. This limit is mentioned in many ways like according to per day, per transaction, for all transactions per occasion / event etc.

In this section it has been mentioned that “No person shall receive an amount of two lakh rupees or more— (a) in aggregate from a person in a day; or (b) in respect of a single transaction; or (c) in respect of transactions relating to one event or occasion from a person, otherwise than by an account payee cheque or an account payee bank draft or use of electronic clearing system through a bank account.

In this article an attempt has been made to analyze that how the above limit may be computed under the different circumstances.

2. Limit Of Receipt From A Single Entity In Cash Etc. In A Day under section 269ST

(i) Through clause (a) limit is put on receipts from a single person, entity etc. (herein after mentioned as “entity”) in cash etc. modes in a single day (i.e., in one date).

(ii) This limit is not for each receipt from a entity in a day but for aggregate receipts from any single entity in a day.

(iii) This limit is also only in respect of receipts from a single entity in a day and not from multiple entities in a day.

For Example :

(i) If Mr. A receives a single payment of Rs. 1 lakhs from Mr. B in a day there is no violation of this section.

(ii) If Mr. A receives single payment of Rs. 2 lakhs from Mr. B then there is a violation.

(iii) If Mr. A receives Rs. 1 lakhs from Mr. B in a day in piecemeal then there is no violation.

(iv) If Mr. A receives Rs. 2 Lakhs from Mr. B in a day in piecemeal, then there is a violation.

(v) If Mr. A receives Rs. 1 Lakhs from Mr. B and also Rs. 1 Lakhs from Mr. C in a day (transaction with Mr. B & Mr. C is not a single joint transaction) then there is no violation.

(vi) If Mr. A receives Rs. 1 Lakhs from Mr. B on one day and Rs.1 lakhs on any other day then there is no violation.

3. Limit under section 269ST When Partial Payment Is Through Permissible Mode And Partial Through Other Mode :

When a part amount is received through account payee cheque etc. permissible mode and rest amount is received through cash etc. other mode then the whole limit of “Rs. 2 lakhs or more” will be only in respect of amount received through cash etc. other modes and the amount received through permissible modes will not be considered for the above limit.

For Example : – (i) If Mr. A receives Rs. 1 lakhs from Mr. B through account payee cheque and Rs. 1 lakhs in cash then there will be no violation. (ii) However, if Mr. A receives Rs. 1 lakhs from Mr. B through account payee cheque and Rs. 2 lakhs in cash then there will be violation of Section 269st.

4. Limit under Section 269ST In Respect Of Single Transaction :

Through clause (b) restriction is put in respect of each transaction also. This limit will work simultaneously with the limit of aggregate receipt per day from a single entity. According to this an entity can receive only less than Rs. 2 lakhs in respect of a single transaction through cash etc. other modes. An amount more than this limit can be taken only through account payee cheque etc. permissible mode.

For example,

(i) if Mr. A sells goods to Mr. B through a single bill for Rs. 3 lakhs then only “less than Rs. 2 lakhs” can be received by A from B in cash etc. mode. The rest amount will have to be received through account payee cheque etc. mode only. Even it is not permissible to receive in cash etc., the entire Rs. 3 lakhs in different days in piecemeal within the limit of per day per entity. It is so because not only the limit of per day per entity is to be followed but also the limit of per transaction is to be followed simultaneously.

(ii) If Mr. A sells goods of Rs. 3 lakhs to Mr. B through two separate bills of Rs. 1.50 Lakhs each. Then entire Rs. 3 lakhs can be received by him from Mr. B in cash etc. in two or more days complying with the limit of per day per entity because here the limit of per transaction as well as of per day per entity is not crossed.

5. Limit In Respect Of Single Transaction Jointly With Two Or More Entities under section 269ST:

If a transaction is a joint transaction with many entities in such a situation also this limit will be a consolidated limit in respect of all the payees for that single transaction. Separate limits may not be available in respect of each payee in respect of a single transaction.

For Example– Mr. A sold goods to Mr. B and Mr. C jointly for Rs. 3 lakhs through a single bill. Then total amount of only less than Rs. 2 lakhs can be received in cash etc. from Mr. B and Mr. C. It is not permissible that Rs. 1.50 lakhs in cash etc. is received from Mr. B and rest Rs. 1.50 lakhs is received from Mr. C.

6. Limit In Respect Of All The Transactions Related With One Event Or Occasion :

Through clause (c) restriction is also put in respect of all the transactions which are related with any single event or occasion. This limit will be applicable simultaneously with the limit of aggregate receipt per day from a single entity as well as with the limit in respect of single transaction. According to this, an entity can receive only less than Rs. 2 lakhs in respect of all the transactions which are related to single event or occasion.

Here no definition / description of the words “event” or “occasion” has been given in section 269ST. Further, no clarification has been given by the CBDT through any circular etc. Birthday, Marrige, Accident, tour etc. may be some of the real life examples of event / occasion. Apart from them an event of entering in to financial transactions / agreements etc. may also fall within the ambit of the above words. The manner of computing the above limit may be tried to be understood through an example given below.

For example:- If a person has done work of different nature in a marriage of his customer, say, given garden on rent for marriage reception, given tent house services, done decoration and has issued three different bills of Rs. 1.50 lakhs each for each separate service (total Rs. 4.50 lakhs), then he can receive only less than Rupees 2 lakhs from his customer in cash etc. mode in respect of all the 3 bills / transactions. If entire Rs. 4.50 lakhs are taken in cash etc. then even though the limit of per transaction and also limit per day per entity is not crossed, but since all the transactions are related with the single occasion of a marriage, then the total limit of less than Rs. 2 lakhs will be a consolidated limit for all the related transactions.

7. Lacuana Remained:

Though the government has tried to cover almost all the transactions / situations in the above section but it appears that two lacunas have remained.

(i) Firstly, when the transactions are not related with a single event or occasion, an entity may prepare many bills of less than Rs. 2 lakhs and in the entire year may receive a big amount in cash etc. mode from a single entity itself (complying with per day per entity limit).

(ii) Secondly, in cases of transactions related with single event / occasion also an entity may receive Rs. 2 lakh or more. This may happen due to the following reason :-

-in clause (c) the words “from a person” have been used. Due to this now the language of clause (c) has become that “No person shall receive an amount of two lakh rupees or more— (c) in respect of transactions relating to one event or occasion from a person”.

-This reveals that restriction is only in respect of receipt from a single person and more amount can be received from different persons by means of entering in to joint transaction with them (complying with per day per person and per transaction limit).

For example, if for a marriage there are 3 different bills of Rs. 1.50 lakhs each (total Rs. 4.50 lakhs), and all the three bills are in the name of three different persons say one bill of Rs. 1.50 lakhs is in the name of the person who is being married, second bill is in the name of father of that person for Rs. 1.50 lakhs and the third bill is in the name of the mother of that person for Rs. 1.50 lakhs. Then in such a situation entire Rs. 4.50 lakhs can be paid in cash etc. mode i.e., Rs. 1.50 lakh by the person being married, Rs. 1.50 lakhs by the father and Rs. 1.50 lakhs by the mother.

Even if all the bills are in the joint names of three persons then also the payment can be made in the above manner.

Here it is mentionable that in respect of clause (b) the payment by multiple persons (over limit) is not possible because the word “from a person” has not been used there.

8. Practical Steps That May Be Followed To Ensure Compliance With Section 269ST :

Before receiving any amount, –

(i) firstly it will have to be considered that whether there is a single transaction or multiple transactions.

(ii) then ascertain if multiple transactions are there then whether they are related with the single event or occasion or are independent.

(iii) Then consider if related, then amount in respect of all the transaction from all the persons (by going in positive sense avoiding lacuna) should not be received in cash etc. over the consolidated limit of “less than Rs. 2 lakhs”. Further the limit of per day per entity should also be followed.

(iv) If they are not related then the limit of single transaction alongwith per day per entity limit should be followed. If there is only single transaction then also the limit for transaction as well as of per day per entity should be followed.

9. Conclusion:

The above manners of computing the limit are only in respect of several typical circumstances. There may be many other type of circumstances where these limits are to be applied according to the circumstances. The tax payers should avoid the lacunas and should make best effort to comply with the provisions as per the intent of the government to make the economy less cash.

NOTE: The author has also written an another article related to Section 269ST. The link to view / read the same is :

https://taxguru.in/income-tax/union-budget-201718-restrictions-levied-cash-receipts-analysis-aspects-section-269st.html

Disclaimer: The information contained in the above article are solely for informational purpose after exercising due care. However, it does not constitute professional advice or a formal recommendation. The author do not owns any responsibility for any loss or damage caused to any person, directly or indirectly, for any action taken on the basis of the above article.