Robotic Process Automation (RPA) for GST Input Credit Claims: dMACQ Introduces GST Analytics Package
With the introduction of Goods and Services Tax by Government of India last year, all businesses are required to pay GST on all good and services rendered.
The provider of goods or services adds GST to the total invoice, collects the GST from the customer, and then pays the GST to the government using the GSTN portal. Thus, a company pays GST for all raw materials purchased including stationery items and furniture, pays GST on rent for premises (above a minimum limit), pays GST for all travel expenses including air or train tickets, as well as GST on any hotel stays by its employees. For a large company, GST-related invoices can run into several hundreds to thousands per day and it can quickly become difficult to keep track of the amount of GST paid under different heads for different departments within the organisation.
Let’s consider the impact of GST in more detail. When an organisation purchases any goods or services, they pay GST charged by the seller of goods or provider of the service. The Seller who collects such GST then pays the same to the Government. Similarly, when an organisation sells any of its own goods or services, it is liable to charge GST on such sale – i.e. it is required to collect the GST from the customer who purchases such goods or services and pay the same to the Government.
Typically, an organisation is required to pay the amount of GST it has collected from its sale to the Government at the end of each month. However, the GST law also allows, as an input credit, the GST the organisation has paid as part of any purchase of goods or services it has made in that month. But in order to be able to claim such an input credit several mechanisms need to be in place, viz:
the purchase invoice must correctly state the organisation name and address in the invoice along with the GST number of the purchasing entity as well as the selling entity;
furthermore, the seller, from whom the purchase has been made, must file a return in the prescribed format with details such as the purchaser organisation name and address, its GST number etc.;
once the return has been filed, the GST ledgers will show in the purchaser’s account the GST amount that it can claim as an input credit.
Some of the challenges an organisation faces in claiming input credit are:
collate data from each purchase invoice to check where the entity can make an input claim;
check whether the purchase invoice has the correct purchaser entity name, address, GST number, etc.;
ensure details of GST inputs that are claimed are collated in the prescribed format for filing with the GST authorities as part of the monthly filings.
Enter GST Analytics Package (GAP) from dMACQ. GAP is a robotic automation and data analytic tool that will process any invoice provided to it, extract GST-related information, and then store the GST-information in an Excel spreadsheet in a neatly formatted manner. This allows all line managers including Purchase, Finance, and departmental managers to quickly obtain information on the amount of GST paid or needs to be remitted (for purchases) to the government. More importantly, this detailed breakdown helps auditing division to quickly identify anomalies in GST collection/remittance and focus their efforts on fixing erroneous entries only.
Let’s consider an example invoice shown in Figure 1 below. Important details needed by Connect Marketing (the purchaser) will include ABC India details, Invoice No., Invoice Date, HSN Code, Invoice Amount, CGST, SGST/UTGST, IGST, and Grand Total.
Figure1 : Sample GST Invoice
Connect Marketing will require these details from every purchase invoice for computing the net GST payable to the state and central governments. dMACQ’s GAP RPA (robotic process automation) tool processes the above invoice to create a line in an Excel spreadsheet as shown in Figure 2 below. By processing all the invoices, dMACQ’s GAP will generate a complete spreadsheet containing all the GST payable by the purchaser. This will enable the purchaser (Connect Marketing) to easily claim input credits. In a similar manner, ABC India Ltd. can also generate their input credits spreadsheet for their purchases using the GAP software.
dMACQ’s GAP software is platform neutral (runs on Windows, Mac, and Linux) and available for both SaaS and on-premise deployments. It is very easy-to-use with simple point-and-click features that enables easy uploads and downloads. dMACQ’s GAP is completely customizable and its default version does not store any information uploaded once the Excel spreadsheet has been generated. This means that the GAP software is compliant with all privacy regulations including the upcoming GDPR requirements.
dMACQ also has ready-made bots for processing GST information from airline invoices including Air India, Jet Airways, Indigo, Spicejet, Etihad, Emirates, Go Air, and Air France. dMACQ has also created bots for processing GST information from Facebook, Google, and several other advertising and media company invoices. dMACQ also creates customized bots for specified RPA extractions from different documents for our customers.
About dMACQ Software Pvt. Ltd.
dMACQ was founded in 2011 and is a provider of software and IT services: it provides software for mergers & acquisitions (e-datarooms); Document Management Systems customized for different verticals such as HR, legal, engineering/projects and finance; contract management systems; electronic workflow systems; and robotic process automation systems/solutions. By using browser-based front-ends, almost all of dMACQ’s software are platform neutral; moreover, dMACQ also provides mobile app support for its Document Management System. The IT services arm of dMACQ provides digitization, data entry, and auditing services for a range of verticals.
Learn more at www.dmacq.com or email info@dmacq.com
Media contact Srikant Krishnan @ +91 99991 02950