Is Input Tax a Debit or a Credit?

Input tax is a debit, because it is an asset. It is a receivable from the Government, which is why it is debited when it arises and credited when it is used up, reversed or refunded. Output tax is a credit and a liability, because the tax collected on a sale never belonged to the seller.

• Input tax paid to the supplier: debit Input CGST, Input SGST or Input IGST, which is an asset.
• Output tax collected from the customer: credit Output CGST, Output SGST or Output IGST, a liability.
• Blocked credit under Section 17(5): never debit an input account; the tax forms part of the expense or the asset's cost.
• Reversed credit under Rule 37 or Rule 37A: credit the input account and debit the amount to a recoverable account.
• Period end: offset and pay the balance; a debit balance is credit carried forward.

In the phrase input tax credit, the word credit means an entitlement under the tax law. In double entry, credit means the right-hand side of a ledger. The entitlement is recorded as a debit.

Kadam Engineering Works, a Pune manufacturer, bought ₹6,32,000 of steel locally, ₹3,05,000 of components from Gujarat and a ₹8,60,000 machine from Karnataka in September 2026, and sold ₹9,84,000 within Maharashtra and ₹4,15,000 inter-State. It opened September with nil balances in all six GST accounts. Its books therefore carry ₹56,880 in Input CGST, ₹56,880 in Input SGST and ₹2,09,700 in Input IGST as debits, and ₹88,560, ₹88,560 and ₹74,700 in the three Output accounts as credits. A Rule 37 reversal of ₹35,100 falls due on 30 September, on an invoice of 4 March 2026 for ₹1,95,000 still wholly unpaid on the 180th day.

Kadam claimed ₹3,23,460 of input tax credit in September and collected ₹2,51,820 of output tax, but an earlier credit of ₹35,100 has to be reversed under Rule 37. ₹2,88,360 of credit is therefore available, the whole ₹2,51,820 of liability is discharged from credit, no cash is paid, and ₹36,540 is carried forward.

⚠️ Kadam paid ₹3,26,560 of GST in September and claimed ₹3,23,460 of it as credit. The ₹3,100 difference is the GST on the catering bill, which is not claimable. Input tax and input tax credit claimed are two different amounts, and Rule 56(4) of the CGST Rules, 2017 lists them separately.

Eligible credit is debited to Input CGST, Input SGST or Input IGST and remains there until it is set off. Blocked credit is never debited to an input account, because the tax forms part of the expense or the asset's cost. Reversed credit is credited to the input account, but where it is recoverable it is debited to a receivable rather than to the profit and loss account.

Which entry applies depends on three documents: the tax invoice, the FORM GSTR-2B for the period, and, where a Rule 37 re-availment is in issue, proof of payment to the supplier. The credit is restored on that payment, so file the proof with the invoice.

A chart of accounts needs eight GST accounts at minimum. Six record the tax itself: Input CGST, Input SGST, Input IGST, Output CGST, Output SGST and Output IGST. The other two are Electronic Cash Ledger, which corresponds to the electronic cash ledger, and ITC Reversed (Recoverable).

⭐ Section 35(1) of the CGST Act, 2017 requires every registered person to keep "a true and correct account" of, among other things, "input tax credit availed" at clause (d) and "output tax payable and paid" at clause (e). Rule 56(4) requires an account containing "the details of tax payable …, tax collected and paid, input tax, input tax credit claimed", together with a register of the tax invoices, credit notes, debit notes and delivery challans of the period.

• Input CGST: debit balance, a current asset, the central half of the tax on a local purchase.
• Input SGST: debit balance, a current asset, the State half, and it can never be used to pay a CGST liability.
• Input IGST: debit balance, a current asset, and the only credit usable against all three liabilities.
• Output CGST: credit balance, a current liability owed to the Central Government.
• Output SGST: credit balance, a current liability owed to the State Government.
• Output IGST: credit balance, a current liability, and the head any of the three credits can settle.
• Electronic Cash Ledger: debit balance, a current asset, holding money deposited by challan until it is used to discharge a liability.
• ITC Reversed (Recoverable): debit balance, a current asset, holding reversed credit that will be restored.

A small set of books usually lacks the ITC Reversed (Recoverable) account. Without it a reversal is either netted against the input balance, which hides the reversal, or charged to profit, which is wrong wherever the credit will be restored.

Merging these accounts into one GST account is an error. Section 49(5)(e) forbids central tax credit being used towards State tax, and clause (f) forbids the reverse. A single netted account hides a restriction the statute imposes, and the order of utilisation cannot be applied to a balance that has already been merged. If a business holds more than one registration, keep the accounts State by State as well, because the electronic credit ledger is maintained for a registration and not for the entity.

A purchase with input tax credit debits the expense or asset with the taxable value only, debits the input tax accounts with the tax, and credits the supplier with the whole invoice. Kadam's 4 September steel purchase therefore debits Purchases ₹6,32,000, Input CGST ₹56,880 and Input SGST ₹56,880, and credits the supplier ₹7,45,760.

• Debit, Purchases ₹6,32,000: the taxable value of the steel, and the only figure charged to the profit and loss account.
• Debit, Input CGST ₹56,880: the central half of the tax, held as an asset until it is set off.
• Debit, Input SGST ₹56,880: the State half, kept in a separate account because it can never be used to pay CGST.
• Credit, Sundry Creditors ₹7,45,760: the full invoice, tax included, which is the amount owed to the supplier.

The steel cost Kadam ₹6,32,000 rather than the invoice total of ₹7,45,760. The ₹1,13,760 of GST is shown on the balance sheet as a receivable from the Government, so claiming input tax credit excludes the tax from cost of goods sold.

Because the supplier is in Gujarat and Kadam is in Maharashtra, the single ₹54,900 charge is integrated tax and is debited to Input IGST. Integrated tax credit is the only credit that can be used against all three liabilities, which is the reason to keep the head separate even in a small set of books.

Six conditions in Section 16(2) govern the credit. Section 16(2)(a) requires possession of a tax invoice or debit note. Section 16(2)(aa) requires the supplier to have furnished the details in the statement of outward supplies, communicated to the recipient. Section 16(2)(b) requires that the recipient has received the goods or services. Section 16(2)(ba) requires that the credit communicated to the recipient has "not been restricted". Section 16(2)(c) requires that the tax has actually been paid to the Government, "either in cash or through utilisation of input tax credit admissible in respect of the said supply". Section 16(2)(d) requires that the recipient has furnished the return.

⚠️ The Section 16(2) conditions govern the credit, not the bookkeeping. Section 16(2)(d) is satisfied only when the return is filed, which for September is 20 October, so if the conditions governed the debit, nothing would ever be posted in the month the purchase happened. The input account is debited when the invoice is received. Whether the credit may be taken in the return depends on the Section 16(2) conditions and on the provisos that qualify them, which together make up the full input tax credit test.

A sale debits the customer with the invoice total, credits revenue with the taxable value and credits the output tax accounts with the tax. Kadam's 22 September local sale debits the customer ₹11,61,120 and credits Sales ₹9,84,000, Output CGST ₹88,560 and Output SGST ₹88,560.

• Debit, Sundry Debtors ₹11,61,120: the whole invoice, because that is the amount the customer owes.
• Credit, Sales ₹9,84,000: the taxable value, and the only figure that is revenue.
• Credit, Output CGST ₹88,560: a liability to the Central Government, not income.
• Credit, Output SGST ₹88,560: a liability to the State Government, kept separate for set-off.

Revenue from this invoice is ₹9,84,000 rather than the invoice total of ₹11,61,120. The ₹1,77,120 of GST is a liability Kadam is holding for the Government, which is why output tax is credited to the output accounts and never to the profit and loss account. If the GST is booked as turnover, revenue is overstated by ₹1,77,120, which overstates gross profit and gross margin, overstates turnover for any turnover-based threshold the business is tracking, and misstates every ratio with revenue in it.

Because the Karnataka sale is inter-State, its tax is a single ₹74,700 integrated tax charge. The entry debits Sundry Debtors ₹4,89,700 and credits Sales ₹4,15,000 and Output IGST ₹74,700, the one head that any of the three credits can later settle.

The liability arises on the time of supply, which Section 12 fixes for goods and Section 13 for services. On services, the time of supply under Section 13(2) is the earlier of the invoice and the receipt of payment, so an advance can make the liability arise in a period before the invoice. On goods it cannot, because Notification No. 66/2017-Central Tax, 15 November 2017, as amended to 29 September 2023, removed the receipt-of-payment alternative for every registered person outside the composition levy. The time of supply for goods is therefore the Section 12(2)(a) invoice date, and no GST is payable on receipt of an advance on a sale of goods. On an ordinary credit sale invoiced in September the liability is September's, whether or not the customer has paid by then.

The set-off entry debits all three output tax accounts to nil and credits the input tax accounts for the credit actually used, with cash credited only for whatever the credit cannot cover. For Kadam's September 2026 return that means debiting Output IGST ₹74,700, Output CGST ₹88,560 and Output SGST ₹88,560, and crediting Input IGST ₹1,74,600, Input CGST ₹38,610 and Input SGST ₹38,610. Nothing is paid in cash.

• Debit, the three Output accounts, ₹2,51,820 in all: closing every liability created during the month to nil.
• Credit, Input IGST ₹1,74,600: the entire integrated tax balance, because Kadam is also using central and State credit this month.
• Credit, Input CGST ₹38,610: the central shortfall remaining after integrated tax credit has been utilised fully.
• Credit, Input SGST ₹38,610: the State shortfall, on identical figures.
• Balances remaining: ₹18,270 in Input CGST and ₹18,270 in Input SGST, carried forward as assets.

⛔ The whole integrated tax balance is used before any other. Section 49A of the CGST Act, 2017 allows credit of central, State or Union territory tax to be used "only after the input tax credit available on account of integrated tax has first been utilised fully towards such payment". The proviso to Rule 88A states the same condition. An entry that carries integrated tax credit forward while using the central and State balances is therefore not open to a registered person. Kadam's ₹1,74,600 of integrated tax credit pays the ₹74,700 integrated tax liability and the remaining ₹99,900 can be utilised only against the central and State heads.

How that ₹99,900 is divided between the two heads is not prescribed. Section 49(5)(a) does apply the residual to central tax and State tax "in that order", but Rule 88A, made under the power in Section 49B, allows it "in any order" and governs. With both heads carrying an identical ₹88,560 liability and an identical ₹56,880 of own-head credit, Kadam allocates ₹49,950 to each. Each head is then short by ₹38,610, met from its own credit, and ₹18,270 remains in each.

Pass the entry when the GSTR-3B is filed, because that is when the liability is discharged. The debit balance that remains is credit carried forward, and once the return has been filed it should agree to the rupee with the electronic credit ledger on the portal.

In a month when credit falls short, the challan deposit debits Electronic Cash Ledger and credits Bank:

A challan deposit is credited to the electronic cash ledger before it discharges any liability. Keep a separate account for it rather than crediting Bank in the set-off entry, and the books will reconcile to the portal in a month where credit falls short.

The split of residual integrated tax credit changes the cash paid

Rule 88A prescribes no split of the residual integrated tax credit between the central and State heads, and the registered person chooses it. On these figures an even division requires no cash payment, and cash is paid only under a heavily uneven allocation.

If the whole ₹99,900 residual is applied to the central head, it pays the ₹88,560 central liability and leaves ₹11,340 for the State head. ₹77,220 of State liability then remains, ₹56,880 of State credit pays most of it, and ₹20,340 is paid in cash while ₹56,880 of central credit is left unused. ₹2,31,480 of credit is utilised. If the residual is divided evenly instead, both own-head balances are used, nothing is paid in cash, and ₹36,540 is carried forward.

The central-head allocation does not cost ₹20,340 of tax. The carry-forward under it is ₹56,880 rather than ₹36,540, and the ₹20,340 of extra credit carried forward equals the cash paid. No credit is lost, and the credit carried forward can be used next month. The allocation costs the use of ₹20,340 until then, which on a working-capital view is a month of interest and on a cash-flow view is a payment that was not required.

As a practical rule, use residual integrated tax credit against whichever head has least own-head credit, and where the two are level, split it evenly.

Reversing input tax credit always credits the input tax account, and where the reversed credit is recoverable it is never charged to the profit and loss account. Kadam's 30 September reversal under Rule 37 credits Input IGST ₹35,100 and debits ITC Reversed (Recoverable), a current asset. An invoice issued on 4 March 2026 for ₹1,95,000 was still wholly unpaid on the 180th day, and Rule 37(2) restores the credit when the supplier is paid.

Recoverable and permanent reversals take different entries.

• Recoverable, under Rule 37 or Rule 37A: debit ITC Reversed (Recoverable), a current asset, and credit the input account. The credit can no longer be set off but remains recoverable, and it has not become a cost.
• Permanent, under Section 17(5) or Rules 42 and 43: debit the expense and credit the input account. A permanent reversal is a cost.

• Debit, ITC Reversed (Recoverable) ₹35,100: a current asset, because Rule 37(2) restores the credit on payment, and an asset only while the business still expects to pay the supplier.
• Credit, Input IGST ₹35,100: the credit is removed from the input account and can no longer be set off.
• Nothing to the profit and loss account: the credit is held as recoverable and has not been lost.

The ₹35,100 is still in the ledger and still usable through September, because Rule 37(1) requires the reversal to be made in the return for the tax period immediately following the 180 days rather than on day 181. Charging it to September's profit and crediting it to the profit of the period in which the payment is made would misstate both periods, because Rule 37 restores the credit.

Rule 37(1) requires the reversed amount to be paid "along with interest payable thereon under section 50", and that interest is recorded in a separate entry:

Interest is not recovered when the supplier is later paid. It is the one part of a Rule 37 reversal that is charged to the profit and loss account, and the reason the reversal is not simply a timing entry. Whether interest on wrongly availed credit arises depends on whether the credit was utilised as well as availed.

When the supplier is paid in a later period, ₹35,100 is debited back to Input IGST and the ITC Reversed (Recoverable) balance is cleared. Rule 37(2) entitles the registered person to re-avail the credit on paying the supplier the value and the tax, and Rule 37(4) provides that the Section 16(4) time limit "shall not apply to a claim for re-availing of any credit … that had been reversed earlier". Where the invoice is disputed and the payment is not expected, the amount held is not recoverable and should be written off to expense instead.

The second proviso to Section 16(2) requires an amount equal to the credit availed to be paid with interest under Section 50 where the supplier goes unpaid for 180 days from the invoice, so the obligation is statutory and Rule 37 prescribes only the manner. The third proviso restores the credit on payment. The reversal is proportionate to the amount left unpaid, so half the credit is reversed on a half-paid invoice; Kadam's invoice is wholly unpaid, so the whole ₹35,100 is reversed. The 180 days run from the date of issue of the invoice, not from the receipt of the goods or the arrival of the invoice. And supplies on which tax is payable on reverse charge are excluded from the 180-day reversal, because there the recipient pays the Government rather than the supplier.

Reporting in FORM GSTR-3B: Circular No. 170/02/2022-GST specifies the part of Table 4(B) of FORM GSTR-3B in which a reversal is reported, by whether it can be undone. Reversals that are "absolute in nature and are not reclaimable" go in Table 4(B)(1). Those "not permanent in nature and can be reclaimed in future" go in Table 4(B)(2), and the circular lists Rule 37 among them. A re-availment is reported in Table 4(A)(5) and shown again in Table 4(D)(1), which is a disclosure row and changes no arithmetic.

⚠️ A reversal is not a contra entry against output tax and it is not a credit to Purchases. It is always a credit to the input account.

Blocked credit is never debited to an input tax account. The tax is part of the expense, or part of the asset's cost where the blocked purchase is a capital item. The credit on Kadam's ₹65,100 catering bill for a staff function is blocked under Section 17(5)(b)(i). The whole ₹65,100, including ₹1,550 of central tax and ₹1,550 of State tax, is debited to Staff Welfare Expenses, with no debit to Input CGST or Input SGST.

• Debit, Staff Welfare Expenses ₹65,100: the whole invoice, tax included, because none of the tax is recoverable.
• No debit to an input account: Section 17(5)(b)(i) blocks the credit, so no asset ever arises.
• Credit, Sundry Creditors ₹65,100: the amount payable to the caterer.

Because the credit is blocked, the ₹3,100 of GST on the catering bill is a cost to Kadam and is charged to the profit and loss account. The entry has two lines instead of four, and the absent input debit is the difference between the entry for a blocked credit and the entry for an eligible one.

Section 17(5)(b)(i) lists food and beverages and outdoor catering together, and CBIC has read the proviso about services an employer is obliged to provide "under any law for the time being in force" as governing the whole of clause (b). So a canteen an employer must run by statute is a different case from a staff function, and the Section 17(5) conditions and exceptions determine whether the credit is blocked.

⚠️ A blocked credit that is claimed and later reversed can attract interest. Claiming the catering credit and reversing it three months later is worse than not claiming it, because interest can attach where credit is both availed and utilised.

Where a blocked purchase is a capital item, the tax is added to the asset's cost and depreciated with it, because the tax is unrecoverable. GST is also included in an asset's carrying amount under the Section 16(3) election, where a business gives up a recoverable credit in order to depreciate the tax.

A supplier's credit note reduces both the amount owed to the supplier and the credit claimed, so Sundry Creditors is debited and the input tax accounts are credited, which reverses the purchase entry for the reduced amount. A debit note increases both the amount owed to the supplier and the credit, so the expense or asset and the input tax accounts are debited again.

A credit note under Section 34(1) is issued where the taxable value or the tax charged in the invoice exceeded what was due, where goods were returned, or where they were found deficient. Section 154 of the Finance Act, 2026 adds a discount under Section 15(3)(b) to that list from a date the Central Government has yet to notify. Where the credit note reduces the taxable value, Purchases is credited alongside the input accounts. Where it reduces the tax only, the entry has no Purchases line.

Credit on a debit note is a fresh availment, so it has to satisfy the conditions in Section 16(2) on its own account. The debit note also has its own financial year, because the outer date for taking credit runs from the debit note's date rather than the invoice's.

⭐ Finance Act, 2025, s.126 substituted the proviso to Section 34(2) of the CGST Act, and the proviso now denies the supplier any reduction in output tax liability in two situations. Where the recipient is a registered person, no reduction is permitted if the input tax credit attributable to the credit note, if availed, "has not been reversed by the recipient". In other cases, no reduction is permitted where the incidence of tax has been passed on to any other person. The second situation applies to sales to unregistered buyers.

A registered person must choose between the credit on the tax component and depreciation on that same tax component, and cannot have both. Depreciation on the ₹8,60,000 base cost is unaffected either way. Section 16(3) of the CGST Act denies the credit on the tax component of the cost of "capital goods and plant and machinery" where the registered person has claimed depreciation on that tax component under the Income-tax Act, 1961. In the books, claiming the credit means the tax is debited to the input account and the asset is capitalised at its taxable value only.

The CNC machine is recorded in the fixed asset register at ₹8,60,000, not ₹10,14,800, because the ₹1,54,800 of integrated tax is being claimed as credit. Section 16(3) denies the credit on a tax component on which depreciation has been claimed under the Income-tax Act, 1961, so the tax cannot be both depreciated and claimed as credit, and the choice is made once, at the entry, not at the year end.

Weigh a deduction against a credit and not against a tax, because the two are not amounts of the same kind. Claiming the credit is worth ₹1,54,800 against this month's GST liability, in full and now. Capitalising the tax instead gives depreciation on ₹1,54,800 spread across the life of the block, and what the business actually receives is the income tax on that depreciation, which is roughly a quarter of it, received later rather than now. The credit is worth more.

⚠️ Section 16(3) applies to "capital goods and plant and machinery", which is wider in scope than "capital goods". Separate rules govern the sixty-month life of input tax credit on capital goods, the apportionment where capital goods are used partly for exempt supplies, and the computation on disposal.

Input tax credit is a current asset. The debit balances remaining in Input CGST, Input SGST and Input IGST are shown under current assets, because they are amounts recoverable from the Government within the operating cycle. They are conventionally described as balances with government authorities, or as GST input tax credit receivable within other current assets. Any credit balance remaining in an output account is a current liability, shown as statutory dues payable.

At 30 September 2026 Kadam's books carry ₹2,88,360 of input tax as a current asset and ₹2,51,820 of output tax as a current liability, both gross. The set-off entry is not passed until the return is filed on 20 October, so at the reporting date nothing has been offset. After that entry the remaining balance is ₹36,540, split between the central and State input accounts.

⭐ Whether the two may be shown net is settled by GST law before any question of presentation arises. The right to set one against the other arises under Section 49, and it applies head by head: Section 49(5)(e) and (f) forbid central tax credit paying State tax liability and the reverse. So there is no right of set-off between the central input balance and the State output balance, and no presentation convention can create one. A single netted "GST payable" line therefore conceals a restriction the statute imposes, and it cannot be reconstructed head by head once it is struck.

⚠️ The offsetting tests in the accounting standards apply to financial assets and liabilities, and a statutory receivable from the Government is not a financial instrument.

• Input CGST, Input SGST and Input IGST: current assets, being amounts recoverable from the Government.
• Output CGST, Output SGST and Output IGST: current liabilities, being statutory dues payable.
• Electronic cash ledger balance: a current asset, because it is money already with the Government.
• ITC Reversed (Recoverable): a current asset, because a Rule 37 reversal is restored on payment.
• Blocked credit: in the profit and loss account where the blocked purchase was an expense, and inside the asset's carrying amount where it was a capital item.

A large accumulated balance on an inverted duty structure or on zero-rated exports is a refund claim, and it should be described as one. Where the credit on an invoice can no longer be taken, the amount recorded in the books for that credit is not an asset and should be written off to expense. Section 16(4) bars a registered person from taking credit on an invoice after 30 November following the end of the financial year to which it pertains, or the furnishing of the relevant annual return, whichever is earlier; the bar does not extinguish credit already availed and standing in the electronic credit ledger.

Presentation on the face of the balance sheet follows Schedule III to the Companies Act, 2013 for companies. Non-corporate entities have more choice in how the balance is captioned.

The debit balance in the input tax accounts should equal the balance in the electronic credit ledger on the portal, head by head, once the return for the period has been filed. Kadam's ₹36,540 of unused credit should agree exactly at that point. Differences arise from timing, from reporting and from the officer, and in ordinary books from nothing else.

• Booked but not yet claimed in a return: Under Section 49(2), the credit "as self-assessed in the return" is credited to the ledger, so nothing posted in the books this month is credited to the ledger until the return is filed.
• Booked but not yet in GSTR-2B: credit entered in the books on an invoice the supplier has not yet reported.
• In GSTR-2B but not booked: an invoice the supplier reported that has not been recorded in the books.
• A reversal recorded on one side only: entered in the return but not in the books, or the reverse.
• A timing difference on the set-off: the entry passed on a different date from the date the return was filed.

Reconcile on the date of filing rather than the last day of the month, because the credit ledger balance changes only when the GSTR-3B is filed.

Credit restricted under Rule 86A is not a bookkeeping difference. It still shows in the ledger and cannot be used, so the portal will let a registered person use less credit than the books record. The restriction is imposed by the Commissioner or an officer authorised by him not below the rank of Assistant Commissioner, and it ceases to have effect one year from the date it was imposed.

The month-by-month comparison of what the books record against what FORM GSTR-2B reports is carried out against the return rather than against the ledger.

Recoverable input tax is excluded from the cost of inventory and from the cost of property, plant and equipment under both Ind AS and the older Accounting Standards, and GST collected on a sale is excluded from revenue. The standards and the GST law produce the same treatment for different reasons.

Ind AS 2 and AS 2 define the cost of purchase to exclude taxes subsequently recoverable from the taxing authorities. So the steel in Kadam's stores is carried at ₹6,32,000, the amount the purchase entry debits to Purchases, and the ₹1,13,760 of GST is not part of the inventory cost. Ind AS 16 and AS 10 include only non-refundable purchase taxes in the cost of an asset, which is why the CNC machine is capitalised at ₹8,60,000 while the credit is claimed. Ind AS 115 excludes amounts collected on behalf of third parties from the transaction price, so the ₹2,51,820 Kadam collected on its September sales is not revenue.

Blocked credit is a cost because it is not recoverable. The catering tax is not recoverable because Section 17(5) blocks it.

The journal entries are identical whether the business is a company, a partnership, a limited liability partnership or a proprietorship. Double entry does not change with legal form, and neither does the GST law that governs the entries. What differs is which standards bind the business and how the balance is presented.

• A company applying Ind AS: presents its balance sheet under Schedule III to the Companies Act, 2013, and applies Ind AS 2, Ind AS 16 and Ind AS 115.
• A company below the Ind AS thresholds: applies the ICAI Accounting Standards, under the same Schedule III.
• A non-corporate entity: is not bound by Schedule III at all, though the ICAI Accounting Standards still apply to entities within their scope.

For a proprietor or a partnership, the caption is a matter of choice and the classification is not. Unused credit is a current asset in any set of books and blocked credit is a cost in any set of books, because both follow from the GST law rather than from the presentation framework.