In Re: Manali Enterprise
GST
2018 (9) TMI 1769 – AUTHORITY FOR ADVANCE RULINGS, WEST BENGAL – TMI
AUTHORITY FOR ADVANCE RULINGS, WEST BENGAL – AAR
Dated:- 28-9-2018
19 of 2018 – 18/WBAAR/2018-19
GST
VISHWANATH AND PARTHASARATHI DEY MEMBER
Applicant's representative Sri Tirthankar Banerjee, Advocate
1. The Applicant, stated to be, inter alia, supplier of printed question papers for various examinations conducted by the Government/Government aided Educational Boards/ Councils/Universities etc is seeking a Ruling on whether GST is to be charged on such supply and, if so, at what rate and under what HSN or SAC code is the GST to be charged?
The Applicant also wants to know whether credit of the GST paid on the inputs used for provisioning the supply can be availed. Advance Ruling is admissible on these questions under Sections 97(2)(a),(d)&(e) of the CGST/WBGST Acts, 2017 (hereinafter referred to, collectively, as “the GST Act”).
The Applicant further submits that
= = = = = = = =
Plain text (Extract) only
For full text:-Visit the Source
= = = = = = = =
tomers, being either Government organisations or Government aided organisations, are not paying GST on the services so provided, which is rendering them unable to take credit on the GST paid during purchase of inputs.
3. It is necessary to determine whether the Question Papers supplied by the Applicant are “goods” or “services” before considering the other questions on which Ruling has been sought.
Under Section 2(52) of the GST Act, “goods” is defined as “every kind of movable property other than money and securities but includes actionable claims, growing crops, grass and things attached to or forming part of the land which are agreed to be severed before supply or under a contract of supply”. “Property” is not defined under the GST Act. However, the lexicon meaning of “property” is “a thing or things belonging to someone.”
Under Section 2(102) of the GST Act, “services” is defined as “anything other than goods, money and securities but includes activities relating to the use of m
= = = = = = = =
Plain text (Extract) only
For full text:-Visit the Source
= = = = = = = =
rnments or authorities and local bodies as may be notified by the Government, on recommendations of the Council) under which the supply is to be considered as neither “goods” nor “services” are laid down. Under sub-section (3) it is stated that the Government may, on recommendations of the Council, specify, by notification, whether certain transactions are to be treated as supply of goods or services.
5. No Notification has been issued regarding the status of supply of Question Papers. Hence, Section 7(3) of the GST Act is not relevant for consideration. The Applicant has neither been notified to be an authority under Section 7(2) of the GST Act, nor is the activity of supplying printed question papers listed in the said Schedule III. Section 7(1) along with the relevant portions of Schedules I and II clearly state that transfer of title in goods is a supply of goods and in the absence of such transfer, even in the future, is to be considered as supply of services.
6. As stated in th
= = = = = = = =
Plain text (Extract) only
For full text:-Visit the Source
= = = = = = = =
GST Act, but to be supplying the service of printing. Hence, the SAC is to be determined and not the HSN.
Again, every transaction is a contract, but open market transactions in Question Papers as goods, being illegal, are not enforceable by law and void contracts in terms section 2(g) of the Indian Contract Act, 1872, and, therefore, beyond the ambit of the GST Act. It follows that classification under the Tariff Act, for the purpose of the GST Act, is also not applicable in such cases.
7. The Applicant is procuring the inputs required for provisioning the service of printing Question Papers. The content for printing, of course, is provided by the Boards / Institutions. The Applicant does not hold the right to the property of the printed question papers. The Boards/ Institutions prepare the question papers for conducting examinations and also fix the format in which the applicant is required to print the content. Section 8 of the GST Tariff-Services deals with Business and Productio
= = = = = = = =
Plain text (Extract) only
For full text:-Visit the Source
= = = = = = = =
as specified the printing of question papers for Educational Institutions, supply of service under Section 9 of the GST Tariff is found to be appropriate.
9. GST Rates for services whether or not exempt are governed by Notifications No. 11/2017-CT (Rate) and 12/2017-CT (Rate) dated 28/06/2017, as amended from time to time. No exemption is granted for supply of printing services to Government/Government aided Educational Boards/Councils/Universities/Institutions merely by virtue of being Government/Government-aided Institutions. Notification No. 12/2017-CT.(Rate) dated 28/06/2017, however, deals with Educational Board/Councils/Universities etc whether or not they are Government/ Government-aided.
10. Serial No. 66(b)(iv) of Notification No. 12/2017-CT(Rate) dated 28/06/2017, as amended from time to time, as applicable, wholly exempts services provided to an Educational Institution relating to conduct of examination. The phrase 'relating to' expands the scope of this entry to include s
= = = = = = = =
Plain text (Extract) only
For full text:-Visit the Source
= = = = = = = =
tates that “Where the goods or services or both are used by the registered person partly for effecting taxable supplies including zero-rated supplies under this Act or under the Integrated Goods and Services Tax Act and partly for effecting exempt supplies under the said Acts, the amount of credit shall be restricted to so much of the input tax as is attributable to the said taxable supplies including zero-rated supplies.” Since the supply of Question Papers to Educational Institutions if provided, for a particular examination is an exempt supply under Serial No. 66(b)(iv) of Notification No. 12/2017-CT (Rate) dated 28/06/2017, as amended, as applicable, the Applicant is not eligible to avail of Input Tax Credit.
In view of the foregoing we rule as under
RULING
a) Service of printing Question Papers for Educational Institutions [as defined under clause 2(y) read with Explanation (iv) to Notification No. 12/2017-CT (Rate) dated 28/06/2017] for specific examination is classifiable und
= = = = = = = =
Plain text (Extract) only
For full text:-Visit the Source
= = = = = = = =