2018 (9) TMI 1769 – AUTHORITY FOR ADVANCE RULINGS, WEST BENGAL – TMI – Classification of Supply – supply of goods or services – Levy of GST – Supply of printed question papers for various examinations conducted by the Government/Government aided Educational Boards/ Councils/Universities etc – Input Tax Credit on inputs used for provisioning the supply.
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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?
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Whether credit of the GST paid on the inputs used for provisioning the supply can be availed?
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Held that:- 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 Schedul
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r the purpose of the GST Act, is also not applicable in such cases – The service is taxable under serial no. 27 of Notification No. 11/2017-CT (Rate) dated 28/06/2017, as amended from time to time, provided the materials being printed are goods classifiable under Chapter 48 or 49 of the Tariff Act and taxable under the GST Act. As transactions in Question Papers as goods is beyond the ambit of the GST Act, they are neither classifiable under Chapter 48 or 49 nor taxable under the GST Act. Service of printing Question Papers is not, therefore, classifiable under Heading 9989.
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Explanation (iv) to Notification No. 12/2017-CT (Rate) dated 28/06/2017, inserted vide Notification No. 14/2018-CT(Rate) dated 26/07/2018, clarifies that the Central and State Educational Boards shall be treated as Educational Institution for the limited purpose of services by way of conducting examinations. Serial No. 66(b)(iv) above, therefore, includes services provided to such Boards relating to the condu
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of printing question papers, and is exempt under the GST Act.
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Being an exempt supply, the Applicant cannot claim credit of the GST paid on the inputs used for provisioning the service of printing question papers provided to the Boards / Educational Institutions relating to conduct of examination. – 19 of 2018 – 18/WBAAR/2018-19 – Dated:- 28-9-2018 – 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)
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s provided by the Councils/Boards/Universities/Institutions supplying the matter. The Application also states that the Applicant s customers, 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, serv
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ervices . Under sub-section (2) conditions, (as listed in Schedule III to Section 7 or undertaken by Governments 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
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nt. The Applicant, therefore, cannot be said to be supplying Question Papers as goods under the 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 require
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onduct of examination by Educational Institutions) under Heading 9992. Since the Applicant has 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 con
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ies/Institutions relating to the conduct of examination. 11. Section 17(2) of GST Act states 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
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