2018 (10) TMI 445 – AUTHORITY FOR ADVANCE RULINGS, HYDERABAD TELANGANA – 2018 (18) G. S. T. L. 112 (A. A. R. – GST), [2019] 60 G S.T.R. 50 (AAR) – Classification of supply – Levy of GST – Supply of service – exempted supply or not? – printing of various items – Whether, in the facts and circumstances as explained in Annexure II, supply of service of: (i) Printing of Pre examination items like question papers, OMR sheets (Optical Mark Reading), Answer booklets for conducting of an examination by the educational boards be treated as exempted supply of service by virtue of the notifications cited supra in Annexure I?; (ii) Printing of Post examination items like marks card, grade card, certificates to educational boards (up to higher secondary) after scanning of OMR Sheets and processing of data in relation to conduct of an examination be treated as exempted supply of service by virtue of the notifications cited supra in Annexure I?; (iii) Scanning and processing of results of examinatio
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ng paper and ink would be borne by the company and the cheques after printing as per the bank’s specifications, would be supplied to them. In both the cases, the unit prints the cheque and then supplies the cheque book to the bank after completion of the printing work – In respect of the situation, where the paper is being supplied by the banks, and the applicants are undertaking job work of printing the cheque and converting them as cheque books, the predominant supply in the instant case is supply of service. As the “services by way of any treatment or process on goods belonging to another person, in relation to- printing of all goods falling under chapter 48 or 49, which attract CGST @ 2.5% or Nil” are covered under sub-item ( c) of item (ii) at Serial No.26 of the Notification No.11/2017-Central Tax ( Rate) dated 28.06.2017 as amended, and the “cheques, loose or in book form” being an exempted supply in terms of S.No. 118 to the Notification No. 02/2017- Central Tax (Rate) dated 28
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conjunction. Despatching of aadhaar card will not be complete unless it is printed, laminated and franked by the applicant. Likewise all the services are interdependent on one another. Hence it cannot be considered as mixed supply in terms of section 2(74) of CGST/TGST Act, 2017. In the entire gamut of things being undertaken by the applicant, it appears that, it is an activity of predominant nature of supply of service rather than supply of goods – Accordingly, it appears that, the services rendered by the applicant merits as supply of service and accordingly falls under serial no.27 of Notification No.11/2017-Central Tax (Rate) dated 28.06.2017 as amended and the rate of tax applicable is 12% ( 6% CGST + 6% SGST).
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What would be the classification and the GST rate, for printing and sale of Polyvinyl chloride (PVC) Cards for various customers? – Held that:- In terms of GST Circular No.11/11/2017-GSTdated 20.10.2017, it is clarified that, supply of books, pamphlets, brochures, en
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ce it attracts 18% GST ( 9%CGST+9%SGST) as per Sl.No.106 of Schedule III of Notification No.1/2017-Central Tax (Rate) dated 28th June, 2017.
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Ruling:- The supply of service to ‘educational institutions’ for conducting of examinations are eligible for exemption under entry No.66 of Notification No. 12/2017- Central Tax (Rate) dt. 28.6.2017.
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The supply of ‘Printing of cheque books’(where the paper is being supplied by the banks) are classifiable under heading 9988 and attracts GST @ 5% (2.5% CGST + 2.5% SGST).
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The supply of cheque books(where the printing paper and inks are being borne by the applicants) are classifiable under heading 4907 of GST Tariff as goods and would not attract any GST as they are exempted supply in terms of Serial No 118 to the Notification No.02/2017-Central Tax (Rate) dated 28.06.2017.
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The supply of Aadhaar Cards are classifiable under heading 9989 of GST Tariff and attracts GST @ 12% ( 6% CGST + 6% SGST) in terms of S.No.27 of Notificatio
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g on the issues raised in ANNEXURE I enclosed to their application: 2. The applicant submitted the application in Form GST ARA-01 enclosing ANNEXURE-I (Questions on which advance ruling is required), ANNEXURE-II(Statement of relevant facts having a bearing on the questions raised) and ANNEXURE-III(Statement containing applicant s interpretation of law and /or facts, in respect of the questions raised) which are given below. They have also submitted a copy of Challan evidencing payment of ₹ 10000/- towards application fee. ANNEXURE- I(Questions on which advance ruling is required) 1. Whether supply of service of: (i) Printing of Pre-examination items like question papers, OMR sheets (Optical Mark Reading), answer booklets; (ii) Printing of Post-examination items like marks card, grade card, certificates to the educational boards of up to higher secondary; and (iii) Scanning and processing of results of examinations; be treated as exempted supply of service by virtue of Entry No. 6
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3, Anrich Industrial Estate, IDA Bollaram, Sangareddy District, Telangana 502 325. 2. The Company is engaged in the business of providing the services of printing of security documents to its clients, who vary from Government Authorities and agencies, Banks, Educational Boards / Institutions and Private Companies. 3. The details of the services are as follows: (i) Supply of services to the Educational Boards:- a) Printing of Pre and Post Examination items for various Educational Boards: The Company provides the service of printing of both pre and post examination documents to various educational boards. The pre examination documents includes OMR sheets, question papers, answer booklets. The post examination documents include marks card, grade card and certificates. b) Scanning and processing of results of examinations to educational institutions: The Company carries out the following two activities:- i. Scans the counter foils of the evaluated answer books which has bar codes and scans
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vices of printing and despatching of Aadhaar Cards. For providing the said service the Company has to perform the following activities which includes: A. Data processing – The Company receives the data for printing from UIDAI in Unicode XML (Extensible Markup Language) file format. In order, to carry out the activity of printing the Company has to convert the file into a readable format, for which the Company is availing the professional services of Data processing from a third party service provider. This service is received by the Company in-house. B. Printing of photographs along with individual data of the Citizens. C. Lamination and enveloping – The Company has to laminate the Aadhaar card, post which it shall be enveloped and despatched to the card holder. D. Sorting of data – The Company has to collate and sort the data based on the parameters provided by UIDAI, like sorting of data based on the Pin Code', printing of barcodes allotted by UIDAI to track each envelope. E. Fra
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ce of: (i) Printing of Pre examination items like question papers, OMR sheets (Optical Mark Reading), Answer booklets for conducting of an examination by the educational boards be treated as exempted supply of service by virtue of the notifications cited supra in Annexure I? (ii) Printing of Post examination items like marks card, grade card, certificates to educational boards (up to higher secondary) after scanning of OMR Sheets and processing of data in relation to conduct of an examination be treated as exempted supply of service by virtue of the notifications cited supra in Annexure I? (iii) Scanning and processing of results of examinations be treated as exempted supply of service by virtue of the notifications cited supra in Annexure I? 2. Applicant's interpretation of Law: 2.1 Applicant submits that the service provided to an educational institution, by the applicant in relation to conduct of examination by an institution is exempt by virtue of the notifications cited supra.
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n course In this regard, the following are to be considered: (i) The services provided by the applicant to an educational board by way of printing of question papers, OMR sheets (Optical Mark Reading), answer booklets which enables the educational institution / universities to conduct the examination. The said service provided by the applicant to the educational institution is towards conduct of examination. Since, the service provided by the applicant towards pre-examination items will be used by the educational institution for conduct of examination. The applicant submits that the aforesaid exemption as outlined in the notification will be applicable to the applicant's case. Thus, the services provided by the applicant to the educational institutions by way of supply of pre-examination materials will not be liable to Goods and Service tax. (ii) the services provided by the applicant to the educational boards by way of printing of marks card, grade card, certificates etc. which ac
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ing of the OMR answer sheets/OMR sheets (marks foil)/counterfoil's of the evaluated answer books having bar codes and scans the data entry of the question wise marks and total marks, verification of data with the hard copy of counter foils of answer booklets. Scanning and posting of subject wise marks, against students roll number; Preparation of final marks and posting against the students final database; Scanning of attendance sheets for generation of absentee statement. b) Processing of results Collating data of – paper/subject wise marks of absent candidates, marks scored by the students, dual status, TSS & GSS, total questions solved, total unsolved questions; Preparation of reports such as-consolidated reports; subject mismatch reports; discrepancy reports for correction in consultation of Board; statistical reports as and when required by the board; Validation and preparation of data base for regular student; The aforesaid details will be transmitted into high quality so
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ces of printing of pre-examination items, post-examination items and Scanning and processing of results provided by the applicant to an educational institution is towards conduct of examination. The services are normally not carried out by the educational institution by themselves but has to be outsourced to other service providers due to lack of infrastructure for printing, administrative convenience, confidentiality, volume etc. Accordingly, when such Services are procured by the educational institution they tantamount to the services relating to conduct of examination, which will aptly fall within the ambit of exemption outlined under Entry No. 66 of the Notification No. 12/2017 – Central Tax (Rate), dated 28th June, 2017 and as amended by Notification No.2/2018 – Central Tax(Rate), dated 25th January, 2018; Entry No. 66 of Notification No. 12/2017 – State Tax(Rate), dated 29th June, 2017; and Entry No. 69 of the Notification No. 9/2017 – Integrated Tax (Rate), dated 28th June, 2017
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paper. After the activity of printing, the end product shall accordingly be construed as "Cheque" and not "Cheque paper". (b) The Cheque printed on the cheque paper should be classifiable as "products of the printing industry", which will be "Cheque". The Cheque paper is not the product of printing industry, but it is the cheque which is the product of the printing industry. (c) The printing was the primary purpose and without it, the cheque paper on which the matter was printed, is of no use to the appellant's customer. (d) The trade as well as in common parlance, treat these products as cheque and not cheque paper. (e) The product wherever printed must be classified having regard to what it means and how it is understood in common parlance. Thus being the case, it is the printing on the cheque paper, which communicates the message to the buyer that the product supplied to him is "Cheque" and not "Cheque paper". The prin
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2017 and the Telangana Goods and Service Tax ("TGST") Act, 2017 provides the meaning of 'job work' which reads as under: Job work" means any treatment or process undertaken by a person on goods belonging to another registered person and the expression "job worker" shall be construed accordingly. The applicant submits that the process of printing of cheques undertaken by the applicant is on the input, i.e., paper, belongs to customer bank, who are registered persons. Hence, the process of printing undertaken by the applicant should be construed as "job-work". Further, in terms of Entry No. 3 of Schedule II appended to the CGST Act, 2017, any treatment or process which is applied to another person's goods is a supply service, and accordingly printing of cheque by the applicant shall be construed to be supply of service. The applicant submits that the aforesaid activity of "job-work" carried out by the applicant will be taxable at t
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all goods falling under Chapter 48 or 49, which attract CGST @ 2.5% percent or NIL; TGST @ 2.5% percent or NIL; IGST @5% or NIL 2.5 – Thus, the applicant based on the above facts submits that the activity of printing of cheque, the goods being the cheque in the given case would fall under within the ambit of Chapter 4907. Such goods attracts the rate of tax i.e., CGST, SGST and IGST as "NIL". Hence, the activity of printing of cheque carried out by the applicant will be liable to tax under GST as treatment of process on goods belonging to another registered person being in the nature job work at the rate of 5% (2.5% – Central Tax and 2.5% – State Tax or 5% – Integrated Tax.) (B) Physical inputs ie., paper belonging to the applicant:- The applicant submits that even such supplies would be supply of services i.e., printing. The applicant further submits that serial No. 5 of Circular No. 11/11/2017- GST, dated 20th October, 2017 which provides that: In case of supply of printed
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rtant to note that this will always be transaction and business specific; it cannot be specified on an all-pervasive basis. Hence, the applicant submits that the activity provided by them is purely a "service" in relation to printing where the content to be printed is specified by the banks and the applicant only prints such content on the paper. Accordingly the activity of printing on the paper will fall within the ambit of Entry No. 27 with heading 9989(i) of Notification No. 11/2017-Central Tax (Rate) dated 28th June, 2017 as amended by Notification No. 20/2017-Central Tax (Rate) dated 22nd August, 2017 and Notification No. 31/2017-Central Tax (Rate) dated13th October, 2017, Notification No. 11/2017 -State Tax (Rate) dated 29th June, 2017 as amended by Notification G.O.Ms No.227, dated 05th October, 2017 and Notification No. 31/2017 – State Tax (Rate), dated 23rd November, 2017; Notification No. 8/2017-Integrated Tax (Rate), dated 28th June, 2017 as amended by Notification
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T, SGST and IGST as "NIL". Hence, the activity of printing of cheque carried out by the applicant will be liable to tax under GST as treatment of process belonging to the applicant itself will be liable to tax under GST at the rate of 12% (6%- Central Tax and 6%- State Tax or 12%- Integrated Tax). QUESTION : 3 Whether, in the facts and circumstances as explained in Annexure II, what would bethe classification and the GST rate for, printing and supply of Aadhaar cards on paper to the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI)? 6.Applicant's interpretation of Law: The applicant submits that the activity of printing and despatch of Aadhaar cards provided to Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI), by the applicant is a supply of service. The activity of printing of Aadhaar cards is carried out on-paper as explained in Annexure II. There are two limbs in the aforesaid activity carried out by the applicant to UIDAI:- (a) Printing of Aadhaar cards on paper; (b) D
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anking and dispatching is a composite supply of printing of Aadhaar card. Whereby, printing of Aadhaar card shall constitute to be the principal Supply and the other services are ancillary to the principal supply and such ancillary service is naturally bundled. The applicant further submits that serial No. 5 of Circular No. 11/11/2017GST, dated 20th October, 2017 which provides that: "In case of supply of printed envelopes, letter cards, printed boxes, tissues, napkins, wall paper etc. falling under Chapter 48 or 49, printed with design, logo etc. supplied by the recipient of goods but made using physical inputs including paper belonging to the printer, predominant supply is that of goods and the supply of printing of the content [supplied by the recipient of supply] is ancillary to the principal supply of goods and therefore such supplies would constitute supply of goods falling under respective headings of Chapter 48 or 49 of the Customs Tariff is ultra vires and quod contra leg
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Notification No. 20/2017-Central Tax (Rate) dated 22nd August, 2017 and Notification No. 31/2017-Central Tax (Rate) dated 13th October, 2017, Notification No. 11/2017 -State Tax (Rate) dated 29th June, 2017 as amended by Notification G.O.Ms No.227, dated 05th October, 2017 and Notification No. 31/2017 – State Tax (Rate), dated 23rd November, 2017; Notification No. 8/2017- Integrated Tax (Rate), dated 28th June, 2017 as amended by Notification No. 20/2017- Integrated Tax (Rate), dated 22nd August, 2017 and Notification No. 39/2017- Integrated Tax (Rate), dated 13th October, 2017, which is as under:- SI.No. Heading Description of Service Rate (Per Cent) Condition 27 9989 Services by way of printing of all goods falling under Chapter 48 or 49 [including newspapers, books (including Braille books), journals and periodicals], which attract CGST @ 6 per cent or 2.5 per cent or Nil; TGST @ 6 per cent or 2.5 percent or Nil IGST @12% percent or 5 % or Nil. Where only content is supplied by the
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the product which is printed by the applicant under the following Chapter heading as provided in Notification No. 01/2017-Central Tax (Rate) dated 28th June, 2017, Notification No. 01/2017-State Tax (Rate) dated 29th June, 2017 and Notification No.1/2017-Integrated Tax (Rate) dated 28th June, 2017. Sl.No. Heading Description of Goods 106 3920 Other plates, sheets, film, foil and strip, of plastics, non-cellular and not reinforced, laminated, supported or similarly combined with other materials d with other materials Rate of tax The applicant submits that printing activity specified above shall be taxable at the rate specified in Entry No. 27 with heading 9989 (ii) of Notification No. 11/2017Central Tax (Rate) dated 28th June, 2017 and as amended by Notification No. 20/2017-Central Tax (Rate) dated 22nd August, 2017, Notification No. 11/2017 -State Tax (Rate) dated 29th June, 2017 and as amended by Notification G.O.Ms No.227, dated 05th October, 2017; Notification No. 8/2017-Integrated
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g on the issues raised in their application. 3. DISCUSSION & FINDINGS: The applicant sought advance ruling on different issues and each issue is discussed below: 3.1. Whether the following services are treated as exempted supply of service? (i) Printing of Pre-examination items like question papers, OMR sheets (Optical Mark Reading), answer booklets etc., (ii) Printing of Post-examination items like marks card, grade card, certificates to the educational boards upto higher secondary; and (iii) Scanning and processing of results of examinations; 3.1.1 Exemption from payment of GST in respect of certain supplies of Services has been provided under Notification No.12/2017-Central Tax (Rate) dated 28.06.2017 as amended by Notification No.02/2018-Central Tax ( Rate) dated 25.01.2018 . 3.1.2 In terms of Serial No.66 of the impugned notification exemption from payment of GST has been provided to the following supply of services as on date. 66. Services provided – (a) by an educational ins
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ding services by way of,- (i) pre-school education and education up to higher secondary school or equivalent; or (ii) education as a part of an approved vocational education course. ; Further, the said Notification also provides definition for educational institution . In terms of the definition provided under the Notification, (y) educational institution means an institution providing services by way of,- (i) pre-school education and education up to higher secondary school or equivalent; (ii) education as a part of a curriculum for obtaining a qualification recognised by any law for the time being in force; (iii) education as a part of an approved vocational education course; So the services provided to educational institutions for conducting of examinations are eligible for exemption under entry No.66 of Notification No. 12/2017- Central Tax (Rate) dt. 28.6.2017 3.2. What would be the classification and the applicable GST rate, for the supply of Printing of cheque book. 3.2.1 In this
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x ( Rate) dated 28.06.2017 as amended, and the cheques, loose or in book form being an exempted supply in terms of S.No. 118 to the Notification No. 02/2017- Central Tax (Rate) dated 28.06.2017, the supply of service by the applicant attracts GST @ 5% ( 2.5% CGST + 2.5% SGST). 3.2.3 In respect of supply of cheque books where the printing paper and inks are being borne by the applicants, the impugned goods merit classification under Tariff heading 4907 as goods and they are an exempted supply in terms of Serial No 118 to the Notification No.02/2017-Central Tax (Rate) dated 28.06.2017. Hence, cheques or cheque books would not attract any GST and are an exempted supply in terms of the Notification. 3.3. What would be the classification and the applicable GST rate, for the supply of Aadhaar Cards on paper. 3.3.1 As per the information provided by the applicant, they receive the data for printing from UIDAI in Unicode (extensible mark up language) file format. The said file format would be
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the supplies are provided in conjunction. Despatching of aadhaar card will not be complete unless it is printed, laminated and franked by the applicant. Likewise all the services are interdependent on one another. Hence it cannot be considered as mixed supply in terms of section 2(74) of CGST/TGST Act, 2017. In the entire gamut of things being undertaken by the applicant, it appears that, it is an activity of predominant nature of supply of service rather than supply of goods. Accordingly, it appears that, the services rendered by the applicant merits as supply of service and accordingly falls under serial no.27 of Notification No.11/2017-Central Tax (Rate) dated 28.06.2017 as amended and the rate of tax applicable is 12% ( 6% CGST + 6% SGST). 3.4. What would be the classification and the applicable GST rate, for the printing and supply of Polyvinyl chloride cards (PVC). 3.4.1 Assessees are undertaking printing on Polyvinyl chloride (PVC) cards to various customers. PVC cards are plas
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plies and the question, whether such supplies constitute supply of goods or services would be determined on the basis of what constitutes the principal supply. 3. Principal supply has been defined in Section 2(90) of the Central Goods and Services Tax Act as supply of goods or services which constitutes the predominant element of a composite supply and to which any other supply forming part of that composite supply is ancillary. 4. In the case of printing of books, pamphlets, brochures, annual reports, and the like, where only content is supplied by the publisher or the person who owns the usage rights to the intangible inputs while the physical inputs including paper used for printing belong to the printer, supply of printing [of the content supplied by the recipient of supply] is the principal supply and therefore such supplies would constitute supply of service falling under heading 9989 of the scheme of classification of services. 5. In case of supply of printed envelopes, letter c
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o.106 of Schedule III of Notification No.1/2017-Central Tax (Rate) dated 28th June, 2017. In view of the foregoing discussions, the following ruling is passed. ADVANCE RULING 1. The supply of service to educational institutions for conducting of examinations are eligible for exemption under entry No.66 of Notification No. 12/2017- Central Tax (Rate) dt. 28.6.2017. 2. The supply of Printing of cheque books (where the paper is being supplied by the banks) are classifiable under heading 9988 and attracts GST @ 5% (2.5% CGST + 2.5% SGST). 3. The supply of cheque books(where the printing paper and inks are being borne by the applicants) are classifiable under heading 4907 of GST Tariff as goods and would not attract any GST as they are exempted supply in terms of Serial No 118 to the Notification No.02/2017-Central Tax (Rate) dated 28.06.2017. 4. The supply of Aadhaar Cards are classifiable under heading 9989 of GST Tariff and attracts GST @ 12% ( 6% CGST + 6% SGST) in terms of S.No.27 of N
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