In Re: The Banking Codes and Standards Board of India
GST
2018 (12) TMI 1086 – AUTHORITY FOR ADVANCE RULING, MAHARASHTRA – 2019 (20) G. S. T. L. 698 (A. A. R. – GST)
AUTHORITY FOR ADVANCE RULING, MAHARASHTRA – AAR
Dated:- 1-8-2018
GST-ARA-24/2017-18/B-82
GST
SHRI B.V. BORHADE, AND SHRI PANKAJ KUMAR, MEMBER
PROCEEDINGS
(under section 98 of the Central Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017 and the Maharashtra Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017)
The present application has been filed under section 97 of the Central Goods and Services Tax Act,
2017 and the Maharashtra Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017 [hereinafter referred to as “the CGST Act and MGST Act”] by The Banking Codes and Standards Board of India, the applicant, seeking an advance ruling in respect of the following question :
Whether GST is liable to be paid on the contribution made by Members towards “Annual Membership Fees and registration fees” to the Corpus Fund of BCSBI and recurring expenditure being incu
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e Bank of India (RBI) in pursuance of the Report of the Taraporewala Committee for the purpose of creating awareness and ensuring the correct following of the Codes and Standards for Services by the Banks in India. For the first 5 years i.e. from 2006 to 2011, it was fully funded by the Reserve Bank of India and the Applicant started to raise its own Corpus Fund for its activities from the Member Banks from 2007 by way of Annual Subscription Fees depending on the Gross Domestic Assets of the member Bank.
From the year 2010-11 to 2014-15, the RBI has funded the Applicant Board to the extent of the shortfall between the expenditure and interest income of the Corpus.
The Annual Subscription is collected only to run the day-to-day activities in the interest of Consumer Protection. Major part of the expenditure is spent on creating consumer awareness of their rights and the balance is towards overhead and salaries. No service is provided by the Applicant to the Member Banks. The Membershi
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an independent and autonomous watchdog to monitor and to ensure that the banking Codes and Standards voluntarily adopted by Banks are adhered to in true spirit by Banks in delivering the services, as promised, to their customers.
iii. To conduct and undertake research of the Codes and Standards currently in vogue in and outside India.
iv. To enter into covenants with Banks on observance of the codes and standards and for that purpose to train employees of such Banks about the Banking Codes.
vi. To advertise and publish promotional literature in newspapers and otherwise about the Codes and Standards for the guidance and knowledge of the public through Web site, advertisements in the newspapers, magazines, journals, TV/ Radio, hoardings or any other mode which the Society may deem fit.
vii. To take up specific assignments, if any, in the areas coming under the Society's objects as projects, turnkey solutions or on any other terms of contracts with in-house resources or with the
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Membership Fees and registration fee out of which the Applicant carries out the various activities as detailed above.
4. Further, the moot question about the very taxability of the activity of the Applicant under the Goods & Services Tax arises on account of the following facts:
a. The definition of 'Supply' as per Section 7 of the Central Goods & Services Tax Act, 2017 and whether the activity of the same would be covered under the term 'Supply'.
b. The definition of 'Consideration' as per Section 2 (31) of the Central Goods & Services Tax Act, 2017 and whether the amount received by way of contribution to the Corpus from Member Banks would be covered under the term 'Consideration'.
c. The activity of the Applicant Board is squarely Covered under the 'Principle of Mutuality'. The various High Courts and Tribunals have consistently held that the activity Of Clubs & Associations for its own members does not amount to Service' and the moneys collected by way of Membership Subsc
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h.
Section 7 of the CGST Act, 2017 defines the term “Supply” as under:
SUPPLY:
“7. (1) For the purposes of this Act, the expression “supply” includes-
(a) all forms of supply of goods or services or both such as sale, transfer, barter, exchange, licence, rental, lease or disposal made or agreed to be made for a consideration by a person in the course or furtherance of business;
(b) import of services for a consideration whether or not in the course or furtherance of business;
(c) the activities specified in Schedule I, made or agreed to be made without a consideration; and
(d) the activities to be treated as supply of goods or supply of services as referred to in Schedule II.
(2) Notwithstanding anything contained in sub-section (1),-
(a) activities or transactions specified in Schedule III; or
(b) such activities or transactions undertaken by the Central Government, a State Government or any local authority in which they are engaged as public authorities, as may
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e inducement of, the supply of goods or services or both, whether by the recipient or by any other person but shall not include any subsidy given by the Central Government or a State Government;
(b) the monetary value of any act or forbearance, in respect of, in response to, or for the inducement of, the supply of goods or services or both, whether by the recipient or by any other person but shall not include any subsidy given by the Central Government or a State Government:
Provided that a deposit given in respect of the supply of goods or services or both shall not be considered as payment made for such supply unless the supplier applies such deposit as consideration for the said supply;”
The term '”Business” is defined in Section 2 (17) of the CGST Act, 2017 as under:
BUSINESS:
“(17) “business” includes-
(a) any trade, commerce, manufacture, profession, vocation, adventure, wager or any other similar activity, whether or not it is for a pecuniary benefit;
(b) any act
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are engaged as public authorities;”
A sum total of the analysis of the terms 'Supply”, “Consideration” and “Business” would make it clear that the activity of the Applicant does not fall under either of them, as discussed herein under:
SUPPLY:
It is clear from the definition of 'Supply' that firstly the same involves all forms of supply of goods or services. In this regard, there is no question of any goods in this case. As such, it is to be seen whether any service is provided by the Applicant. As already stated above, applicant is collecting Corpus Fund from Member Banks and the entire activity is related to public awareness about the codes & standards followed by member Banks. This entire activity, including the salaries of the staff is paid only through the interest earned at present from the Corpus Fund, which is capitalized.
There is no facility or benefit of any kind offered by the Applicant to Member Banks for their contribution to the Corpus Fund. Also, the entire activit
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Fund' at present. In view of the same, there is no 'Consideration' collected against which any supply of service is provided to the Member Banks. It is their own fund, which is used for creating public awareness and consumer guidance/ protection programmes regarding their banking rights.
BUSINESS:
The Applicant is not doing any activity in the nature of any trade, commerce, manufacture, profession, vocation, adventure, wager or any other similar activity so as to constitute 'Business'. Further, even if we consider clause (e) of the definition of 'Business' i.e. “provision by a club, association, society, or any such body (fora subscription or any other consideration) of the facilities or benefits to its members”, then too, the activity of the Applicant is not covered in as much as there is no any kind of facility, benefit or service given to the Member Banks by the Applicant. The entire fund collected by way of contribution from Member Banks is towards the Corpus and only the interes
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ained, with its income not tainted by commerciality. A formal organization indicating mutuality as between members with bye-laws spelling out mutuality may, however, be necessary as proof of claim to mutuality either as a society or a company registered under Section 25 of the Companies Act, 1956, or even as managed by a public trust, with such activities primarily intended to be confined to its members.
What is Principle of Mutuality?
Often, we come across situations where a group of people forms an association (could be formal or informal) and pool in their surplus income in the association's common fund. The fund so collected is then used for the benefit of the members when needed.
Take for e.g. where the members associate themselves together for the purpose of insuring each other's life on the principle of mutual assurance, that is to say, they contribute annually to a common fund out of which payments shall be made, in the event of death, to the representatives of the deceas
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d made by them which could only be expended or returned to themselves. Based on these conditions and relying on a number of Indian and foreign case laws the Apex Court went ahead to determine whether the Associations or clubs functioned within the four boundaries of the above mentioned principal conditions of the doctrine of mutuality. In fact, the Principle of Mutuality applies to all taxes i.e. Income Tax, VAT/ Sales Tax and Service Tax, alike.
The more important case laws are as below:
Principle of Mutuality was considered in C. I. T. V Bankipur Club 1998 (109) STC 427 (SC) = 1997 (5) TMI 392 – SUPREME COURT. These principles are applicable and have been applied by the Calcutta High Court in Saturday Club ltd. (2005 (180) E.L.T. 437 (Cal.)) =2004 (6) TMI 11 – HIGH COURT CALCUTTA as concurred to in Dalhousie Institute (2005 (180) E.L.T. 18 (Cal)) = 2004 (6) TMI 10 – HIGH COURT CALCUTTA. (EXHIBIT A-1 to A-3).
2012 (26) S.T.R. 401 (Jhar.) = 2012 (6) TMI 636 – JHARKHAND
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supply of preparations by club to its members was not a sale as there was no transfer of property from one to another, and even though club had distinct legal entity, it was acting only as an agent for its members – Sections 65(66) and 65(67) of Finance Act, 1994. [para 18]
Sale and service – Nature of – Sale entails transfer of property whereas service does not – However, both transactions requires existence of two parties – Sale requires seller and buyer, and Service requires service provider and service receiver. [para 18]
2013 (31) S.T.R. 645 (Guj.) = 2013 (7) TMI 510 – GUJARAT HIGH COURT IN THE HIGH COURT OF GUJARAT AT AHMEDABAD, Ravi R. Tripathi and R.D. Kothari, JJ. SPORTS CLUB OF GUJARAT LTD. Versus UOI, Special Civil Application Nos. 13654-13656 of 2005. decided on 25-3-2013
Club – Finance Act, 1994 – Sections 65(25a), 65(105)(zzze) and 66 – Service Tax on club rendering service to its members – HELD : It was ultra vires and beyond legislative competence of Parliame
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ial Training or Coaching service – Charitable trust – Profits earned cannot be distributed among members of appellant – Surplus to be given to similar body on dissolution – Members required to contribute towards liability but no share of surplus given nor any dividend given – Memorandum of association showing appellant not a commercial concern – Programmes conducted in the nature of continuing education – Objective is professional development and not to impart skills for particular job or examination – Programmes not covered under commercial training or coaching – Appellant not covered under relevant service – Sections 65(26), 65(27) and 73 of Finance Act, 1994. [paras 4.5, 4.7, 4.10]
Club or Association service – Receipts without return – Member not entitled to any specific service in return – Institutions also become members – Membership fee to be paid without expecting any return – Revenue not brought out the services or advantages received by members on paying fees or other amount
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in Service Tax matters, which is now replaced by GST, the issue is now pending before the Honorable Supreme Court of India (Constitution Bench). As such, till such time as the issue is settled by the Apex Court, the Principle of Mutuality should be extended to the levy of GST and no GST is leviable on the activity of the Applicant under the Principle of Mutuality even under the CGST Act, 2017 and the Rules made thereunder.
STATEMENT REGARDING INTERPRETATION OF FACTS:
The following facts pertaining to the Applicant's organization and its activities are relevant to consider the activity of the Applicant as not eligible to GST:
a. The Applicant Board is registered as a “Charitable Pubic Trust” under the Maharashtra Public Trust Act, 1950 and also registered as a “Society” under Societies Registration Act,1860.
b. For the initial 5 years from 2006 to 2011, the Applicant was totally funded by the Reserve Bank of India, Thereafter, the RBI was funding the Applicant o the extent of sho
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ceived by them does not fall within the purview of “Consideration”. Also, in identical cases of taxation under various Statutes such as Income tax, VAT/ Sales Tax and Service Tax the various High Courts and Tribunals have held that no tax is leviable on services provided by Associations and Clubs to its own Members out of the subscription collected, on the Principles of Mutuality. The above facts, therefore, support the contention of the Applicant Board that they are not liable to Goods and Services Tax.
Additional Submission in Advance Ruling Application for “Banking Codes And Standards Board of India”
We are thankful for the patient hearing given on 25-04-2018. Our Clients have made submissions in their Advance Ruling Application pertaining to their activity i.e. collecting Membership Fees from all its Member Banks, which is neither falling under the definition of “Supply” nor under “Consideration” or under the definition or “Business” as provided under CGST Act, 2017, as explaine
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should be for a 'Consideration'.
ii. It is by one person to another.
iii. It should be in the course of or in furtherance of 'Business'.
i. SUPPLY SHOULD BE FOR CONSIDERATION:
The term 'Consideration' is defined under Section 2 (31) of the CGST Act, 2017. The relevant portion is as under:
“Consideration:
Section 2. (31) “consideration” in relation to the supply of goods or services or both includes
(a) any payment made or to be made, whether in money or otherwise, in respect of, in response to, or for the inducement of, the supply of goods or services or both, whether by the recipient or by any other person but shall not include any subsidy given by the Central Government or a State Government;”
The definition of '”Consideration” thus provides that the payment should be made in respect of the “Supply” from one person to another. As such, the definition of “Consideration” is not independent and should be read alongwith the definition of “Supply”, wherein the transaction i
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e self sufficient for meeting its expenses. We are pleased to inform you that with co-operation front all its Members, BCSBI has been able to meet all its expenses out of its own income since last two years.
2. In terms of Rule 5.1 of the Banking Code Rules, 'Membership fees payable by Members shall be in proportion to their gross domestic assets as on March 31, of the previous year and shall be of such amount, as the Governing Council may determine as payable by each Member. The Governing Council (CC) in its 103rd Meeting held on 31.01.2017 reviewed the financial position of BCSBI and has decided to retain the total membership subscription for 2017-18 at last year's level Rs. 800 lakh. Further, as the subscription is calculated based on individual “member's gross domestic assets as on 31.03.2016, the overall “Rate” for computing the Annual Membership Fee for the year 2017-18 has reduced to********%) (previous year's rate was ******%) This annual membership will be credited to the Co
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that the direction for crediting the membership fees for 2017-18 to BCSBI's corpus and suitably investing the same in such manner that income from such investments should be sufficient to fund the future activities of the Banking Codes and Standards Board of India. Accumulating the corpus funds and generating investment income there from would thus enable BCSBI to be financially independent in public interest for meeting its objects.”
Firstly, it can be seen that the contribution of each member Bank is credited only to the Corpus Fund of BCSBI and the interest earned on such contribution is used for the activities of BCSBI. The “Corpus Fund” is needs to be understood in the right perspective, which will establish that the contribution to “Corpus Fund” by each Member will not constitute as “Consideration”, in any manner and the same cannot be taxed under GST.
CORPUS FUND
Corpus Fund is the fund generated and kept for the existence and sustenance of the Organization. For a charitable
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only the interest, if any accrued on the same, which can be used for meeting the objects of the Trust. It is in the form of a Donation and Donee i.e. 'Member Bank' gives specific direction that the contribution given by them, entirely, to be credit to the Corpus (Capital) of BCSBI.
As such, this amount cannot be termed as “Consideration” for BCSBI as they have no control on the said amount like in the manner they wish to use the said contribution. In fact, the Corpus Fund cannot be used for fulfilling the Objects of the Trust but the same has to be kept intact for all times as being “'Capital” of the Trust.
Sample Copy of BCSBI Letter to Banks for Contribution and Direction of the Banks to imply their Contribution to “Corpus Fund” is annexed and marked as (EXHIBIT A-1 & A-2).
The Annual Report of the Applicant i.e. BCSBI of the F.Y. 2016-17, have already been submitted during the Final Hearing which was held on 25-04-2018, which establishes that the Contributions received from Banks
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s issue has been made in the Advance Ruling Application. It is noteworthy that the Applicant & It's Member Banks are not separate from each other and they are the species of mutual undertaking, as discussed in detail in Supreme Court Order in Bankipur Club Ltd. =1997 (5) TMI 392 – SUPREME COURT, which is decided in the year 1997. The Hon'ble Supreme Court has relied upon many English Judgments while reaching to the conclusion of '”Principles of Mutuality”. The said principle has its relevance in all the taxations laws i.e. Income Tax, Service Tax & VAT and has universal application. “Principle of Mutuality” has its implication in all statute as the foundation fact as there is no existence of two separate legal entities. The Applicant has relied upon various Judgments beginning from EXHIBIT A-1 to EXHIBIT B-3 and also certain latest Service Tax Judgments have been submitted during the hearing. The issue is no more res integra as decided by Hon'ble Supreme Court, various High Courts and
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efinition of “Business” to the extent it add the provision of Club to its Members, the Applicant wish to state and submit as under:
“Section 2(17) Business includes-
………..
(e) Provision by a Club, association, society, or any such body (for a subscription or any other consideration) of the facilities or benefits to its members;”
The detailed submission is made on this aspect in the Application, as well. Any Supply is meant to be in the course of business or furtherance of the same. As such, the definition of '”Business” is very vital. In case of the Applicant Section 2 (17) (e) will be applicable. It provides that if any provision is made by Club, Association or similar Body, which should be for Subscription or other consideration and for provision of any facility or benefit to its Members.
In this backdrop, the nature of activity of Applicant and facts of the issue at hand are to be appreciated, which are as under;
The Applicant is not collecting any consideration from i
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ribed by the Applicant. These guidelines are for the benefit of people who undertake any transaction with banks such as their Account Holders etc. This is an obligation on the Banks and the Applicant Association is not providing for any benefit or facility to them being a Member, in any manner. The Applicant Association undertakes research and related work to prepare the Codes of Banks commitment to Customers that are mandatory on their Member Banks. There is no provision of any benefit or facility provided by the Applicant to its Members.
From the above submissions, it is amply clear that the activity of the Applicant does not fall under the ambit of “Business”, at all.
In view of the detailed submission made herein above and the submission made in the Application and the submissions made during the hearing in the matter, it is evident that the activity of the Applicant does not fall under the definition of “Supply” by any parameter and as such the Applicant are not required to obta
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case and the legal provisions related thereto, the Advance Ruling Authority may decide the above framed/ referred questions and Oblige.
03. CONTENTION – AS PER THE CONCERNED OFFICER
The submission, as reproduced verbatim, could be seen thus-
The report in this case was called from Principal Commissioner of Central Tax, Mumbai East and Commissioner of Goods and Service Tax, Maharashtra State, Mumbai, as the applicant is un registered. The report as received from Sh. Anil Khude, Asstt. Commr. Of S.T. Mumbai received is as follows:-
Going through the submission made by M/s. The Banking Codes And Standards Board Of India (hereinafter called as BCSBI) It is observed that the BCSBI was formed in the year 2006 by the RBI and initially it was fully funded by RBI, however from 2007 the BCSBI started collecting annual subscription fees from the member banks. BCSBI is registered under the Societies Registration Act, 1860 and also as a public trust under the Maharashtra Public Trust Act, 1950
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definition under section 2 as follows:
* Section 2(84) “person” includes-
* society as defined under the Societies Registration Act, 1860:
* trust' and
* Section 2(17) “business” includes-
* any trade, commerce, manufacture, profession, vocation, adventure, wager or any other similar activity, whether or not it is for a pecuniary benefit;
Section 7
* Scope of supply.
(1) For the purposes of this Act, the expression “supply” includes
* all forms of supply of goods or services or both such as sale, transfer, barter, exchange, licence, rental, lease or disposal
* made or agreed to be made fora consideration by a person in the course or furtherance of business;
* Section 2(31)
“consideration” in relation to the supply of goods or services or both includes
* any payment made or to be made, whether in money or otherwise, in respect of, in response to, or for the inducement of,
* the supply of goods or services or both, whether by the recipient or by any
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thus evolved that the principle of mutuality is not squarely applicable in present case. The member banks are formed under The Banking Regulation Act, 1989 and has a separate legal entity.
Therefore it can be concluded that the BCSBI is a 'Person' doing 'Business' of 'Supply' of services for monetary 'Consideration' received in the form of subscription. Hence the supply of service by BCSBI is eligible to GST.
04. HEARING
The case was taken up for preliminary hearing on 20.03.2018 when Ms. Kirti S. Bhoite, Advocate along with Sh. Phanraj Jain, C.A. and Sh. H. S, Sharma, Sr. V.P. appeared and made submissions orally as per details in the application and requested for admission of their ARA. No person as present from the side of Jurisdictional GST office.
The application was accepted and was scheduled for final hearing on 04.04.2018 but the applicant requested for adjournment in the matter for personal reasons. Shri Jasbir Singh, Inspector appeared and stated that they had not recei
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tribution made by Members towards “Annual Membership Fees and registration fees” to the Corpus Fund of the applicant and recurring expenditure being incurred by the applicant, The primary issue before us is as to whether the applicant is providing supply of services to their members and if so, is there any consideration received by them for such supply of services/ goods. We clearly find that in the subject case at hand there is no supply of goods. Hence the discussions would be restricted to supply of services only.
Section 7 of the CGST Act, 2017 defines the term “Supply” which is as under:-
“Section 7 (1):- “For the purposes of this Act, the expression “supply” includes –
(a) all forms of supply of goods or services or both such as sale, transfer, barter, exchange, licence, rental, lease or disposal “lade or agreed to be made for a consideration by a person in the course or furtherance of business;
(b). ………………;
(c) the activities specified in Schedule 1, made o
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roviding any services to the member Banks. We find that the term 'supply' is an inclusive definition and has to be given a wide connotation. It cannot be restricted only in a narrow compass as lease, rental, barter, etc. We find that the applicant is undertaking various activities which are as under:
i. To plan, evolve, prepare, develop, promote and publish voluntary comprehensive Codes and Standards for Banks, for providing for fair treatment to their customers.
ii. To function as an independent and autonomous watchdog to monitor and to ensure that the banking Codes and Standards voluntarily adopted by Banks are adhered to in true spirit by Banks in delivering the services, as promised, to their customers.
iii. To conduct and undertake research of the Codes and Standards currently in vogue in and outside India.
iv. To enter into covenants with Banks on observance of the codes and standards and for that purpose to train employees of such Banks about the Banking Codes.
v. To ad
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s having similar objects or allied objects by way of subscription, enrolment as a member thereof, financial or other kind of assistance, collaboration, cooperation and in any manner as the Society may deem fit.
x. To initiate, establish and participate in collaborative activities with other institutions/organizations having similar objects within and outside the country.
We find that these activities are undertaken only for and in respect of the Member Banks, who have voluntarily become their members. Hence their primary objective is to guide the public and publicise about the Codes and Standards and Commitment of their Member Banks. Hence we find that the applicant is firstly developing and publishing and then publicizing Banking Codes and Standards for the banks who are their members and after this, they are monitoring its compliance, undertaking further research with regard to codes and standards and are also training bank employees about these codes.
We also find that the appl
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s being performed by the applicant on their behalf and for their benefit in terms of winning confidence of customers about their services. And because of this activity of the applicant it can be stated that it would be one of the factors that would probably lead to good business for the Bank in terms of more clients. Publishing literature, advertisements, etc representing their member banks implies that the public at large are being made aware about their member banks, which would tantamount to supply of service to the said member banks.
Secondly we are required to ascertained if these services are for a consideration or otherwise as we find that the second part of the definition says that “…….all forms of supply of goods or services…….for a consideration.
For performing the said activities, the applicant requires funds which are collected by them in the form of Annual Membership Fees and registration fees. Even though as per their submissions these fees are not used by them,
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……………..;
(d) ……………..;
(e) provision by a club, association, society, or any such body (for a subscription or any other consideration) of the facilities or benefits to its members;
(f) ……………..;
(g)……………..;
(h)……………..;and
(i)……………..;
As per Section 2 (17) (e) of the Act, the applicant, who are registered under the Societies Registration Act, 1860 and can therefore be termed as a society, supplies service in the form of providing facilities or benefits to its Member Banks for a subscription (in this case Annual Membership Fees and registration fees). Such provision of facilities or benefits to its Member Banks, by the applicant is squarely covered under Section 2 (17) (e) of the GST Act. In their further submission, the applicant at one point has stated that “Any Supply is meant to be in the course of business or furtherance of the same. As such, the definition of “Business” is very vital in case of the Applicant Sectio
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ant would supply various services to Banks only on becoming members. Non-members would not be served by the applicant.
The applicant has submitted that RBI provides for guidelines, which are mandatory for each and every bank i.e Co-Operative Banks, Scheduled Banks, Non-Scheduled Banks, Nationalized Banks, Foreign Banks who have their Branches in India. The Applicant prepares the Codes of Banks' commitment to Customers, which is in consonance with the basic frame work in line provided by the RBI related to consumer protection, but this supply of service is only to member banks and not to banks who have not become members.
The applicant has also submitted that the Member Banks undertake to adhere to the Codes of Banks commitment to Customers and guidelines prescribed by the Applicant which clearly imply that adherence to codes and standards of the applicant gives further credence to the functioning and services of these banks.
We find that they have submitted that the RBI guidelines a
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e of Mutuality' and not exigible to GST. As per their submissions and contentions that even in cases, where Clubs and Associations have collected subscriptions from their members and have provided facilities to such members, various High Courts and Tribunals have held such activities not eligible to Tax on the Principle of Mutuality, which is guided by the gospel that “No man can trade with himself; he cannot make, in what is its true sense or meaning, taxable profit by dealing with himself”.
We find that the applicant body was formed in the year 2006 and then went on to enlist Banks as members. This argument put forth by the applicant does not hold good for the present facts. In the subject issue the member banks have not come together to form the applicant body. The applicant body had been formed by the RBI to prepare codes of commitment to customers of various banks and this activity is done by the applicant very selectively i.e. only to Banks who pay them some fees. The applicant
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s in India have been in existence a lot prior to the year 2006, when the applicant body was formed for the purpose of creating awareness and ensuring the correct following of the Codes and Standards for Services by the Banks in India, but here the applicant is only creating awareness about their member banks and that too after collecting Annual Membership and Registration fees from the Banks.
With respect to the applicant's contention that “as regards the Principle of Mutuality in Service Tax matters, which is now replaced by GST, the issue is now pending before the Honorable Supreme Court of India (Constitution Bench). As such, till such time as the issue is settled by the Apex Court, the Principle of Mutuality should be extended to the levy of GST and no GST is leviable on the their activity even under the CGST Act, 2017 and the Rules made thereunder”. We find that the applicant has proceeded on the assumption that there exists a principle of mutuality in their case. However, for re
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