Going concern exemption under GST applies only to business transfers, not liquidation sales of identified assets.

Transfer of a business as a going concern is treated differently from sale of identified business assets: under the CGST framework, the former is excluded from supply of goods, while the latter remains a taxable supply of goods. The exemption in serial no. 2 of Notification No. 12/2017-Central Tax (Rate) applies only to services by way of transfer of a going concern. On the facts, a biomass power plant purchased from liquidation as an identified asset block was not a transfer of the corporate debtor's business as an operational whole, so the exemption did not apply and GST was leviable at the applicable rate.

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Issues: Whether the transfer of a biomass power plant as a going concern in liquidation was covered by serial no. 2 of Notification No. 12/2017-Central Tax (Rate) dated 28.06.2017 and therefore exempt from GST.

Analysis: The ruling examined the nature of the transaction under the CGST framework and the liquidation order. It distinguished between transfer of a business as a going concern and sale of assets as a going concern. Schedule II to section 7 of the CGST Act treats transfer of business as a going concern as outside the category of supply of goods, while transfer of goods forming part of business assets remains a supply of goods. The notification grants exemption only to services by way of transfer of a going concern. On the facts, the applicant purchased the biomass power plant as an identified asset block from liquidation, not a transfer of the corporate debtor's business as an operational whole. The sale was therefore held to be a supply of goods, and the concepts of composite supply and mixed supply did not alter that character for exemption purposes.

Conclusion: The exemption under serial no. 2 of Notification No. 12/2017-Central Tax (Rate) was held not applicable, and GST was held leviable at the applicable rate.

Ratio Decidendi: Exemption for transfer of a going concern applies only where the business itself is transferred as a going concern as a supply of services, not where identified business assets are sold from liquidation as goods.

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