Employee recoveries for third-party canteen and transport welfare facilities are not taxable supplies under GST.

Recoveries by an employer from employees for canteen and bus transportation facilities arranged through third-party service providers were held outside the scope of taxable supply. The ruling found that the employer was not itself supplying catering or transport services; it merely collected the employees' share and remitted the consolidated amounts to the third-party vendors. Because these recoveries were treated as welfare or employment-related arrangements, and not activities in the course or furtherance of business, they did not constitute consideration for an independent supply. GST was therefore not leviable on the employees' portion recovered for either facility.

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Issues: (i) Whether the amount recovered from employees towards canteen facility arranged through a third-party service provider is liable to GST; (ii) Whether the amount recovered from employees towards bus transportation facility arranged through third-party vendors is liable to GST.

Issue (i): Whether the amount recovered from employees towards canteen facility arranged through a third-party service provider is liable to GST.

Analysis: The canteen facility was arranged by the applicant through a third-party caterer, while the applicant only recovered the employees' share and remitted the consolidated amount to the service provider. The facility was treated as a welfare arrangement connected with statutory canteen obligations and not as an independent business activity of supplying food or catering services. Since the applicant was not itself supplying canteen service and the recovery represented only part of the amount already paid to the third party, the transaction did not amount to a supply in the course or furtherance of business.

Conclusion: GST is not leviable on the employees' portion recovered towards the canteen facility.

Issue (ii): Whether the amount recovered from employees towards bus transportation facility arranged through third-party vendors is liable to GST.

Analysis: The transportation facility was also arranged through third-party transporters, with the applicant recovering only the subsidized employee contribution and paying the balance to the service provider. The facility was provided as part of the employment arrangement and HR policy, and not as a transport service business undertaken by the applicant. The recovery was therefore not consideration for any independent supply by the applicant, but only a pass-through collection linked to an employment perquisite and not an activity in the course or furtherance of business.

Conclusion: GST is not leviable on the employees' portion recovered towards the bus transportation facility.

Final Conclusion: The applicant's recoveries from employees for subsidized canteen and transportation facilities are outside the scope of taxable supply, so no GST is payable on such recoveries.

Ratio Decidendi: A recovery made by an employer from employees for third-party-provided welfare facilities does not attract GST where the employer is not itself supplying the service and the activity is not in the course or furtherance of business.

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