Service tax exemption for transportation of life saving medicines

[Guest]

Any service tax exemption for GTA for the transportation of life saving medicines between military hospitals.

[Rajagopalan Ranganathan]

Sir,

According to Sl. No. 21 of mega exemption Notification No. 25/2012-ST dated 20.6.2012 as amended only services provided by a goods transport agency, by way of transport in a goods carriage of

(a) agricultural produce;

(b) goods, where gross amount charged for the transportation of goods on a consignment transported in a single carriage does not exceed one thousand five hundred rupees;

(c) goods, where gross amount charged for transportation of all such goods for a single consignee does not exceed rupees seven hundred fifty;

(d) milk, salt and food grain including flours, pulses and rice;

(e) chemical fertilizer, organic manure and oil cakes;

(f) newspaper or magazines registered with the Registrar of Newspapers;

(g) relief materials meant for victims of natural or man-made disasters, calamities, accidents or mishap; or

(h) defence or military equipments;

(i) cotton, ginned or baled.

is exempted. Life saving drugs do not find a place in the above list. Therefore service of transportation of life saving drugs by GTA is not exempted.

[KASTURI SETHI]

I endorse the views of Sh.Ranganathan, Sir.

[Ganeshan Kalyani]

Sir, to the point reply submitted by Sri Rajagopalan Sir. Just a curiosity why transportation of life saving drug is not exempted from service tax? Thanks.

[KASTURI SETHI]

Sh.Ganeshan Kalyani Ji,

You are right. Other day-to-day items have been exempted. Life saving drugs should be exempted from ST for transportation.

AI Summary

Service Tax Exemption Denied for Transporting Life-Saving Drugs Between Military Hospitals Under Notification No. 25/2012-ST. A query was raised regarding the service tax exemption for goods transport agencies (GTA) transporting life-saving medicines between military hospitals. It was clarified that according to the mega exemption Notification No. 25/2012-ST, life-saving drugs are not listed among the exempted items such as agricultural produce, food grains, and defense equipment. Therefore, the transportation of life-saving drugs by GTA is not exempt from service tax. Participants in the discussion agreed with this interpretation and questioned why such essential items are not exempted, suggesting that they should be.