Whether service tax is leviable on services provided by educational institution other than 'ordinary course of services'

[samiuddin ansari]

Respected Sir,

With due respect, I may kindly be guided as I have some doubts on the point of exemption granted to education institutions as per sr. no.09 of mega exemption Notification No.28/2012-S.T dated 20.06.2012 as amended whereunder it has provided that any ordinary services provided to educational institutions are exempted.Sir, my friend is a registered architect and having service tax registration and he has recently provided taxable services related to designing, planning, construction etc. to educational institution i.e. private school for a building of one more additional storey to the school building due to increase in the strength of students. The Service Tax Department is asking for service tax on such services provided to education institute. My question is whether he is liable to pay the tax liability of such services. If he is not liable to pay, kindly provide some reference for guidance.

With regards,

S.N.Ansari.

[samiuddin ansari]

In place of

Whether service tax is leviable on services provided by educational institution other than "ordinary course of services"

may be read as

Whether service tax is leviable on services provided to educational institution other than "ordinary course of services"

[Rajagopalan Ranganathan]

Sir,

Sl. No. 9 of Notification No. 25/2012-ST dated 20.6.2012 as amended states that-

"Services provided,-

(a) by an educational institution to its students, faculty and staff;

(b) to an educational institution, by way of,-

(i) transportation of students, faculty and staff;

(ii) catering, including any mid-day meals scheme sponsored by the Government;

(iii) security or cleaning or house-keeping services performed in such educational institution;

(iv) services relating to admission to, or conduct of examination by, such institution."

Service provided by an architect is not included in Sl. No. 9. Therefore the architect is liable to pay service tax.

[Ganeshan Kalyani]

As the service of architecture is not enumerated in the exemption notification, the service would fall under forward charge payable by the provider of service subject to the benefit of small service provider i.e. service tax is exempted upto ₹ 10 Lacs. Thanks.

[KASTURI SETHI]

I support the views of both experts.

[PAWAN KUMAR]

Dear Sir,

I fully agree with replies of Sh.R.Rangathan Ji. All Services except as listed in S.No.9(b) are liable for service tax when provided to schools/educational institutions.

[Mr Rao]

I support the views expressed by the experts.

AI Summary

Architect's Services for School Expansion Taxable Under Notification No. 25/2012-ST; Exemption Not Applicable A query was raised regarding the applicability of service tax on services provided to educational institutions, specifically whether an architect's services for designing and constructing an additional storey for a school are taxable. The discussion referenced Notification No. 25/2012-ST, which exempts certain services provided to educational institutions but does not include architectural services. Multiple respondents agreed that since architectural services are not listed in the exemption, they are subject to service tax unless the small service provider exemption applies, which exempts services up to 10 Lacs. The consensus was that the architect is liable for the tax.