GST on society registered u/s 12AA and working on advancement of Handicrafts

[Archna Gupta]

Dear Sir,

Please guide me on GST applicability and provisions on a society registered u/s 12AA of Income Tax Act and is working on the advancement of Handicrafts.

[Alkesh Jani]

Sir/Madam,

With regards, to your query, the following is to be taken into consideration :-

Section 2(84) person includes ………….

(l) society as defined under the Societies Registration Act, 1860;

(m) trust; and ……

In view of above even societies and trust are person under GST Act. Moreover, any supplies made by a person who’s aggregate turnover exceeds 20 lakhs and 10 lakhs in special category states, are required to obtain registration under this Act. With regards to Society or Trust registered under Section 12AA of Income tax Act, the specified services supplied by them are exempted from GST. There is no exemption for supply of goods by charitable trusts or societies. Therefore, any supply of goods against consideration are subject to tax.

With regards to advancement of handicraft, the exemption is restricted to casual tax payer. The definition is given at Section 2(20) “(20) “casual taxable person” means a person who occasionally undertakes transactions involving supply of goods or services or both in the course or furtherance of business, whether as principal, agent or in any other capacity, in a State or a Union territory where he has no fixed place of business; Please verify the nature of supply and then as casual tax payer exemption vide Notification No.32/2017-CT as amended, can be claimed.

In short, you are required to take registration if your turnover is more than threshold limit and if so, you are liable to pay tax.

Our other experts may like to intervene to correct me if mistaken.

[KASTURI SETHI]

Regarding handicrafts, Notification No. 32/17-CT stands amended vide Notification No.38/17-CT dated 13.10.17.

AI Summary

GST Applies to Handicrafts Societies Under Section 12AA; Goods Taxable, Limited Exemptions for Casual Taxpayers. A query was raised about the applicability of GST on a society registered under Section 12AA of the Income Tax Act, focusing on handicrafts advancement. It was clarified that societies and trusts are considered persons under the GST Act and must register if their turnover exceeds certain thresholds. While services provided by such entities are GST-exempt, the supply of goods is taxable. Exemptions for handicrafts are limited to casual taxpayers, as defined under Section 2(20). Notification No. 32/2017-CT, amended by Notification No. 38/2017-CT, was referenced for further details on exemptions.