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 registration requirement: societies and trusts are taxable persons and must register when turnover exceeds threshold, with exemptions limited. Societies and trusts are treated as persons under GST and must register once aggregate turnover exceeds the statutory threshold. A 12AA registered society may obtain exemptions for specified services, but supplies of goods for consideration by charitable entities remain taxable. Handicraft related exemptions are limited to casual taxable persons, so the nature of each supply and applicable notification amendments must be verified before claiming exemption.