GST on Donations collected from Customers

[ROHIT GOEL]

Dear Sirs,

One of our client(a company) runs a television broadcasting channel. Due to the COVID-19 Crisis, the company has started a campaign on their channel where they are requesting the audience to send money to the company's bank account and then post accumulation of say ₹ 50 lakhs, the company would donate entire amount to a Trust registered u/s 12AA/80G of Income Tax Act. No part of the money would be retained by the company at all.

The company is not registered u/s 80G/12AA, so my query is whether the amounts collected by the company from their customers/audience be treated as supply and liable to GST or would it be simply treated as a transaction in money and as such held to be non taxable?

Kindly advice with supporting judicial decisions/analysis of legal provisions.

AI Summary

TV Channel's COVID-19 Donation Campaign: No GST on Viewer Contributions Under Section 12AA/80G Income Tax Act. A company running a television broadcasting channel initiated a campaign during the COVID-19 crisis, soliciting donations from viewers to be transferred to the company's bank account. Once 50 lakhs is collected, the entire amount will be donated to a registered Trust under section 12AA/80G of the Income Tax Act, with no retention by the company. The query raised concerns whether these donations are subject to GST. Responses from several experts concluded that the donations are not liable for GST as they do not constitute a supply of goods or services, and are merely transactions in money.