Composite supply

[mathur ramachandran]

Sir,

My client is in the business of running a Commercial Training and Coaching centre in Kerala for students enrolled for chartered Accountancy courses in India and England. They are charging course fee for which invoice is raised against the students. They are also supplying study materials to students for which invoice is raised separately. Study materials being printed books fall under ‘NIL’ rate or ‘0%’ rate. The books are purchased from a vendor from outside the state and they charge no GST on their bills, the materials being ‘NIL’ or ‘0%’ rated.

Now the GST department has issued a notice saying that the separate billings for course fee and printed books have to be seen as composite supply and thus has demanded GST for sale of the aforesaid books also.

Please advise me as to the maintainability of the said notice.

Thanking you

Ca M S Ramachandran

91-9447776812

AI Summary

Composite supply: bundled coaching and study materials treated under principal supply principle, affecting GST treatment.
Whether coaching services and separately billed study materials supplied together to students form a composite supply governed by the tax treatment of the principal supply. Commentators argue the items are naturally bundled and commonly traded together, but note key factual distinctions - supply to third parties or sale of standard books may preclude composite characterization, while specially prepared materials for enrollees support composite treatment.