TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2019 (9) TMI 985
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....as principal supply? c) If the above services are considered as composite supply and conduct of examination is considered as principal supply, whether the exemption provided under entry 66 of Notification 12/2017 - Central Tax (Rate) as amended vide Notification No 02/2018- Central Tax (Rate) w.e.f. 25.01.2018 shall be granted? d) In case the exemption is applicable to the Applicant, whether the exemption shall be applicable in respect of all agreements entered by Applicant or only applicable to services provided to educational institution? At the outset, we would like to make it clear that the provisions of both the CGST Act and the MGST Act are the same except for certain provisions. Therefore, unless a mention is specifically made to any dissimilar provisions, a reference to the CGST Act would also mean a reference to the same provision under the MGST Act. Further to the earlier, henceforth for the purposes of this Advance Ruling, the expression 'GST Act' would mean CGST Act and MGST Act. 2. FACTS AND CONTENTION - AS PER THE APPLICANT The submissions, as reproduced verbatim, could be seen thus- "1. "Attest Testing Services Ltd ( "Applicant")....
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....ours booked irrespective of the students appearing for the exams or not. The fees details can be better understood by referring to the rate chart as provided in the agreement attached to this application. 4. Applicants have been discharging applicable GST on such services provided by them up to the period 25.01.2018. In this regard, a reference may be made to the Not. No 12/2017 - C.T. (Rate) dt 28.06.2017 & amended vide Not. No 02/2018 - C.T.(Rate) dated 25.01.2018. The relevant entry for exemption has been tabulated below for ready reference: Entry 66( b) iv before 25.01.2018 Entry 66 (b) iv after 25.01.2018 Services provided - (a)...... (b) to an educational institution, by way of, (i).... (ii).... (iii)..... (iv) services relating to admission to, or conduct of examination by such institution; up to higher secondary Provided that nothing contained in entry (b) shall apply to an educational institution other than an institution providing services by way of pre-school education and education up to higher secondary school or equivalent. Services provided - (a)..... (b) to an educational institution, by way of - (i) (ii) (iii) (iv) services ....
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....conduct the examination and finally till providing of results. 8. The scope of term supply has been provided under Sec. 7 of the CGST Act, 2017 to mean and include all forms of supply. Further in case where two or more supplies are provided, Sec. 8 provides for determination of tax liability based on whether such supplies constitute a composite supply or a mixed supply. 9. The term composite supply and mixed supply are defined under section 2(30) and 2(74) CGST Act, 2017 as under: Composite Supply Mixed Supply "composite supply" means a supply made by a taxable person to a recipient consisting of two or more taxable supplies of goods or services or both, or any combination thereof, which are naturally bundled and supplied in conjunction with each other in the ordinary course of business, one of which is a principal supply; Illustration -Where goods are packed and transported with insurance, the supply of goods, packing materials, transport and insurance is a composite supply and supply of goods is a principal supply: "mixed supply" means two or more individual supplies of goods or services, or any combination thereof, made in conjunction with each ....
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....as composite supply and conduct of examination is considered as principals suppIy whether the exemption provided under entry 66 of Notification 12/2017 - Central Tax (Rate) as amended vide Notification No 02/2018 - Central Tax (Rate.) w.e.f. 25.01.2018 shall be granted? 15. Entry 66 of Not. No 12/2017 as amended w.e.f. 25.01.2018 provides for exemption as under: Services provided - (a)..... (b) to an educational institution, by way of- (i).... (ii).... (iii)... (iv) services relating to admission to, or conduct of examination by, such institution; Provided that nothing contained sub-items (i), (ii) and (ii) of item (b) shall apply to an educational institution other than an institution providing services by way of pre school education and education up to higher secondary school or equivalent. 16. The above exemption provides for services relating to conduct of examination by the educational institution. The purpose interpretation of such entry is not just to provide an exemption to services relating to conduct of examination but also to conduct of examination per se. Further the advance ruling in the case of K.L. Hi Tech Secure Print Limited (2018 ....
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....es are effectively made to the educational institution and accordingly the same should also be exempted from the purview of GST. 22. Similar issue was raised under the VAT law wherein the, legal position regarding non-applicability of VAT/Sales Tax on the main contractor, in case the entire work is subcontracted has already been clarified by the Hon'ble Supreme Court in the case of State of Andhra Pradesh and Others vs. Larsen & Toubro and Others [(2008) 17 VST 1 (SC). The Supreme Court held that property in goods gets transferred from sub-contractor to the contractee even though there is no privity of contract between them. There are no two deemed sales in the transactions - one between the main contractor and contractee and another between the main contractor and the sub-contractor. There is only one deemed sale between the sub-contractor and the contractee. 23. Therefore, based on above submissions the Applicant submit that the contract for supply of services entered with parties other than educational institution shall also be covered within the exemption entry as provided above since the services are provided directly to educational institutions. ....
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....red conduct of online examinations in their authorized examination centers including invigilation services. The Applicants also provide exam evaluation services in order to minimize human error. If these services are described as conduct of examination services, the term is able to capture the entire essence of the package. The payment is made on a 'per-student-exam-hours' basis. i.e. pricing is on the basis of number of students and duration of examination. Therefore, it can be said that these services offered by the Applicants appear to be naturally bundled services which are supplied in conjunction with each other. Furthermore, the Applicants have relied upon the Re BC Examinations and English Services India Pvt. Ltd (AAR Haryana) Advance Ruling, where the Authority held that services of conducting exams covering sourcing and managing test centres, supplying test material, collecting papers post-test, managing security, managing logistics, printing results, recruiting, training and monitoring invigilators etc were composite supply of services as these did not have independent existence. a) The Applicants M/s Attest Testing Services Ltd have mentioned a list of s....
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....ntrance examination against consideration in the form of entrance fee; (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 Central Government, State Government or Union territory; (iii) security or cleaning or housekeeping services performed in such educational institution; (iv) services relating to admission to, or conduct of examination by, such institution; upto higher secondary (v) supply of online educational journals or periodicals: Provided that nothing contained in entry {sub-items (i), (ii) and (iii) of item (b)shall apply to an educational institution other than an institution providing services by way of pre-school education and education up to higher secondary school or equivalent. Provided further that nothing contained in sub-item (v). of item (6) Shall apply to an institution providing services by way of,- (i) pre school education and education up to higher secondary school or equivalent; or (ii) education as a part of an approved vocational education course Applicant contends that pursuant to the deletion of the words 'upto higher secondary' f....
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....le only if subject' services are provided to an educational institution. Based on such documentary evidences, once it is established that the Applicants provide Composite Supply of services for conduct of examinations to educational institutions falling within the ambit of the above mentioned definition, only then the question at para d would arrive. Even if assumed for the time being that all the courses by all the service recipient are recognised by law or as a part of an approved vocational education course. It the benefit of exemption under the notification can be granted to the Applicants only in cases where services are provided "to educational institutions" as defined under the notification. The relevant portion of the exemption under Entry 66 of Notfn 12/2017 - C. T. (Rate) as amended vide Notfn 02/2018 - Central Tax (Rate) with effect from 25.01.2018 is reproduced below: "Services provided- (b) to an educational institution, by way of,- (iv) services relating to admission to, or conduct of examination by, such institution; " There is no dispute about the fact that applicant M/s Attest Testing Services Ltd. is not an educational institution. The benefit of the ....
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....into contracts with various customers to provide services viz. conducting online examinations along with pre-exam management processes, post exam management processes across different cities & examination centers. Applicant shall provide Exam center infrastructure at its Authorized Centers and ensure that the center installs and maintain necessary security controls and measures in respect of equipment/infrastructural resources provided to students. Applicant will completely manage exam process electronically right from allowing the candidates to choose their required exam slots (Pre-Exam slot booking process including exam registration process, all done through the internet.), to conducting exams (generation of unique question sets to eliminate risk of malpractices on the basis of Question bank i.e. database of questions, provided by their clients, and evaluating the exam (Applicant will manage invigilation process with a supervisor at each center and shall generate results of such exams and provide the results to the client in desired format). Fees are charged based on exam hours booked irrespective of the number of students appearing for the exams. They have submitted that they &....
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....lients including individuals, educational institutions, firms, corporate bodies, government undertakings etc. They have not submitted whether their clients satisfy the definition of an 'Educational Institution' as mentioned above, in as much as they have not stated whether their clients provide services by way of pre-school education and education up to higher secondary school or equivalent; education as a part of a curriculum for obtaining a qualification recognized by any law for the time being in force; or education as a part of an approved vocational education course. In the absence of this information it would not be clear whether they are providing services only to educational institutions. However we find they have submitted copies of one agreement with The Institute of Chartered Financial Analysts of India University, Sikkim and a Work Order issued by the University of Delhi in respect of such above mentioned services rendered by them. The same are discussed as under : - ARGEEMENT DATED 01.07.2012 WITH THE INSTITUTE OF CHARTERED FINANCIAL ANALYSTS OF INDIA UNIVERSITY SIKKIM. We have perused the said agreement and find that in Para I it is mentioned that "Thi....
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.... principal supply ? In view of the discussions made above we find that conduct of examination can be d as principal supply. Question c) If services are considered as composite supply & conduct of examination is considered as principal supply, whether exemption provided under entry 66 of Not 12/2017 -CT(Rate) as amended vide Not No 02/2018-CT(Rate) w.e.f. 25.01.2018 shall be granted? The exemption under Entry No. 66 will be available to them only when the provisions mentioned therein are satisfied by the Applicant. Question d) In case the exemption is applicable to the Applicant, whether the exemption shall be applicable in respect of all agreements entered by Applicant or only applicable to services provided to educational institution ? The exemption under Entry No. 66 will be available to them only in respect of the Work Order issued by the University of Delhi, as discussed above. 05. In view of the extensive deliberations as held hereinabove, we pass an order as follows . ORDER (Under section 98 of the Central Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017 and the Maharashtra Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017) NO.GST-ARA- 07/2019-20/B-99 Mumbai, dt. 23/08/20....