TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2024 (5) TMI 544
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....rence to both CGST Act and TGST Act. 3. It is observed that the queries raised by the applicant fall within the ambit of Section 97 of the GST ACT. The Applicant enclosed copies of challans as proof of payment of Rs. 5,000/- under SGST and Rs. 5,000/- under CGST towards the fee for Advance Ruling. The Applicant has declared that the questions raised in the application have neither been decided nor are pending before any authority under any provisions of the CGST/TGST Act' 2017. The application is, therefore, admitted after examining it and the records called for and after hearing the applicant as per section 98 (2) of TGST Act' 2017. 4. BRIEF FACTS OF THE CASE: M/s. Center for International Admission and Visas (CIAV) has entered into agreements with foreign universities/ colleges to provide referral services. Broadly, under the scope of services, the Applicant provides referrals of the aspirants/ applicants who wishes to apply and study aboard to the universities/ colleges located outside India. The Applicant is responsible to prepare the case of the aspiring student and refer it to the concerned foreign college and university, as per the requirement of the aspiring studen....
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....leges and universities, and it works as an 'independent contractor' for them. (b) The role of the Applicant is specific and of expertise, based on its experience with Indian markets. The Applicant is responsible to prepare the case of the aspiring student and refer it to the concerned foreign college and university, as per the requirement of the aspiring student and the fitment to the foreign college and university. (c) The Applicant is not bound to refer student to a college or university, in particular. On the contrary, the Applicant after considering the merits of the aspiring student and particulars of the college/ university, refers the case. (d) The foreign college and university retain full and complete discretion about whether to accept a student applicant for enrolment. The Applicant has no authority to accept an applicant or guarantee a student applicant's acceptance by the foreign college and university. (e) The Applicant receives referral income or commission from foreign college and university on the basis of number of successful admissions out of the referrals made by it. (f) The Applicant does not get any income or com....
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....s own account" As is seen, 'intermediary' is involved with two supplies at a time: (a) The supply between the principal and the third party; and (b) The supply of his own services of agency to his principal, for which a fee or commission is usually charged. 7.5. In this manner, 'intermediary' is a broker, an agent or any other person, who facilitates or arranges services between two or more persons, while the main service is performed by the service recipient of intermediary's services. It is pertinent to mention that a person would qualify as 'intermediary' only if he facilitates the supply of service between two or more person. A person who provides the service on principal to principal basis without facilitating a service between two persons will not be termed as 'intermediary'. 7.6. CBIC in its para 3 of the Circular No. 159/15/2021-GST dated 20.09.2021 clarifies as follows: "3. Primary Requirements for intermediary services The concept of intermediary services, as defined above, requires some basic prerequisites, which are discussed below: 3.1 Minimum of Three Parties: By definition, an intermediary is someone who arranges ....
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....goods or services refers to the main supply of goods or services or both, or securities, between two or more persons, which are arranged or facilitated by the intermediary. It implies that in cases wherein the person supplies the main supply, either fully or partly, on principal-to-principal basis, the said supply cannot be covered under the scope of "intermediary." 7.7. The Punjab & Haryana High Court in the matter of Genpact India (P) Ltd. v. Union of India 2023 (68) GSTL 3 (P&H) while deciding on the issue of 'intermediary' under GST law has held as follows: "28. As per definition of "intermediary" under Section 2 (13) of the IGST Act the following three conditions must be satisfied for a person to qualify as an "intermediary"; 29. First, the relationship between the parties must be that of a principal-agency relationship. Second, the person must be involved in arrangement or facilitation of provisions of the service provided to the principal by a 3rd party. Third, the person must not actually perform the main service intended to be received by the service recipient itself. Scope of an "intermediary" is to mediate between two parties i.e. the principal servi....
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.... and service recipient relationship between the Applicant and the vendors who were developed by him as there is no consideration received from these and the supply of goods by these vendors is incidental to the service of the Applicant. Reportedly, the Applicant has not entered into any agreement with the vendors either on their own or on behalf of the overseas client. 12.3. In this case, the Applicant is found to be providing services of design and product development essentially for its foreign client to keep track of updates in fashion trends in knitted goods, evaluation and development of vendors, including quality monitoring and logistics and operational assistance. The Applicant has not engaged any other service provider for the process of procuring the specific goods to be exported as per the requirement of his foreign client. All these services are rendered only to M/s. Primark, Dublin, Ireland on his own account and he is receiving the consideration for the services as a percentage of FOB value of the merchandise exported. There is no evidence on record to show that he is receiving any consideration from the vendors developed by him and as such, the services could....
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....ice Tax, Chandigarh 2018 TIOL 1849 CESTAT CHD wherein it was held as follows by the Chandigarh Bench of Tribunal: "10. We find that the appellant is nowhere providing services between two or more persons. In fact, the appellant is providing services to their clients namely banks/colleges/university who are paying commission/fees to the appellant. The appellant is only facilitating the aspirant student and introduced them to the college and if these students gets admission to the college, the appellant gets certain commission which is in nature of promoting the business of the college and for referring investors borrow loan from foreign based bank to the people who wishes settled in Canada on that if the deal matures, the appellant is getting certain commission. So the nature of service provided by the appellant is the promotion of business of their client, in terms, he gets commission which is covered under Business Auxiliary Service which is not the main service provided by the main service providers namely banks/university. As the appellant did not arrange or facilitate main service i.e. education or loan rendered by colleges/banks. In that circumstances, the appellant c....
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....h is in nature of promoting the business of the college So the nature of service provided by the appellant is the promotion of business of their client, in terms, he gets commission which is covered under services of marketing and referral which is not the main service provided by the main service providers namely foreign colleges and university. As the applicant did not arrange or facilitate main service i.e. education by foreign colleges and university. In that circumstances, the applicant cannot be called as an intermediary. 7.16. In another perspective, the Applicant has been hired by foreign colleges and university to provide its expertized services of marketing and referral, which otherwise could not be effectively conducted by foreign colleges and university in Indian territory because of social, regional and economic factors or lack of requisite competence. Thus, the Applicant can be considered to be performing outsourced service of marketing and referral by foreign colleges and university, which is squarely outside the ambit of 'intermediary' as mentioned in foregoing paragraphs. At the same time, foreign colleges and university are providing their main service of educa....