TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2025 (5) TMI 1883
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.... by fraud or suppression of material facts or misrepresentation of facts, shall render such ruling to be void ab initio in accordance with Section 104 of the Act. 5. The provisions of both the Central Goods and Services Tax Act and the Tamil Nadu Goods and Services Tax Act (herein referred to as the Act) are the same except for certain provisions. Therefore, unless a mention is specifically made to such dissimilar provisions, a reference to the Central Goods and Services Tax Act would also mean a reference to the same provisions under the Tamil Nadu Goods and Services Tax Act. M/s. Fairmacs Shipstores Private Limited, located at No. 31, Moore Street, Chennai - 600001, (hereinafter called as the "Applicant") is a company who are wholesale traders in liquor, frozen meat products, food products. They make supplies to hotels, other institutional customers and also to ships, consulates etc. They have branches at Bangalore, Vizag and Kakinada. The applicant is mainly supplying frozen meat like fish, chicken, etc., and they also make supplies on branch transfer basis from Chennai to their Bangalore branch for which they have a GST registration in Bangalore. They are selling products....
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....ant states, "1. We are not charging GST for supply to industrial and institutional consumers based on our reading of the Notification No. 1/2017-Central Tax (Rate) and Notification No. 6/2022-Central Tax (Rate) along with the FAQ published by the Department in F.No. 190354/ 172/2022-TRU dated 17.07.2022. 2. The Legal Metrology (Packaged Commodities) Rules, 2011." 4.1 Prima facie, we find that the queries raised by the applicant get covered under clauses (a), (b) and (e) of the Section 97 (2) of the CGST Act, 2017, and as such are liable to be admitted. 5.1 The applicant falls within the administrative jurisdiction of 'STATE'. The jurisdictional authority, Assistant Commissioner (ST), Harbour Assessment Circle vide their letter dated 11.09.2024 have stated that no proceedings are pending, or decided, in respect of the issues involving the questions raised by the applicant. The remarks in respect of the queries raised by the applicant were as follows :- Q.1. Hotels are not to be treated as an institution. Q.2. The taxpayer is eligible to avail ITC, as such supplies are not 'Nil' rated. Q.3. GST is payable on such inter-branch transfe....
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....07.2022, a major change in applicability of GST on packaged goods involving the term 'pre-packaged and labelled' took place by way of issue of two notifications, viz., Notification No. 06/2022-Central tax (Rate) dated 13.07.2022 and Notification No. 07/2022-Central tax (Rate) dated 13.07.2022, whereby GST was made applicable on supply of such "pre-packaged and labelled" commodities attracting provisions of Legal Metrology Act, 2009. 7.4 In this regard, it is seen that Notification No. 06/2022-Central tax (Rate) dated 13.07.2022, amends the parent rate Notification No. 01/2017-Central Tax (Rate) dated 28.06.2017 by way of substituting the suffixing portion attached to the specified commodities beginning with the words 'and put up in unit container, and,- ---- ' with the phrase 'pre-packaged and labelled'. Likewise, Notification No. 07/2022- Central tax (Rate) dated 13.07.2022, amends the parent exemption Notification No. 02/2017-Central Tax (Rate) dated 28.06.2017 by way of substituting the suffixing portion attached to the specified commodities beginning with the words 'other than those put up in unit container, and, ----- ' with the phrase 'other than pre-packaged and labelled'....
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....ith chilled cargoes than with frozen cargoes as condensation of moisture due to variation of temperature encourages bacterial growth. e.g., cheese, eggs and fresh vegetables. It could be understood from the above, that when the chicken meat or fish meat are to be delivered at doorstep or across the counter, they are normally done at fresh or chilled state. On the other hand, when the shelf-life is required to be maintained in respect of the said products in order to enable delivery at a much later date to destination afar, or for export consignments, or to be kept at the shelf of departmental stores over a period of time, the products concerned are required to be maintained at a frozen state, often in pre-packaged mode. 7.7 As regards, the rate of GST applicable to the impugned supply, it could be seen that the Notification No. 01/2017-CT (Rate) dated 28.06.2017 as amended, reads as follows under Schedule I (GST @ 5%) :- S.No. Chapter / Heading / Sub-heading / Tariff item Description of Goods 1 0202, 0203, 0204, 0205, 0206, 0207, 0208, 0209, 0210 All goods [other than fresh or chilled], pre-packaged and labelled; 2 0303, 0304, 0305, 0306, 0307, 0308 ....
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....06.2017 as amended, and the exemption Notification No. 02/2017-CT (Rate) dated 28.06.2017, as amended, it becomes clear that the supply of goods satisfying the following conditions, would attract GST, viz., (i) The goods are labelled and supplied in pre-packaged condition. (ii) The goods in pre-packaged condition are required to bear the declarations under the provisions of the Legal Metrology Act, 2009 and the rules made thereunder. However, it is to be noted that if such specified commodities are supplied in a package that do not require declaration under Legal Metrology Act, the same would not be treated as pre-packaged and labelled for the purpose of GST levy. In this regard, it is seen that as per Rule 3 of the Legal Metrology (Packaged Commodities) Rules, 2011, the provisions applicable to packages intended for retail sale shall not apply to following cases, i.e., (a) Packages of commodities containing quantity of more than 25 kilogram or 25 Litre. (b) Cement Fertilizer and agricultural farm produce sold in bags above 50 kilogram (c) Packaged commodities meant for industrial consumers or institutional consumers. 7.10 As per R....
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....the hotels which purchase frozen meat from the applicant do not fit into the definition of an 'institutional consumer' as laid down under Rule 2 (bc) of Legal Metrology (Packaged Commodities) Rules, 2011, and are to be treated as an 'industrial consumer', in terms of Rule 2 (bb) of the Rules ibid. 7.11 Notwithstanding the same, we observe that the moot point for consideration here is that the supply to hotels of frozen foods like fish, chicken, etc., irrespective of the fact as to whether it is meant either for an 'industrial consumer' or for an 'institutional consumer', is eligible for exemption from payment of GST, vide entry Sl.No.9 of Notification No. 2/2017-CT (Rate) dated 28.06.2017 as amended, as it is clear that they are outside the ambit of 'pre-packaged and labelled' category by virtue of clause (c) to rule 3 of the Legal Metrology (Packaged Commodities) Rules, 2011. 7.12 in this regard, it is also seen that the above position stands confirmed through the FAQ issued by Government of India, Ministry of Finance, Department of Revenue (Tax Research Unit), dated 17th July, 2022, in F. No. 190354/172/2022-TRU, wherein under SI.No.7, it has been clarified as follows :- ....
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....manufacturer nor an importer of the impugned goods. However, since they purchase frozen products in pre-packaged form and fresh products in bulk quantities, and undertake resale of such goods, we find that they act as a wholesale dealer of the goods in question. 7.16 Coming to the last condition, as discussed already in detail in para 7.10 above, hotels being considered as 'institutional consumers', is effectively ruled out in view of the fact that the resultant output ends up as an outward supply on commercial basis. Hence, we find that such sale of packaged commodities to hotels by the Applicant, is to be considered as a supply made to 'industrial consumer', and that the same should be for use by that hotel/industry. 7.17 Accordingly, we observe that while the other two conditions appear to have been fulfilled in the instant case, the first and primary condition, viz., the declaration of Not for Retail Sale', has not been fulfilled in the instant case. Hence, for supplies to be made to institutional or industrial consumers, we find that the exemption from GST as claimed by the Applicant would be available, if and only if, it fulfils all the conditions envisaged under Rule 2....
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....dresses the issue in specific terms, and it runs as follows :- (4) A person who has obtained or is required to obtain more than one registration, whether in one State or Union territory or more than one State or Union territory shall, in respect of each such registration, be treated as distinct persons for the purposes of this Act. It becomes clear from the above that once a branch or depot of a company is required to obtain a different GSTIN, whether within the state or inter-state, they become distinct persons and accordingly, every branch or depot with individual GSTINs belonging to one company will be treated as an individual entity. Further, as per clause (2) to Schedule I of the CGST Act, 2017, "Supply of goods or services or both between related persons or between distinct persons as specified in section 25, when made in the course or furtherance of business", is an activity which is to be treated as supply under Section 7 of the Act, ibid, even if made without consideration. Therefore, GST is chargeable if transactions take place between two persons with different GSTINs. In fine, we are of the opinion that intra-state stock transfers holding the same GSTI....