TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2026 (2) TMI 578
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....icant 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. Frutta Services Private Limited, No. 5, Gordan Woodrofe Nagar, 4th Main Road, Keelakattalai, Tambaram, Chennai - 600117 (hereinafter called as the "Applicant") are registered under the GST Act with GSTIN 33AAFCF9204P1ZC. The applicant stated that they are engaged in supply of food and beverages to Corporates for distributing to staff; that the applicant neither manufactures nor prepares the food and beverages; that they have various kitchens and vendors registered with them from whom goods are picked either in individual packing or bulk packages and delivered to the client's location; that the....
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....am, CA appeared for the personal hearing as the authorized representatives (AR) of M/s. Frutta Services Private Limited, Chennai. The AR reiterated the submissions made in their application for advance ruling. 5.2 The AR informed that they are engaged in the business of supplying food to corporate entities purely as aggregator / facilitator of food supply; that they do not have their own kitchen; that they procure cooked food from empaneled kitchens, coordinate delivery to the corporate entities through outsourced logistics providers. The AR emphasized that they are essentially engaged in resale / distribution of food and ancillary supply of services and not in cooking / restaurant activity. The AR provided additional submissions during the personal hearing in the form of copies of Kitchen agreement with an independent kitchen, service agreement with a corporate entity, renewal agreement, invoices raised on the corporate entities and a brief note on the business of the applicant. 5.3 The Members asked whether menu is provided by the Corporate entities to which the AR replied that the corporate entities provide menu of food items to be supplied, and based on the menu, they pro....
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....ut to check product quality, hygiene and preparation. 6.2 The other agreement of the applicant is with their clients / customers, who are corporates / companies, for supply of food at their locations. This agreement is termed as 'Service Agreement'. As per the said agreement, Frutta, the applicant, shall deliver lunch, Dinner at the client's location in accordance with the menu mutually agreed by the applicant and their client. The overall scope of service supplied by the applicant constitutes the following: i. Work with applicant's partner Kitchens to prepare the menu for each week and submit for their clients' approvals. ii. Have applicant's Quality Assurance (QA) team to do periodic reviews and checks with the kitchen on its hygiene and best practices. iii. Arrange the delivery of the food from the partner Kitchen to the client location through its designated delivery partners. iv. Arrange the pick-up of delivery vessels from the client location. 6.3 Other services performed by the applicant as per Annexure - I to the service agreement are Menu preparation and Logistics. Apart from these activities, the Service Agreement also discusses '....
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.... (a) works contract as defined in clause (119) of Section 2; and (b) supply, by way of or as part of any service or in any other manner whatsoever, of goods, being food or any other article for human consumption or any drink (other than alcoholic liquor for human consumption), where such supply or service is for cash, deferred payment or other valuable consideration. 6.8 Section 2(30) of the CGST Act, 2017 defines 'Composite Supply' as: (30) "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; 6.9 The applicant undertakes to deliver food items at the client's location. Apart from this, the applicant is also involved in the overall logistics relating to the delivery of food to the client, i.e....
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.... services by operators of eating facilities such as canteens and cafeterias." It may be seen from the above, that irrespective of the fact whether a person undertakes preparation of food, and, supply services, or whether a person undertakes just supply services involving food, both the category of services fall within the same service accounting code. We find that in the instant case, the applicant supplies food based on a contractual arrangement with the customer, at institutional or industrial location specified by the customer on an ongoing basis. We are therefore of the opinion that the overall supply of food services rendered by the Applicant falls rightly under the SAC 996337. 6.12 Now that the SAC of the service activity is arrived at, we proceed to determine the rate of tax on the said supply of service. The rate of tax adopted for the activity of the Applicant is as per Notification No. 11/2017-Central Tax (Rate) dated 28.06.2017, which notifies the Central Tax applicable on various services, as amended, is reproduced below: Sl.No. Chapter, Section or Heading Description of Service Rate (percent.) Condition 7 Heading 9963 (Accommodation, food and....
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....ant would not be covered under 'outdoor catering service' as the applicant is not involved in the preparation of food, and as the same is not an event based or an occasional service. iii. It is quite obvious that the service in question, will not be covered under 'hotel accommodation service'. 6.14 As the service carried out by the Applicant does not fit into the category of services covered under SI. Nos. 7(i) to 7(v) of the service rate Notification No. 11/2017-CT(Rate), dated 28.06.2017, as amended, we are of the considered opinion that the activity of supply of food undertaken by the Applicant under a contract falls under entry No. 7(vi), being the residual entry, thereby attracting GST at 18% (9% CGST and 9% SGST). 6.15 Moving on to the specific query raised by the applicant as to whether they can claim input tax credit (ITC) and charge the client according to the category of supply of goods, it could be seen from the aforesaid discussion that the activity undertaken by the applicant amounts to supply of service falling under the tariff heading 996337. Under the facts and circumstances of the instant case, we are of the opinion that the applicant cannot charge G....