CBIC has today issued six Circulars in regard to clarifications on various issues in line with the decision of GST Council taken in its 43rd Meeting.
For ready reference of our readers the summary of all the Circulars is tabulated below:
| Circular No. | View / Download | Date of Issue | Clarification issued |
| 149/05/2021-GST | View(422 KB) | 17-06-2021 | It has been clarified that services provided to an educational institution by way of serving of food ( catering including mid- day meals) is exempt from levy of GST irrespective of its funding from government grants or corporate donations [under said entry 66 (b)(ii)]. Educational institutions as defined in the notification include aganwadi. Hence, serving of food to anganwadi shall also be covered by said exemption, whether sponsored by government or through donation from corporates. |
| 150/05/2021-GST | View(416 KB) | 17-06-2021 | GST is exempt on service, falling under heading 9967 (service code), by way of access to a road or a bridge on payment of annuity [entry 23A of notification No. 12/2017-Central Tax]. Heading 9967 covers “supporting services in transport” under which code 996742 covers “operation services of National Highways, State Highways, Expressways, Roads & streets; bridges and tunnel operation services”. Entry 23 of said notification exempts “service by way of access to a road or a bridge on payment of toll”. Together the entries 23 and 23A exempt access to road or bridge, whether the consideration are in the form of toll or annuity [heading 9967]. It has been clarified that Entry 23A of notification No. 12/2017-CT(R) does not exempt GST on the annuity (deferred payments) paid for construction of roads. |
| 151/05/2021-GST | View(461 KB) | 17-06-2021 | To clarify as follows: (i) GST is exempt on services provided by Central or State Boards ( including the boards such as NBE) by way of conduct of examination for the students, including conduct of entrance examination for admission to educational institution [under S. No. 66 (aa) of notif No. 12/2017-CT(R)]. Therefore, GST shall not apply to any fee or any amount charged by such Boards for conduct of such examinations including entrance examinations. (ii) GST is also exempt on input services relating to admission to, or conduct of examination, such as online testing service, result publication, printing of notification for examination, admit card and questions papers etc, when provided to such Boards [under S. No. 66 (b) (iv) of notif No. 12/2017- CT(R)]. (iii) GST at the rate of 18% applies to other services provided by such Boards, namely of providing accreditation to an institution or to a professional ( accreditation fee or registration fee such as fee for FMGE screening test ) so as to authorise them to provide their respective services |
| 152/05/2021-GST | View(417 KB) | 17-06-2021 | Entry No 3 (vi) does not apply to any works contract that is meant for the purposes of commerce, industry, business of profession, even if such service is provided to the Central Government, State Government, Union Territory, a local authority a Governmental Authority or a Government Entity. The doubt seems to have arisen in the instant cases as Explanation to the said entry states, the term ‘business’ shall not include any activity or transaction undertaken by the Central Government, a State Government or any local authority in which they are engaged as public authorities. However, this explanation does not apply to Governmental Authority or Government Entity, as defined in clause (ix) and (x) of the explanation to said notification. Further, civil constructions, such as rope way for tourism development shall not be covered by said entry 3(vi) not being a structure that is meant predominantly for purposes other than business. While road, bridge, terminal, or railways are covered by entry No. 3(iv) and 3(v) of said notification, structures like ropeway are not covered by these entries too. Therefore, works contract service provided by way of construction such as of rope way shall fall under entry at sl. No. 3(xii) of notification 11/2017-(CTR) and attract GST at the rate of 18%. |
| 153/05/2021-GST | View(409 KB) | 17-06-2021 | It is clarified as under: i) Public Distribution specifically figures at entry 28 of the 11th Schedule to the constitution, which lists the activities that may be entrusted to a Panchayat under Article 243G of the Constitution. Hence, said entry No. 3A would apply to composite supply of milling of wheat and fortification thereof by miller, or of paddy into rice, provided that value of goods supplied in such composite supply (goods used for fortification, packing material etc) does not exceed 25% of the value of composite supply. It is a matter of fact as to whether the value of goods in such composite supply is up to 25% and requires ascertainment on case-to-case basis. ii) In case the supply of service by way of milling of wheat into flour or of paddy into rice, is not eligible for exemption under Sl. No. 3 A of Notification No. 12/2017- Central Tax (Rate) dated 28.06.2017 for the reason that value of goods supply in such a composite supply exceeds 25%, then the applicable GST rate would be 5% if such composite supply is provided to a registered person, being a job work service (entry No. 26 of notification No. 11/2017- Central Tax (Rate) dated 28.06.2017). Combined reading of the definition of job-work [section 2(68), 2(94), 22, 24, 25 and section 51] makes it clear that a person registered only for the purpose of deduction of tax under section 51 of the CGST Act is also a registered person for the purposes of the said entry No. 26, and thus said supply to such person is also entitled for 5% rate. |
| 154/05/2021-GST | View(397 KB) | 17-06-2021 | It is re-iterated that guaranteeing of loans by Central or State Government for their undertaking or PSU is specifically exempt under said entry No. 34A. |
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CA. Mohammad Salim is an ICAI award winning Chartered Accountant having rich experience of more than 20 years in the field of indirect taxes. He is the Member, Indirect Taxes Committee of PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry. He is author of four successful books on GST published by Taxmann Publication and is also GST expert on taxmann portal.
