In re Institute Of Education And Examination Management Pvt. Ltd. (GST AAR West Bengal)
The application of Goods and Services Tax (GST) on educational services has been a subject of legal interpretation and administrative clarification. One particular area of concern is the application of GST on services related to conducting examinations for universities. The GST Authority for Advance Rulings (AAR) in West Bengal recently addressed this issue in the case of the Institute Of Education And Examination Management Pvt. Ltd. The ruling provides significant insights for service providers working with educational institutions.
The Issue at Hand
The primary issue to be resolved was whether services such as printing examination papers, admit cards, and other pre and post-examination services provided to universities fall under educational services for GST exemption. The case specifically aimed to ascertain if these services would be covered under serial number 66 of Notification No. 12/2017-Central (Rate) dated 28.06.2017, as amended by various notifications.
Observations & Findings of the Authority
The authority examined the definition of ‘educational institution’ as per GST norms, and also considered subsequent clarifications issued by the government. The definition covered pre-school to higher secondary education, education as part of a recognized qualification, and vocational education.
Subsequent amendments and circulars, notably Circular No. 151/07/2021-GST dated 17.06.2021, clarified that Central and State Educational Boards are considered educational institutions when it comes to services by way of conducting examinations.
The authority noted that the applicant had secured work orders from different universities like West Bengal State University, University of North Bengal, among others, which were all recognized as educational institutions.
The Ruling
The GST AAR West Bengal concluded that the activities carried out by the Institute Of Education And Examination Management Pvt. Ltd. related to pre-examination, examination, and post-examination work would be considered services relating to the conduct of examination. Therefore, these services would be exempted from payment of tax under the GST Act, based on the existing notifications and amendments.
The ruling provides a precedent and a much-needed clarification for service providers engaged in examination-related activities for educational institutions. It establishes that services including, but not limited to, printing of pre-examination items, web-based application development for exams, and post-examination services are exempt from GST. This decision marks a significant step in defining the boundaries of educational services under the GST framework.
FULL TEXT OF THE ORDER OF AUTHORITY FOR ADVANCE RULING, WEST BENGAL
1.1 At the outset, we would like to make it clear that the Central Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017 (the CGST Act, for short) and the West Bengal Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017 (the WBGST Act, for short) have the same provisions in like matter except for certain provisions. Therefore, unless a mention is specifically made to such dissimilar provisions, a reference to the CGST Act would also mean reference to the corresponding similar provisions in the WBGST Act. Further to the earlier, henceforth for the purposes of these proceedings, the expression „GST Act‟ would mean the CGST Act and the WBGST Act both.
1.2 The applicant is stated to be providing pre and post examination services to Universities and they believe that the said supply of services to educational institutions like Universities (including open Universities) are in relation to admission to, or conduct of examination by the said institutions. According to them the services being provided to the educational institutions would fall under Sl. No. 66(b)(iv) of Notification No. 12/2017-Central (Rate) dated 28.06.2017 as amended vide Notification No. 2/2018- Central Tax (Rate) dated 25.01.2018 and they are eligible for exemption from payment of GST..
1.3 Based on the aforesaid nature of supply being undertaken by him, the applicant has made this application under sub-section (1) of section 97 of the GST Act and the rules made there under raising following questions vide serial number 14 of the application in FORM GST ARA-01:
Whether GST exemption is available to the applicant in respect of the following pre and post Examination services being provided to the Educational Boards and Universities?
(i) Online and offline printing of Pre-Examination items such as Registration Certificate, Examination Enrollment Forms, Admit Cards, Award List for marks entry and other Pre examination related services to Educational Boards, Council and Universities.
(ii) Designing, Developing and managing Web based applications and related services for conducting online Examination of Educational Boards, Council and Universities.
(iii) Post examination services of Scanning and Processing of Examination Results, generation and printing of Mark Sheets (Online and offline), Printing of Pass certificates and other related Examination activities for Educational Boards, Council and Universities.
1.4 The aforesaid question on which the advance ruling is sought for is found to be covered under clause (a) and (b) of sub-section (2) of section 97 of the GST Act.
1.5 The applicant states that the question raised in the application has neither been decided by nor is pending before any authority under any provision of the GST Act.
1.6 The officer concerned from the revenue has raised no objection to the admission of the application.
1.7 The application is, therefore, admitted.
2. Submission of the applicant
2.1 The applicant submits that they have entered into agreements with various Universities within the state of Bengal namely West Bengal State University, University of North Bengal, Cooch Behar Panchanan Barma University and Alipurduar University.
2.2 The details of the scope of work of the applicant as per contract entered between them and Controller of Examinations, North Bengal University is reproduced below to ascertain the nature of supply made by the applicant.
Pre- Examination: Part-A
a) Development of online Admission Process/Registration for students.
b) Design and develop of Online Examination Forms containing details of the students along with subject/papers they are supposed to appear in the examinations.
c) Uploading Online Examination Form.
d) Allocation of centers to the students as per direction of the University.
e) Generation of Roll No. and uploading of admit cards after verification by College/ University by using college domain.
f) Generation of DR sheets, Allotment Charts, and delivery of the same to the college domain (Online mode).
g) Generation of Question Paper as required, subject wise/ Centre wise.
h) Preparation and printing of HDPE Envelopes for collection of used Answer Books after the examination.
Pre-Examination: Part-B
a) Type-setting, Proof reading, Editing of Question Papers (Manuscript will be provided by the University).
b) Printing of Question papers/ Question Booklets (tri-lingual) in 70 GSM maplitho paper.
c) Printing of Answer Books and Additional Sheets using good quality paper.
d) Answer Books should be thread stitched.
e) Printing of OMR readable answer sheets when required.
f) Packaging of Question Papers, Subject wise/ Session wise/ Examination Centre wise.
g) Packaging of Answer Books.
h) Delivery of Answer Books and Additional Sheets to all Examination Centres.
i) Delivery of packed Question Papers to all examination centres.
Post Examination:
a) Collection of the used answer books of the theoretical examinations from the examination centers.
b) Coding of the used Answer Books.
c) Data entry (double entry) of the code-slips of the Examinees.
d) Labeling the packets of answer books with proper bar-coded serial number.
e) Packaging of Coded answer books along with marks award sheets/ slips.
f) Preparation of Master database of Examiners of all subjects.
g) Schedule for delivery of coded answer books to be fixed in consultation with the Controller of Examinations as per his/ her convenience.
h) Delivery of packets containing coded answer books to the Examiners at the locations as desired by the Examiners such as College premises/ University within the jurisdiction of Alipurduar district.
i) Use of Computer based Application to track delivery and receipt of used answer books to and from the Examiners along with access of the same by Vice Chancellor and Controller of Examinations.
j) Follow-up with the Examiners to find out progress of the evaluation and if required, to make alternate arrangement so that un-evaluated answer books can be evaluated through another Examiner in consultation with the Controller of Examinations/ the Vice-Chancellor.
k) The entire process should be monitored through customized software for evaluation.
l) Collecting all the evaluated answer books (of theory papers) along with marks award slips sealed in plastic cover/ envelops from examiners after evaluation.
m) Arrange delivery and collection of coded answer books multiple times in order to meet the deadline of publication of results.
n) Arrange online payment from examiners, if required.
o) Collection of Practical marks from University
p) Data Entry of all the filled-in marks award sheets/ slips.
q) Once marks are collated component-wise/ subject-wise, the same to be processed to submit reports for missing marks, abnormal marks or any other discrepancies.
r) After preparation of results, the same should be checked manually on sample basis to ensure correctness of the processing software.
s) Preparation of various reports and statistics for declaration of results.
t) Uploading results on the Web as desired by the University within the announced time-frame. University will strive to declare results within 45 days from the date of last examination held.
u) Printing of Marks-Sheets and Certificates to the University.
v) Packaging of Mark-sheets College-wise for delivery as per the requirement of the University
w) Delivery of Mark Sheets.
x) Processing of review forms online and keeping record thereof. Verification of review forms by College/ university through college domain
y) Publication of Review results and printing of Mark-sheets.
z) Submission copies of examination data to the university
2.3 The applicant believes that the supply of pre and post examination services to educational institutions like Universities (including open Universities) are in relation to admission to, or conduct of examination by the said institutions. Accordingly, the services being provided to the educational institutions would fall under Sl. No. 66(b)(iv) of Notification No. 12/2017-Central (Rate) dated 28.06.2017 as amended vide Notification No. 2/2018- Central Tax (Rate) dated 25.01.2018 and are eligible for exemption from payment of GST. Similar notification has been issued under the West Bengal State GST Act, 2017.
2.4 The relevant entries under Notification No. 12/2017-Central (Rate) dated 28.06.2017 have been reproduced below:
