GST: Updates on Supply to Government Via Sub Contract

GST: UPDATES ON SUPPLY TO GOVERNMENT VIA SUB CONTRACT IS EXEMPT?

M/s. Nurserymen Cooperative Society Ltd (GST AAR Karnataka)

Case:

1. Appellant has received contract from Government departments for undertaking gardening and landscaping activities.

2. In order to execute the work, the Appellant has engaged sub-contractors.

3. The sub-contractors bill the Appellant for the gardening and landscaping work done at the government departments.

4. The Appellant in turn bills the Government department in terms of the contract given to them.

ISSUE:

The issue to be determined is whether the supply of services by the sub-contractor to the Appellant for executing the gardening and landscaping work for government departments is exempt from GST

Points to Consider

• In the instant case, the issue being examined is whether the services supplied by the sub-contractors to the Appellant, who is the recipient of the services, is exempted from GST.
• The entries under Sl. No 3 and 3A above will apply only if the recipient of services is a Government (central/State/UT) or local authority or a Governmental authority or a Government Entity.
• In this case, the Appellant who is the recipient of the supply from the subcontractor is a Co-operative Society and not an entity specified in Sl.No 3 and 3A.
• When this criterion of the Notification is not satisfied, the sub-contractors as suppliers of service, will not be eligible for the exemption under the entries 3 or 3A of the above said Notification.

ARGUMENTS:

It is the argument of the Appellant that if the exemption is not available to the subcontractors, then the GST paid by the Appellant on the inward supply from the subcontractors will become a cost to them since they will not be eligible to avail the input tax credit of the tax paid on the inward supply, for the reason that the output supply made by them to the Government Department is exempted

CONCLUSIONS:

It is a well settled law that exemption notifications are to be interpreted strictly as to their eligibility. One cannot be influenced by extraneous factors while determining a person’s eligibility to an exemption notification. Therefore, on a strict interpretation of the entry Sl.No 3 and 3A, we hold that the supply of services by the subcontractors to the Appellant is not eligible for the benefit of exemption under either SI..No 3 or 3 A of Notification No 12/2017 CT (R) dated 28-06-2017.