Background:
The GST Council’s 49th meeting was held in Delhi on February 18, 2023 under the chairmanship of the Union Finance & Corporate Affairs Minister Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman. The GST Council has inter-alia made the recommendation to extend the exemption available to educational institutions and Central and State educational boards for conduct of entrance examination to any authority, board or a body set up by the Central Government or State Government including National Testing Agency for conduct of entrance examination for admission to educational institutions.
Notification:
The CBIC vide Notification No. 1/2023-Central Tax (Rate) dated February 28, 2023 has issued amendments in Notification No. 12/2017-Central Tax (Rate) dated June 28, 2017 (“the Services Exemption Notification”), in order to clarify that conducting of entrance examination for admission to educational institutions by any authority, board or body set up by the Central Government or State Government including National Testing Agency, shall be treated as educational institution w.e.f. March 01, 2023, in a following manner:
- Inserted clause (iv) in paragraph 3, in the Explanation of the Services Exemption Notification which reads as below:
“(iva) For removal of doubts, it is clarified that any authority, board or body set up by the Central Government or State Government including National Testing Agency for conduct of entrance examination for admission to educational institutions shall be treated as educational institution for the limited purpose of providing services by way of conduct of entrance examination for admission to educational institutions.”.
Similar Notifications have been passed under the Integrated Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017 (“the IGST Act”) and the Union Territory Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017 (“the UTGST Act”).
The CGST (Rate) Notification: https://taxinformation.cbic.gov.in/view-pdf/1009642/ENG/Notifications
The IGST (Rate) Notification: https://taxinformation.cbic.gov.in/view-pdf/1009646/ENG/Notifications
The UTGST (Rate) Notification: https://taxinformation.cbic.gov.in/view-pdf/1009650/ENG/Notifications