Fact: Lions Club of Poona Kothrud (“the applicant”) is an international organisation having 210 countries as member engaged in humanitarian and charitable services. For the facilitation of meetings and administration, fees are collected from the members and in some cases this fees exceed Rs. 20 Lacs being the threshold amount for registration under GST.
Issue Involved: The applicant sought advance ruling in respect of the issue that “Whether the registration is required or not, as the amount collected by individual Lion Clubs & Lion Districts is for convenience of Lion members and pooled together only for paying Meeting expenses & Communication expenses and the same is deposited in a single bank account”.
Applicant’s Contention of Law: The applicant contended that there is no furtherance of business in the activity and neither any services are rendered nor any goods are being traded, consequently registration is not required.
Held–The Hon’ble AAR, Maharashtra vide Advance Ruling No. GST-ARA-33/2018-19/B-100 dated 28.08.2018 held that no registration is required where amount is collected by individual Lions clubs and Lions District for convenience of Lion members, and is pooled together only for paying meeting expenses and communications expenses, which is deposited in single bank account. Remarks, fees are used for social causes and to meet expenses incurred in furtherance of objectives of the Club which is not formed to provide services to members but people gather under the umbrella of Club to perform social relevant activities. Further, it is held that “there being no supply qua the fees received, there arises no occasion for us to visit the definition of ‘Supply’ under the GST Act” and held that seminars for Leadership Development organized for members is not for transforming members into leaders generally but for members to become leaders to perform the causes of the club.
Citation: [TS-738-AAR-2018-NT]