Sarj Educational Centre, in re – [2019] 107 taxmann.com 117 (AAAR-WEST BENGAL)

  The appellant is owner of a private boarding house and providing services of lodging and food to the students of a secondary school being run by a Charitable Society. It filed an application for advance ruling to determine whether the above services provided by it to the students are ‘composite supplies’ under GST?

The Authority for Advance Rulings, West Bengal ruled that the appellant is offering several individual services in different combinations to the recipients, depending upon their need for lodging facility, and, hence, those services are not to be treated as ‘composite supplies’ but ‘mixed supplies’ under GST. The appellant filed an appeal to the Appellate Authority for Advance Rulings, West Bengal.

The Appellate Authority for Advance Rulings, West Bengal observed that under GST, ‘Composite Supply’ means two or more taxable supplies of goods or services or both which are naturally bundled and supplied in conjunction with each other in the ordinary course of business. In this case, the appellant is supplying food, laundry service, housekeeping service, etc., which are not naturally bundled with the lodging service. All these components are independent of each other and can be supplied separately. It also provides lodging service without providing food. Therefore, none of those services are bundled together in a natural way.

The Appellate Authority for Advance Rulings, West Bengal upheld the ruling given by the Authority for Advance Rulings, West Bengal that the lodging service along with other services provided by the appellant are to be treated as ‘mixed supplies’.