AAAR, Maharashtra in the case of Rotary Club of Mumbai Nariman Point, In re – [2020] 120 taxmann.com 51 (AAAR-MAHARASHTRA) has held that Membership subscription & fees spent towards meeting & admn. expenses by club is not a service, not liable to GST

The applicant is a club and collects amount towards subscription and fee from members to meet meeting and administrative expenses. The applicant has sought an advance ruling to determine whether such contribution received from members amounts to supply under GST?

The Authority for Advance Ruling (‘AAR’) held that amount collected from members expended towards meetings and other administrative expense qualifies as a supply under GST. The applicant filed an appeal before the Appellate Authority for Advance Ruling (‘AAAR’).

The AAAR observed that as per Section 2(17) of the Central Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017 (‘CGST Act’) the term ‘business’ includes provision by a club, association, society or any such body (for a subscription or any other consideration) of the facilities or benefits to its members.

In the present case, the applicant is not providing any specific facility or benefits to its members against the membership subscription charged by it. Since the entire subscription amount is spent towards meeting and administrative expenses only, thus the applicant is not doing any business in terms of Section 2(17) of the CGST Act. Further, collection of membership fee and subscription is in the nature of reimbursement for meeting and administrative expenses incurred by the applicant and hence, would not be considered as a supply.

The AAAR set aside the ruling of AAR and held that collection of amount from members for meeting & administrative expenses by club is not a supply of service and hence, not liable to GST.