The Authority of Advance Ruling (AAR) held that 12% of Goods and Service Tax (GST) is applicable to printing and supply of textbooks to government departments which are registered under Goods and Service Tax (GST) Acts, 2017.
The applicant, M/s Department of Printing, Stationery and Publication are a Government Press under the control and supervision of the Primary and Secondary Education Secretariat to cater to the Printing and Stationery requirements of the State Government offices namely Governor’s Office, Legislature, Government Secretariat, High Court, and Other Government Departments.
The applicant approached the Advance Ruling Authority on three grounds, namely, (i) whether GST exemption is granted to the activity of printing & supply of textbooks & printed materials, provided by the applicant to various Departments of Government of Karnataka? (ii) Whether the textbooks supplied to public or recognized bookstalls eligible for exemption? and, (iii) the rate of tax applicable to these services if they are subject to taxation.
The Authority of Advance Ruling (AAR) consisting of Additional Commissioner of Commercial Tax, Dr. Ravi Prasad and Joint Commissioner of Central Tax, Mashood ur Rehman Farooqi held that these services are not eligible for GST exemption and 12% of Goods and Service Tax (GST) is applicable on the activity of printing and supply of textbooks to government departments which are registered under Goods and Service Tax (GST) Act.
However, the authority clarified that in the case of the printing and supply of textbooks to government departments that are not registered under the Goods and Service Tax (GST) Act, the applicant is exempted from the liability to pay tax.
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