Laboratory Medical Equipment can’t be sold to Distributor at Concessional Rate of GST: AAR [Read Order]

The Authority of Advance Ruling(AAR) Maharashtra has ruled that manufacturers of laboratory medical equipment are not eligible to concessional GST rates when supplied to distributors.

The applicant, M/s Equitron Medica Pvt. Ltd. is engaged in the manufacture of laboratory medical equipment like Autoclaves, Incubators, Rotary Vacuum Evaporators, Baths, etc..Their Target market includes institutions engaged in Scientific Research. They are currently selling all their products through distributors’ networks and issues invoices to distributors at the normal rate of Goods and service tax(GST) at 18% because the distributors or channel partners are not engaged in scientific research of any type in any manner. The distributors are only engaged in trading of the subject goods and in some cases, they sell the same to certain notified institutions engaged in the scientific research, at a concessional rate of 5% because the end use of the product sold is exclusively for scientific research.

This concessional rate is applicable via GST notification 45/2017 & 47/2017 on supply to the end-users who undertake/are engaged in the scientific research and the goods supplied are used for the same purpose.

The question raised by the applicant before the authority was whether as a manufacturer of such goods, whether such concessional rates were available for them.

The Authority benched by Addl. Commissioner of Central Tax Ms. P. Vinitha Sekhar and Joint Commissioner of Sales Tax Shri A. A. Chahure held that “we find that the applicant does not supply goods to the end-users who undertake or are engaged in the scientific research. The goods are supplied to their distributors only. . . The said notification requires the said certificate to be issued to the supplier who in the subject case, is the distributor and not the applicant. In this view, we hold that the applicant cannot sell their product to their dealers/ distributors by charging Goods and service tax(GST) @5% as per notification no.s 45/2017 & 47/2017”.