Facts of the Case:

• The applicant is a charitable trust registered under section 12A of the Income Tax Act, 1961.
• It extends legal, medical, psychological and financial support to the women and their children surviving violence and abuse.
• The applicant also facilitates training programmes and workshops for the survivors.
• It wants to know whether it is liable to pay tax on its activities.

Appeal to Authority for Advance Ruling:

• The applicant being unregistered, neither the central nor the state administration has ascertained administrative jurisdiction on the applicant. Requirement under section 98(1) of the GST Act is, therefore, dispensed with.
• The applicant further submits that it does not charge anything on the survivors for the services it extends. The payments discussed above are meted out from donations received and interest on deposits.

Observations by AAAR

• The applicant is apparently assisting the women survivors in various ways to get back on their feet. Such survivors of sexual and other violence need services like legal aid, medical assistance, and vocational training.
• The recipient of such services is, therefore, not the applicant but the survivor woman. The applicant makes payments not to the supplier of the services, but as financial support in the form of reimbursement to the recipient survivor. It is, therefore, not liable to pay GST based on reverse charge mechanism on such payments.
• The applicant does not charge any consideration for facilitating the legal aid and other assistance. Such activities of the applicant, therefore, does not result in ‘supply’ of service defined under section 7 (1) of the GST Act. The applicant is not, therefore, liable to pay tax thereon.

Conclusion of AAAR:

The applicant’s activities do not amount to ‘supply’ of service, neither is it a recipient of the services for which it often provides financial assistance to the women survivors of sexual and other violence. The applicant is, therefore, not liable to pay GST on the activities described in the application.

The person for whom medical expenditure has been incurred should not be covered under any health insurance policy.