The Authority for Advance Ruling (AAR) in Tamilnadu announced that electroplating is a type of service. GST at the rate of 18% will be charged on the goods of unregistered assessees and at the rate of 12% for those assessees registered under the GST Act. the same will be applicable from October 2019.
The decision was taken in a case under which the applicant, M/s. Electroplating and Metal Finishers Industrial Estate, a partnership firm in Tamilnadu, wanted to confirm the nature of the job and the rate of tax applicable for electroplating accordingly. There are numerous electroplaters in the state providing Zinc plating for Automobiles, Electric and other General Industries.
The applicant told the authority that as they were registered under the GST Act
Get to know the complete GST registration procedure online on the Indian government GST portal official website. We have explained by the actual screenshot of every step (GSTIN 33AABFE5239NlZC), they used to get the orders from their clients through the delivery challan. Then they clean the same using acid according to the requirements of the customers, then they plate the coating. The coated product was then sent to the quality-control team for inspection and then used to return the product to the client along with an invoice of the job after the quality check. They used zinc addictive, caustic soda, zinc anode, hydrochloric acid, or zinc brighter according to the needs of the clients.
As the applicant was provided the benefit of being heard personally, the partners in the firm appeared in front of the authority for the same. They explained the work process of the company and the process of receipt of the delivery challan and sending the invoice to the clients.
They said that they wanted to get clarification on the notification. They also agreed to submit other job-related documents like GST E-Way bills 
Get to know about GST E Way bill and its generating process through online and SMS in a simple manner. Also, we have attached original screenshots of official E way bill portal for better understanding, input invoices, etc to the authority. Commissioner, Manasa Gangotri Kata and Joint Commissioner, Thiru Kurinji Selvaan gave the verdict based on the application of the firm.
The commissioners observed that Section 2(68) of the CGST Act defines as “Job work means any treatment or process undertaken by a person on goods belonging to another registered person and the expression job worker shall be construed accordingly” so the nature of the work done by the applicant was that of a job.
Additionally, the authority also said that the job of electroplating is a “Supply of Service 
In GST model Law separate provisions have been prescribed to determine the time of supply of goods and services. Liability for GST (Goods and Services Tax) will. Read more” in the eyes of authority and the rate of GST applicable on the goods of GST registered user will be 6% SGST and 6% CGST each and that for unregistered users will be 9% SGST and 9% CGST respectively after the amendment from 1 October 2019.
