In an order passed by the Andhra Pradesh Authority for Advance Ruling (AAR), it has been clarified that there should be no levy of goods and services tax on the printing of pre and post-examination items, as well as the scanning and processing of exam results are free of tax.
The ruling was passed in response to a plea filed by M/s Universal Print Systems with the AAR asking for clarification regarding the levy of GST on the printing and related services for examination. The applicant is said to be involved in the business of printing high-end papers, including answer sheets and results for examinations. In addition, it also prints certificates with security features for the authentication of educational documents. According to the application, such services provided to educational institutions by the applicant should be exempt from GST as per Serial Number 66 of Notification N0,12/2017-CGST.
The AAR panel consisting of Mr D. Ramesh (State Tax) and Mr RV Pradhamesh Bhanu (Central Tax) studied the case and found that the applicant provides the printing of pre-examination and post-examination items and other related services to educational institutions for the specific purpose of the conduct of exams.
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These are special services and are not usually carried out by education institutions, as they will outsource them to external service providers.
To sum up the matter, the AAR concluded that “when such Services are procured by the educational institution, they tantamount to the services relating to the conduct of examination, which will aptly fall within the ambit of exemption outlined under Entry No. 66 of Notification No. 12/2017 Central Tax (Rate), dated 28th June 2017 as amended”.
