Medical Stores Run by Charitable Trusts Need GST Registration: AAR

The Authority of Advance Ruling (AAR), Gujarat has ruled that all the medical stores, that are providing the medicines at lower rates, amount to the supply of Goods and all the medical stores, run by any charitable trust, are required to get them registered under the Goods and Services Act 2017.

The ruling was provided in a case where M/s Nagri Eye Research Foundation filed an application to seek the ruling of the authority on whether the registration under GST 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. Read More is required by a medical store run by a charitable trust with a motive to help the public and whether such or any other medical stores, providing medicines at lower prices, amounts to the supply of goods or not. The applicant, being one such charitable trust, is operating a medical store to provide medicines at lower rates as compared to others with a motive to help others, rather than earning profits.

The bench of the authority, with Mohit Agarwal and Sanjay Saxena as members, ruled that it is mandatory for the medical stores, run by a charitable trust, to get them registered under the GST Act 2017 and supplies made by such and other medical stores, providing medicines at lower prices, amounts to the supply of goods.

“Applicant is selling medicines from its medical store. Medicine is goods as per subsection 52 of Section 2 of the CGST Act, 2017. Medicine is a taxable supply as per subsection 108 of section 2 of the CGST Act, 2017 and GST is leviable on medicine as per Chapter-30 of HSN code. Therefore, the sale of medicine by the applicant is a taxable supply of goods. The applicant is providing medicines from its medical store at a lower rate so the price paid by the customers is a consideration for the applicant as defined in subsection 31 of Section 2 of the CGST Act, 2017. Further, the activity of the supply of goods by the applicant does not fall under the list appearing in Schedule-III of the CGST Act, 2017. Therefore, we conclude that the applicant is making taxable supply from its medical store, so as and when aggregate turnover (here medicine) of applicant exceeds threshold limit as specified in sub-section(1) of Section 22 of the CGST Act, 2017, the applicant has to obtain registration under the relevant provisions of the CGST Act, 2017,” the AAR said.

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The Ruling, as provided by the bench of AAR, read In view of the foregoing, we rule as under:

• The applicant is required to obtain GST Registration for medical store run by Charitable Trust as per the relevant provisions of the GST Act, 2017.
• The Medical Store providing medicines at a lower rate amounts to the supply of goods as per the relevant provisions of the GST Act, 2017.