The Government of West Bengal on August 22, 2023, issued a clarification with regard to the applicability of GST on certain services.
The following has been stated namely: -
• With respect to the applicability of GST on accommodation services supplied by Air Force Mess to its personnel:
o It is hereby clarified that accommodation services provided by Air Force Mess and other similar messes, such as, Army mess, Navy mess, Paramilitary and Police forces mess to their personnel or any person other than a business entity are covered by Sl. No. 6 of notification No. 1136-F.T. dated 28.06.2017 provided the services supplied by such messes qualify to be considered as services supplied by Central Government, State Government, Union Territory or local authority.
• With respect to the applicability of GST on incentive paid by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) to acquiring banks under the Incentive scheme for the promotion of RuPay Debit Cards and low-value BHIM-UPI transactions:
o The service supplied by the acquiring banks in the digital payment system in case of transactions through RuPay/BHIM UPI is the same as the service that they provide in case of transactions through any other card or mode of digital payment. The only difference is that the consideration for such services, instead of being paid by the merchant or the user of the card, is paid by the central government in the form of incentive. However, it is not a consideration paid by the central government for any service supplied by the acquiring bank to the Central Government. The incentive is in the nature of a subsidy directly linked to the price of the service and the same does not form part of the taxable value of the transaction in view of the provisions of section 2(31) and section 15 of the WBGST Act, 2017.
o Further, incentives paid by MeitY to acquiring banks under the Incentive scheme for the promotion of RuPay Debit Cards and low-value BHIM-UPI transactions are in the nature of subsidy and thus not taxable.
Disclaimer: Please refer to the document below for further information.
[Trade Circular No. 04/2023]
