GST वर्गीकरण त्रुटि और छूट का गलत दावा

Definition

Tamil Nadu AAAR ruling (A.R. Appeal No. 02/2025/AAAR, dated June 23, 2025) established that school bus services qualify for GST exemption under Serial No. 66 of Notification 12/2017 ONLY when: (1) the school engages the transport operator under contract, AND (2) the school directly pays the operator. When parents pay transport fees directly to the operator, the transaction is B2C (Business-to-Consumer) and remains taxable at 5% or 12% GST. Schools and operators incorrectly assuming all bus services are exempt under educational institution provisions face: (a) demand for unpaid GST + interest + penalties, (b) ITC reconciliation failures in GSTR-2B matching, (c) audit notices for incorrect exemption claims, (d) rework costs to restructure billing. Case study: Bhartiyam Public School (Bhopal) was receiving GST authority notices for incorrect ITC claims and misclassification of bus expenses before remediation required 6 months of accounting restructuring.

Why This Matters

The Pitch: Indian school bus operators and educational institutions waste significant compliance costs and face penalty exposure by manually categorizing fees under wrong GST heads. Automation of payment-method-based classification (school-paid vs. parent-paid) and real-time ITC reconciliation eliminates misclassification risk.

Affected Stakeholders

School Finance/Admin Officers, Transport Operators (Pvt. Bus Vendors), GST Compliance Teams, Accounts Payable/Receivable Staff

Related Business Risks