Advance ruling on intermediary services in GST:
An advance ruling is given by AAR West Bengal. In GST export of service is required to fulfil five basic conditions.One of those conditions is that place of supply should be outside India. Section 13 of IGST Act provide for the place of supply in case of services when any of recipient or provider of service is located outside India. Section 13(8) (b) enumerates the instances when the place of supply will be the location of the supplier. In case of intermediary services, the location of the supplier will become the place of supply.
In the abovementioned case, the supplier is engaged in promotional activities for various foreign educational institutions. The applicant is doing the activity of promotion and is liable to help students in enrolment. They also need to receive payment on behalf of the institution and forward it.
The most important thing is their remuneration is based on a percentage of fees. The amount received from the students they get enrolled. If any student is not enrolled they are not eligible for any fees. This clearly shows that their services are of intermediary nature.
(Disclaimer: Not for legal use. This is a crux of ruling please refer the original ruling for the more detailed view.)
