GST Rates: IPL Tickets At 28%, AC Restaurants At 18%, Construction At 12%, Tour Operators At 5%

Five services including Indian Premier League tickets and five-star hotels will attract 28 percent tax rate under the Goods and Services tax regime, even as education and healthcare will continue to be exempted.

The GST Council agreed to tax services in five slabs - 0 percent, 5 percent, 12 percent, 18 percent, and 28 percent. A standard rate of 18 percent will apply to most of the services, and the net effect will not be inflationary, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley told reporters on Friday.

The indirect tax department released the rate schedule for 35 services ranging from transportation to hospitality, and 83 Service Tax exemptions to be continued under the GST regime. Here’s the entire list:

5 Percent

• Transport of goods by rail
• Transport of passengers by rail other than sleeper class
• Services of goods transport agency in relation to transportation of goods other than household goods for personal use
• Services of goods transport agency in relation to transportation of used household goods for personal use
• Renting of a motorcab. However, if the fuel cost is borne by the service recipient, a rate of 18 percent will be applicable for the same
• Transport of air passengers by a vehicle other than the motor cab or a radio taxi
• Transport of passengers by air in economy class
• Transport of passengers embarking from or termination in an airport under the 'Regional Connectivity Scheme Airport.'
• Supply of tour operators' services
• Leasing of aircraft by a scheduled airline for scheduled operations
• Selling of space for advertisement in the print media
• Job work in relation to printing of newspapers

12 Percent

• Transport of goods in containers by rail by any other person other than the Indian Railways
• Transport of passengers by air other than economy class
• Restaurants without air-conditioning facility or with no licence to serve liquor
• Hotels, inns, guest houses, clubs, campsites or any other place meant for residential or lodging purposes with tariff range between Rs 1,000-2,500
• Services provided by a foreman of chit fund in relation to chit
• Construction of a complex or building or a civil structure intended for partial or complete sale to a buyer
• Temporary transfer or permitting the use of any intellectual property

Also Read: Tax Rates Before And After GST

18 Percent

• Restaurants having licence to serve liquor
• Restaurants having air-conditioning facility
• Supply of food and drinks in outdoor catering
• Hotels, inns, guest houses, clubs, campsites or any other place meant for residential or lodging purposes with tariff range between Rs 2,500-5,000
• Events in a premise including hotels, convention center, club, pandal, shamiana or any other place along with renting of such premises
• Access to circus, Indian classical dance, folk dance, theatrical performance and drama
• Composite supply of works contracts as defined in clause 119 of section 2 of CGST

Also Read: Come GST, Which Services Will Burn A Bigger Hole In Your Pocket?

28 Percent

• Entertainment events, amusement parks, films, theme parks, water parks and any sporting event like the IPL
• Services by a race club through a totalisator or a licensed bookmaker
• Gambling
• Air-conditioned restaurants in hotels rated 5-star or above
• Accommodation in hotels rated 5-star or above with rent of Rs 5,000 or above per room per night

Also Read: GST Rates: Colas At 40%, Refrigerators At 28%, Namkeen At 12% And Condoms For Nothing

Exemptions From Service Tax

The following authorities have been exempted from payment of service tax:

• Services by Government or a local authority except department of posts, services in relation to an aircraft or a vessel, transport of goods or passengers or any other service provided to business entities
• Services provided by the Reserve Bank of India
• Services by a foreign diplomatic mission located in India
• Services relating to cultivation of plants and rearing of all forms of animals except the rearing of horses, for food, fibre, fuel, raw material or other similar products or agricultural produce
• Service by way of access to a road or a bridge on payment of toll charges
• Transmission or distribution of electricity by an electricity transmission or distribution utility
• Services by way of renting of residential dwelling for use as residence
• Services by way of extending deposits, loans or advances so far as the consideration is represented by way of interest or discount
• Inter se sale or purchase of foreign currency amongst banks or authorised dealers of foreign exchange or amongst banks and such dealers
• Services by way of transportation of goods by road except the services of a goods transportation agency or a courier agency or by inland waterways
• Services provided to the United Nations or a specified international organization.
• Services provided by operators of the Common Bio-medical Waste Treatment Facility to a clinical establishment
• Services by a veterinary clinic in relation to health care of animals or birds
• Services by an entity registered under section 12AA of the Income tax Act, 1961 (43 of 1961) by way of charitable activities
• Services provided by an arbitral tribunal to any person other than a business entity or a business entity with a turnover up to Rs 20 lakh (Rs 10 lakh in special category state)
• Services provided by an arbitral tribunal to a partnership form of advocates or an individual as an advocate other than a senior advocate by way of legal services to advocate or partnership firm of advocates providing legal services or any person other than a business entity or a business entity with a turnover of up to Rs 20 lakh (Rs 10 lakh in special category state)
• Services provided by an arbitral tribunal to a senior advocate by way of legal services to any person other than a business entity or a business entity with a turnover of up to Rs 20 lakh (Rs 10 lakh in special category state)

• Services provided by the Indian Institutes of Management, as per the guidelines of the Central Government, to their students, by way of the following educational programmes, except Executive Development Programme
• Services provided to a recognized sports body by an individual as a player, referee, umpire, coach or team manager for participation in a sporting event organized by a recognized sports body or by another recognized sports body
• services provided by an artist by way of a performance in folk or classical art forms of music, dance or theatre, if the consideration charged for such a performance is not more than Rs 1.5 lakh. However, the exemption would not apply to services provided by the artist as a brand ambassador
• Services by way of collecting or providing news by an independent journalist, PTI or United News of India
• Services by way of giving on hire to a state transport undertaking, a motor vehicle meant to carry more than 12 passengers or to a goods transport agency which is a means of transportation of goods
• Transport of passengers with or without accompanied belongings by air and embarking from or terminating in an airport located in states of Arunachal Pradesh, ASsam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim or Tripura or at Bagdogra in West Bengal
• Transport of passengers with or without accompanied belongings by a non-airconditioned contract carriage other than a radio taxi excluding tourism, conducted tour, charter or hire or by any other stage carriage other than an air-conditioned one
• Services of life insurance business provided by way of annuity under the National Pension System regulated by Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority of India (PFRDA) under the Pension Fund Regulatory And Development Authority Act, 2013

• Services of life insurance business provided or agreed to be provided by the Army, Naval and Air Force Group Insurance Funds to members of the Army, Navy and Air Force, respectively, under the Group Insurance Schemes of the Central Government
• Services provided by an incubatee up to a total turnover of Rs 50 lakh subject the fact that the total turnover should now have exceeded 50 lakh during last year and a period of three years has not been elepased from the date of agreement as incubated
• Services by an organiser to any person in respect of a business exhibition held outside India
• Services by way of slaughtering of animals
• Services received from a provider of service located in a non- taxable territory by; Government, a local authority, a governmental authority or an individual in relation to any purpose other than commerce, industry or any other business or profession. This exemption shall not apply to online information and database access or retrieval services

• Services of public libraries by way of lending of books, publications or any other knowledge-enhancing content or material
• Services by Employees’ State Insurance Corporation to persons governed under the Employees’ Insurance Act, 1948
• Services by way of transfer of a going concern, as a whole or an independent part thereof
• Services by way of public conveniences such as provision of facilities of bathroom, washrooms, lavatories, urinal or toilets
• Services by government, local authority or governmental authority by way of any activity in relation to any function entrusted to a municipality under Article 243 W of the Constitution
• Services received by the Reserve Bank of India, from outside India in relation to management of foreign exchange reserves
• Services provided by a tour operator to a foreign tourist in relation to a tour conducted wholly outside India
• Services by way of pre-conditioning, pre-cooling, ripening, waxing, retail packing, labelling of fruits and vegetables which do not change or alter the essential characteristics of the said fruits or vegetables
• Services by way of admission to a museum, national park, wildlife sanctuary, tiger reserve or zoo
• Services provided by Government or a local authority to a business entity with a turnover up to rupees twenty lakh (ten lakh rupees in a special category state) in the preceding financial year.
• The provision will not apply to services by way of renting of immovable property
• Services provided by Employees Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) to persons governed under the Employees Provident Funds and Miscellaneous Provisions Act, 1952

• Services provided by Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDA) to insurers under the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India Act, 1999
• Services provided by Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) set up under the Securities and Exchange Board of India Act, 1992 (15 of 1992) by way of protecting the interests of investors in securities and to promote the development of, and to regulate, the securities market
• Services provided by National Centre for Cold Chain Development under Ministry of Agriculture, Cooperation and Farmer’s Welfare by way of cold chain knowledge dissemination
• Services by way of transportation of goods by an aircraft from a place outside India upto the customs station of clearance in India
• Services provided by Government or a local authority to another Government or local authority
• Services provided by Government or a local authority by way of issuance of passport, visa, driving licence, birth certificate or death certificate
• Services provided by Government or a local authority by way of tolerating non-performance of a contract for which consideration in the form of fines or liquidated damages is payable to the Government or the local authority under such contract
• Services provided by Government or a local authority by way of:

a.) Registration required under any law for the time being in force

b.) Testing calibration, safety check or certification relating to protection or safety of workers, consumers or public at large, including fire licences, required under any law for the time being in force

• Services provided by Government or a local authority by way of assignment of right to use natural resources to an individual farmer for cultivation of plants and rearing of all life forms of animals, except the rearing of horses, for food, fibre, fuel, raw material or other similar products
• Services by Government, a local authority or a governmental authority by way of any activity in relation to any function entrusted to a Panchayat under article 243G of the Constitution

• Services provided by Government or a local authority by way of assignment of right to use any natural resource where such right to use was assigned by the Government or the local authority before April 1, 2016. The exemption shall apply only to service tax payable on one time charge payable, in full upfront or in installments, for assignment of right to use such natural resource.
• Services provided by Government or a local authority by way of allowing a business entity to operate as a telecom service provider or use radiofrequency spectrum during the period prior to April 1, 2016, on payment of licence fee or spectrum user charges, as the case may be
• Services provided by Government by way of deputing officers after office hours or on holidays for inspection or container stuffing or such other duties in relation to import export cargo on payment of Merchant Overtime charges
• Services by an acquiring bank, to any person in relation to settlement of an amount upto two thousand rupees in a single transaction transacted through credit card, debit card, charge card or other payment card service. Here, an 'acquiring bank' means any banking company, financial institution including non-banking financial company or any other person, who makes the payment to any person who accepts such a card
• Services of leasing of assets (rolling stock assets including wagons, coaches, locos) by Indian Railways Finance Corporation to Indian Railways
• Services provided by any person for official use of a foreign diplomatic mission or consular post in India or for personal use or for the use of the family members of diplomatic agents or career consular officers posed therein. This exemption is available on reciprocal basis based on a certificate issued by MEA

• Taxable services, provided or to be provided, by a Technology Business Incubator (TBI) or a Science and Technology Entrepreneurship Park (STEP) recognized by the National Science and Technology Entrepreneurship Development Board (NSTEDB) of the Department of Science and Technology, Government of India or bio-incubators recognized by the Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Council, under Department of Biotechnology, Government of India
• Taxable service provided by State Government Industrial Development Corporations/ Undertakings to industrial units by way of granting long term (thirty years, or more) lease of industrial plots from so much of tax leviable thereon, as is leviable on the one time upfront amount (called as premium, salami, cost, price, development charges or by any other name) payable for such lease.
• Services provided to the government by way of transport of passengers with or without accompanied belongings, by air, embarking from or terminating at a regional connectivity scheme airport, against consideration in the form of viability gap funding
• Services provided by cord blood banks by way of preservation of stem cells or any other service in relation to such preservation
• Services by way of training or coaching in recreational activities relating to arts or culture or sports by charitable entities registered under section 12AA of the Income Tax Act, 1961
• Any services provided by the National Skill Development Corporation set up by the Government of India; a Sector Skill Council approved by the National Skill Development Corporation; an assessment agency approved by the Sector Skill Council or the National Skill Development Corporation or a training partner approved by the National Skill Development Corporation or the Sector Skill Council

• Services of assessing bodies empanelled centrally by Directorate General of Training, Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship by way of assessments under Skill Development Initiative (SDI) Scheme
• Services provided by training providers (Project implementation agencies) under Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Grameen Kaushalya Yojana under the Ministry of Rural Development by way of offering skill or vocational training courses certified by National Council For Vocational Training
• Services by way of sponsorship of sporting events organised

1. By a national sports federation, or its affiliated federations, where the participating teams or individuals represent any district, State, zone or Country
2. By Association of Indian Universities, Inter-University Sports Board, School Games Federation of India, All India Sports Council for the Deaf, Paralympic Committee of India or Special Olympics Bharat
3. By Central Civil Services Cultural and Sports Board
4. As part of national games, by Indian Olympic Association; or
5. Under Panchayat Yuva Kreeda Aur Khel Abhiyaan (PYKKA) Scheme

• Services provided by way of pure labour contracts of construction, erection, commissioning, installation, completion, fitting out, repair, maintenance, renovation, or alteration of a civil structure or any other original works pertaining to the Beneficiary-led individual house construction / enhancement under the Housing for All (Urban) Mission/Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY)
• Services by way of pure labour contracts of construction, erection, commissioning, or installation of original works pertaining to a single residential unit otherwise than as a part of a residential complex

Services of general insurance business provided under following schemes:

• Hut Insurance Scheme
• Cattle Insurance under Swarnajaynti Gram Swarozgar Yojna (earlier known as Integrated Rural Development Programme)
• Scheme for Insurance of Tribals
• Janata Personal Accident Policy and Gramin Accident Policy
• Group Personal Accident Policy for Self-Employed Women
• Agricultural Pumpset and Failed Well Insurance
• Premia collected on export credit insurance
• Weather Based Crop Insurance Scheme or the Modified National Agricultural Insurance Scheme, approved by the Government of India and implemented by the Ministry of Agriculture; Jan Arogya Bima Policy
• National Agricultural Insurance Scheme (Rashtriya Krishi Bima Yojana)
• Pilot Scheme on Seed Crop Insurance
• Central Sector Scheme on Cattle Insurance
• Universal Health Insurance Scheme
• Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana or
• Coconut Palm Insurance Scheme
• Pradhan Mantri Suraksha BimaYojna
• Niramaya Health Insurance Scheme implemented by Trust constituted under the provisions of the National Trust for the Welfare of Persons with Autism, Cerebral Palsy, Mental Retardation and Multiple Disabilities Act, 1999 (44 of 1999); or
• Any other insurance scheme of the State Government as may be notified by Government of India on the recommendation of GSTC

Services of life insurance business provided under following schemes:

• Janashree Bima Yojana (JBY) or
• Aam Aadmi Bima Yojana (AABY)
• Life micro-insurance product as approved by the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority, having maximum amount of cover of fifty thousand rupees
• Varishtha Pension Bima Yojana
• Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti BimaYojana
• Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana
• Pradhan Mantri Vaya Vandan Yojana and
• Any other insurance scheme of the State Government as may be notified by Government of India on the recommendation of GSTC

• Services by way of collection of contribution under Atal Pension Yojana
• Services by way of collection of contribution under any pension scheme of the State Governments
• Service of transportation of passengers, with or without accompanied belongings, by railways other than the first class or an air-conditioned coach, metro, monorail or tramway, inland waterways, public transport, in a vessel between places located in India and metered cabs or auto rickshaws including e-rickshaws

Services by a person by way of:

a.) Conduct of any religious ceremony

b.) Renting of precincts of a religious place meant for general public, owned or managed by an entity registered as a charitable or religious trust under section 12AA of the Income-tax Act, 196

Nothing contained in this exemption shall apply to:

1. Renting of rooms where charges are Rs 1,000 or more per day
2. Renting of premises, community halls, kalyanmandapam or open area, etc where charges are Rs 10,000 or more per day
3. Renting of shops or other spaces for business or commerce where charges are Rs 10,000 or more per month

Services by way of transportation by rail or a vessel from one place in India to another of the following goods:

• Relief materials meant for victims of natural or man-made disasters, calamities, accidents or mishap
• Defence or military equipments
• Newspaper or magazines registered with the Registrar of Newspapers;
• Railway equipments or materials
• agricultural produce
• Milk, salt and food grain including flours, pulses and rice; and
• Organic manure

Services provided by a goods transport agency, by way of transport in a goods carriage of:

• Agricultural produce
• Goods, where gross amount charged for the transportation of goods on a consignment transported in a single carriage does not exceed one thousand five hundred rupees
• Goods, where gross amount charged for transportation of all such goods for a single consignee does not exceed rupees seven hundred fifty
• Milk, salt and food grain including flour, pulses and rice
• Organic manure
• Newspaper or magazines registered with the Registrar of Newspapers
• Relief materials meant for victims of natural or man-made disasters, calamities, accidents or mishap or
• Defence or military equipment’s

Services by the following persons in respective capacities:

• Business facilitator or a business correspondent to a banking company with respect to accounts in its rural area branch
• Any person as an intermediary to a business facilitator or a business correspondent with respect to services mentioned in clause (g) or
• Business facilitator or a business correspondent to an insurance company in a rural area

• Carrying out an intermediate production process as job work in relation to cultivation of plants and rearing of all life forms of animals, except the rearing of horses, for food, fibre, fuel, raw material or other similar products or agricultural produce
• Services by way of loading, unloading, packing, storage or warehousing of rice

Services by way of right to admission to:

1. Circus, dance, or theatrical performance including drama or ballet
2. award function, concert, pageant, musical performance or any sporting event other than a recognized sporting event
3. Recognised sporting event

where the consideration for admission is not more than Rs 250 per person in (1), (2) and (3) above.

• Services provided by Government or a local authority where the gross amount charged for such services does not exceed Rs 5,000
• Health care services by a clinical establishment, an authorised medical practitioner or para-medics
• Services provided by way of transportation of a patient in an ambulance, other than those specified above
• Services provided by the Goods and Services Tax Network (GSTN) to the Central Government or State Governments/Union Territories for implementation of Goods and Services Tax (GST)