GST applies to online courses mandated by medical council: Karnataka AAR

Karnataka AAR has said that the GST will be applicable on paid online medical courses targeted at doctors and mandated by the medical council.

In a recent notification, Karnataka Authority for Advance Ruling (AAR) has made it clear that the Goods and Services Tax (GST) must be applied on online courses specifically targeted at doctors and mandated by the medical council.

This notification can complicate the issue of taxation of education and medical facilities as the healthcare services and education are exempted from GST services.

The Karnataka AAR has said that the online education courses cannot be considered as the medical facility even if the course is mandatory for doctors as this is not a professional course and more on the lines of executive education, hence the GST should be applicable, as reported by the Economic Times.

Karnataka AAR said this while replying to the following two questions by the applicant Cmepedia:

1. Is paid educational content, which is used by health care professionals or students to fulfil a mandatory demand by their professional body or institute, exempt from tax?
2. Is the fee for the portfolio management, which will reduce the administrational pressure on professional bodies and health care professionals, and will increase the transparency in the certification of educational activities, exempt of tax.

Karnataka AAR Ruling on GST on online educational content

Following are the ruling stated by Karnataka AAR in response to the above questions asked by the applicant:

1. The paid education content, which is used by health care professionals or students to fulfil a mandatory demand by their professional body or institute is not exempt to tax under the provisions of the Central Goods and Services Tax Act or Karnataka Goods and Services Tax Act or Integrated Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017.
2. The fee collected for the portfolio management is also not exempt from tax under the provisions of the Central Goods and Services Tax Act or Karnataka Goods and Services Tax Act or Integrated Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017.

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