Canteen and transportation services provided by schools are outside the purview of Goods and Services Tax (GST), the Maharashtra authority for advance ruling (AAR) has said in a ruling, that will offer relief to many schools across India.

The question under review was whether these services provided by schools and the money charged by them should be subject to GST. No tax is levied on school fees, according to the GST framework.

“Nil rate of tax on the supply of pre-school education services to its students against a fee, supply of goods, supply of transportation service to pre-school students and faculty/staff without any consideration as well as with some consideration, as well as on the supply of canteen service to its faculty and staff for some consideration,” the Maharashtra authority for advance ruling said.

It added that these services can be considered “composite supplies” if the school is already charging the money along with the school fees.