Indore (Madhya Pradesh): Devi Ahilya Vishwavidyalaya, the only Grade A+ accredited university in the state, has come on the radar of THE Directorate General of GST Intelligence (DGGI) for allegedly defaulting on the Goods and Services Tax (GST). The DGGI has served notice on the university seeking interest and penalty considering it a ‘GST defaulter’. The DGGI has also sought details of the GST collected by the university from colleges on affiliation fees and other charges over the past years.
DAVV charges 18 per cent GST from colleges along with affiliation fees, but this was not reportedly deposited in the treasury of the Central Goods and Services Tax (CGST). Along with 18 per cent GST on affiliation fees being collected by the university, CGST has now reportedly asked for payment of 18 per cent interest in addition to a penalty at the rate of 15 per cent.
The university authorities have gone into a tizzy since they received the notice.
The the university’s finance department was ignorant about any such tax on collection of affiliation fees till the Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC), in 2018, sent it a notice seeking Rs 4.71 crore as service tax on income it made through affiliation fees. The service tax was calculated on the basis of income made by the university from 2012 to 2017 through affiliation fees.
The university had denied giving the tax saying that it is an educational institution and, therefore, is exempt from all types of taxes. The university had moved court over the matter. However, the university had started collecting 18 per cent GST from colleges from 2018 saying that, in case it lost the legal battle, it would have the money to pay the GST tax.
The university delayed the payment of GST into the treasury of the CGST. Taking cognisance of the matter, the DGGI has summoned the university to collect data from the affiliation fees of the previous years to the collection of all the fees under the purview of GST.
A university official wishing anonymity said that they had no clue that tax had to be paid on income made through affiliation fees till they received the notice from the CBEC in 2018. “Since 2018, we started collecting 18 per cent GST on affiliation fees. If interest and penalty is imposed on us, recovery of the same from colleges will be impossible,” he added.
Ignorant DAVV
§ DAVV also has a service tax liability of Rs 4.71 crore for past couple of years. A decision has been taken against the university by the Service Tax Commissionerate about a year ago. In the year 2020-2021, the Service Tax Department had released the ‘Sabka Vishwas Scheme’
§ Under this scheme, there had been a provision to get rid of the interest and penalty in some cases on settlement of the old cases. The ignorant university did not apply for this scheme. Now, the university is fighting a case against the service tax matter in the appellate tribunal
