Q. 173 one of our client is active under NGO, who is fighting with us regarding GST exemption. He is not willing to pay GST & he has sent the attached certificate(as per my understanding the attached certificate is only for income tax exemption 12A & 80G). Can you please confirm me whether Trust/NGO can take GST exemption? If yes, What documents should i collect ?

Ans. Services provided by a charitable trust are covered under entry 1 of the exemption notification no. 12/2017- CT (R ). In order to take exemption under entry 1, the following two conditions must be satisfied: – 1. The entity must be registered under section 12AA/ 12AB of the Income Tax Act, 1961, and 2. The entity must carry out one or more of the specified charitable activities. You can ask for a trust registration certificate mentioning charitable activities u/s 12AA/ 12 AB of the Income Tax Act, 1961.