HRD Ministry Requests Revenue Department To Exempt IIM-Ahmedabad’s Rs 52 Crore Service Tax

Human Resource Development (HRD) Ministry has intervened in the matter of revenue authorities demanding Rs 52 crore service tax from Indian Institute of Management-Ahmedabad (IIM-A), Indian Express has reported.

According to the report, Higher Education Secretary R Subrahmanyam has reportedly written to the Revenue Secretary Hasmukh Adhia this month requesting him to consider the plea of IIM-A to not treat it as a “commercial coaching and training centre”.

Earlier, on 31 January, IIM-A had sought the intervention of the HRD ministry on a matter in which principal commissioner of central goods and service tax (Ahmedabad South) had levied service tax on the fee charged by the Institute for four postgraduate programmes.

The department of revenue, which falls under the finance ministry, treated IIM-A as a “commercial coaching centre” and demanded Rs 52 crore as tax for the period 2009-10 to 2014-15.

IIM-A in its letter to the ministry said that as an educational institute, it has always been exempted from tax.

The institute, which had also appealed against the decision in the tribunal, had asked the ministry to present its case before the finance ministry.

Subrahmanyam, in his letter, has reportedly urged Adhiya to consider IIM-A’s request and treat its diploma programmes as educational programmes.