Gst for housing societies related

The dispute /issue is between member(s) and the society accordingly approach Registrar Cooperative Societies of your state where your society is registered.   

We approached the the Deputy registrar cooperative societies where my society is registered but they did not issue any order,but recorded their observations that this does not fall into their juridiction.

This is wrong bcz my complaint was not for them to assess the applicability of tax. that is already established by the Govt circulars and GST office letter. it was asking society to comply with the established laws under 79A.

What happens to the GST collected? Is it remitted to the authority concerned? 

The amounts collected under the pretext of GST cannot be a source of revenue or funds to the Society. 

@P. Venu (Advocate) - We strongly suspect that the collected GST is not remitteed to the Government. The reason is we are asking for GST returns (GSTR1 & GSTR3B) for past 1.5 year. They are being evasive and dismissive about sharing reports.
Last year, same month a case has been filed against them for unlawful GST collection and anti-profiteering, but CGST office is taking their own sweet time, neither are they giving any proper update, despite raising GST.

We have raise a notice under 154B-8 for GST returns and other documents. We are sure they will not give, so once 45 days are over, will raise it with DDR/JDR for non-supply of documents.

Section 77A is raised with Deputy registrar, but since lots of transfers are going on, there is lot of chaos going on. on DR hearings and response to complaints, which are making matters worse.

 

Your Managing Committee is fundamentally misinterpreting the law.

Under CBIC Circular No. 109/28/2019-GST, GST applicability on residential maintenance requires both conditions to be met simultaneously:

1. The society's annual aggregate turnover must exceed ₹20 Lakhs.

2. The monthly maintenance charges per member must exceed ₹7,500.

Because your monthly maintenance is ₹2,400 (well below ₹7,500), your contribution is entirely exempt from GST. Individual account heads like the sinking fund or repair fund cannot be isolated to charge GST if the total monthly billing per member is below the threshold.

The DR was technically correct that they cannot rule on tax laws, but the Co-operative Court has the jurisdiction to judge disputes between a member and the society under Section 91 of the Maharashtra Co-operative Societies (MCS) Act (or the corresponding section of your state's Co-operative Societies Act).

The Ground for Challenge: You are challenging an "Excess recovery of dues from members" and asking for the declaration of a Managing Committee resolution as illegal.

You can pray for an injunction to restrain the society from collecting illegal GST and seek a refund/adjustment of the wrongly collected tax.

Continue paying your base maintenance of ₹2,400. Write a formal letter to the Committee stating that you are paying the maintenance but withholding the GST portion "Under Protest" as per the GST Department's letter (attach the letter). This protects you from being labeled a standard defaulter.

First you issue a  formal legal notice to the Managing Committee giving them 15 days to comply with the GST department's letter, stop the illegal collection, and reverse the charges, failing which you will file a case in the Co-operative Court at their cost.

If you can rally other members who are also being wrongly billed, you can demand a Special General Body Meeting (SGM) to overturn the Committee's decision. The General Body has supreme authority over the Committee.

@T. Kalaiselvan, (Advocate): Thanks for your response.

1) A formal letter is written to Committee along with the mentioned CBIC circular asking to cease GST as it is exempted based on maintenance bill last year in May 2025 but they did not respond.

2) I filed a complaint to CGST GST office on the unlawful GST levy. the case is currently pending with CGST office. However, the Commissioner shared his preliminary finding to both Committee and Complainant member stating the two conditions needed to levy GST. In which one condition of 7500/- is not fulfilled by our society.

3) Despite this they are charging GST ignoring the Commissioners letter and CBIC circulars. We filed a complaint to DR but he said it is not our juridiction to decide the matter. However my complaint stated that it was never about DR to decide on the GST applicability to Society it was about asking Committee under 79A to comply with the Competent authority of CGST letter.

3) We also strongly suspect that the GST that is collected from member is not deposited to the government, bcz for past 1 year or so we are asking for GSTR1 and GSTR3B filing reports, even that is not shared. So planning to go to Cooperative court under Section 91 and as advised file for an injuction order.

You can consult an experienced lawyer in the local, discuss the subject matter at length and proceed as suggested.

Since the issue pertains to taxation it would be better to consult your chartered accountant