Free/complementary IPL tickets to attract GST: AAR

Free or complementary tickets given by franchise owners for IPL matches will attract Goods and Services Tax (GST), the Authority for Advance Ruling (AAR) said.

In response to an application filed by K P H Dream Cricket Pvt Ltd, which owns and operates IPL cricket team Kings XI Punjab, the Punjab bench of the AAR has ruled that providing complementary tickets free of charge would be considered supply of service and therefore leviable to tax.

The GST rate on sale of IPL tickets is 18 per cent.

The AAR also ruled that K P H Dream Cricket would be eligible to claim input tax credit (ITC) on taxes paid for such complementary tickets only to the extent of input and input service for such tickets.

The AAR said when the applicant issues a 'complimentary ticket' to any person, the applicant is "certainly displaying an act of forbearance by tolerating persons who are receiving the services provided by the applicant without paying any money, which other persons not receiving such complimentary tickets would have to pay for".

Stating that the complementary tickets given by K P H Dream Cricket to various persons would certainly be covered by the term 'token' and 'voucher', the AAR said as per GST laws the monetary value of "forbearance would naturally be pegged to the amount of money charged from other persons not receiving the 'complementary tickets' for availing the same services."