Govt clarifies, no change made in taxation of legal services under GST

New Delhi, Jul 15:  Finance Ministry today clarified that no change had been made in taxation of legal services in the Goods and Services Tax (GST) era. In a statement issued here today by Finance Ministry, it is further clarified that legal service has been defined to mean any service provided in relation to advice, consultancy or assistance in any branch of law, in any manner and includes representational services before any court, tribunal or authority. It is further clarified that notification No. 13/2017-Central Tax (Rate) dated 28.6.2017 (Serial No. 2) specifies, inter alia, the following service under reverse charge mechanism. The Ministry said, “Services supplied by an individual advocate including a senior advocate by way of representational services before any court, tribunal or authority, directly or indirectly, to any business entity located in the taxable territory, including where contract for provision of such service has been entered through another advocate or a firm of advocates, or by a firm of advocates, by way of legal services, to a business entity.” It added that the words “by way of legal services” are preceded and succeeded by comma. Therefore, the said words apply to an individual advocate including a senior advocate and a firm of advocates. Legal services provided by either of them are liable for payment of GST under reverse charge by the business entity.The words “by way of representational services before any court, tribunal or authority….” appear in conjunction with senior advocate without a comma and merely describe the nature and mode of representational services provided by a senior advocate to a business entity. It, therefore, follows that legal services, which includes representational services, provided by advocates are under reverse charge. There are points being raised about the applicability of GST on legal services provided by advocates – whether it is in forward charge or reverse charge. UNI