Lion Club of Poona Kothrud ., In re

Question :- Since the amount collected by individual Lions clubs and Lions District is for convenience of Lion members and pooled together only for paying Meeting expenses & communication expenses and the same is deposited in single bank account. As there is no furtherance of business in this activity and neither any services are rendered nor are any goods being traded. Whether registration is required?

Answer: – 

A supplier is one who provides goods or services, whether on his own or on behalf. In the present case, the club is not formed to provide any facilities or benefits to its members. The fees collected are used for social causes and to meet the expenses incurred in furtherance of the objectives of the Club. The Club is not formed to provide services to members but people gather under the umbrella of the Club to perform socially relevant activities. A club, association or society as understood under section 2(17) is one which would provide goods or services or both to its members such as recreation, sports, food, etc. We have made it clear earlier are that we are not on the activities of the applicant club in general but there should be no dispute that applicant club does not supply any facilities or benefits in terms of goods or services to its members. At the cost of repetition, we reproduce herein the clauses relating to the use of funds-

i) Meeting Expenses

ii) Printing of Circulars

iii) Stationery

iv) Postage

v) Greetings

vi) Fees payable to International office

vii) Fees payable to Multiple office.

As can be seen, the club is not formed to provide any supply of goods or services to its members qua the fees received from them. There being no supply qua the fees received, there arises no occasion for us to visit the definition of ‘Supply’ under the GST Act. The applicant club as per the facts put up before us does not render any ‘Supply’ for the purposes of the GST Act. Having observed so, we refrain from any further discussion.

Answered is in Negative.