18% GST levied on KUHS affiliated medical, nursing colleges

It has been announced that all self-financing medical and nursing colleges under the Kerala University of Health Science (KUHS) will have to pay tax on the fees paid to the university. Until now, GST was not collected from the colleges for the amount paid to the university for affiliation of colleges, registration of students, examination fees, etc. The university has asked the colleges to submit an affidavit on a Rs 200 stamp paper stating that the taxes will be paid as and when the government demands it.

As per reports, the GST department has asked the university to levy 18 percent GST on such services. It was this that forced KUHS to send a letter to all the colleges. The university has issued a circular in this regard to all medical, dental, nursing and paramedical colleges.

If GST is to be charged on fees, the management will collect the same from the students. This will add burden to the students as the fees are already quite high. At the same time, if the university demands payment of tax arrears of previous years, it will prove to be a huge burden for the college management.

Medical colleges pay Rs 2.20 lakhs for registration and inspection and Rs 2.20 lakhs for increase of every ten seats to the university. An investment of Rs 22.05 lakhs is required for instituting a new course or college. In addition to these, the registration and examination fees are also levied from students.

Nursing colleges pay Rs 33,100 per year as affiliation fees to the university. Anil Kumar Valli, president of the Kerala private medical college management association, said that the government, which is facing a severe financial crisis, is trying hard to collect tax share from all possible sectors and that this is not a fair practice.

Self-financing nursing college managements have been at loggerheads with the state government over the latter’s demand of levying GST on the application fee collected from students since 2017. Mathrubhumi