Private ruling: GST and food
Published: April 2014

Ruling: Q1: Will the supply by your entities of the food items listed in the facts be GST-free? | A1: Yes.

Relevant facts and circumstances: • You are registered for goods and services tax (GST). • Food items made from a type of bread dough are to be manufactured and sold through your entities. The final products will be topped with a small amount of savoury ingredients. • None of the items contain a filling or have a sweet coating. • The items are cooked in an oven using a process that would be similar to that used to manufacture bread or rolls. Once cooked, the items are removed from the oven and placed on display for sale. • While on display the items cool down, however, they could still be warm when sold depending on the display time. The items are not reheated before sale. • None of the items will be consumed on your entities' premises.

Relevant legislative provisions: A New Tax System (Goods and Services Tax) Act 1999 Section 38-2 | Section 38-3.

Reasons for decision: Summary: We consider that the listed food items have the necessary ingredients and are manufactured in such a way that they can be considered as bread or bread rolls. Further to this, the items are not consumed on the premises from where they are supplied and are not served hot, albeit they could still be warm when sold depending on the display time. As such they are not excluded from being food under section 38-3 of the A New Tax System (Goods and Services Tax) Act 1999 (GST Act). Given this, the supply of these food items will be GST-free under section 38-2 of the GST Act.