Private ruling: GST and education courses
Date of advice: 26 June 2015
Published: June 2015

Ruling: Q1: Is the supply of relevant courses by you a GST-free supply of an education course? | A1: No.

Relevant facts and circumstances: • You are registered for goods and services tax (GST). • You are not a Registered Training Organisation (RTO). • You have entered into a Training Provider - License Agreement with a RTO. • You are offering training in a number of courses. • The courses above are accredited courses under the RTO registration. • The students enrol for the course with you and you invoice the students for the training and qualification. • You do not pay any of the enrolment fees paid by the students to the RTO. • The RTO charges you a fee per student for reviewing the assessment and issuing a dual branded certificate. • The RTO charges you an initial fee for putting the specific course or qualification on scope. This involves reviewing your training subject matter, subject assessments and qualifications of your instructors. • You set the course fees to be paid by the students. • Upon completion of the assessments by the students, you forward the results to the RTO and notify the RTO of the students who have successfully completed the course. The RTO provides qualifications based on your assessment of the candidates. • The Licence Agreement provides two keys aspects: • grant of licence to use the licensed Materials; and • the conditions on the delivery of relevant training.

Relevant legislative provisions: A New Tax System (Goods and Services Tax) Act 1999 ( Section 9-5 | Section 38-85 | Section 195-1

Reasons for decision: Summary: A supply is GST-free under section 38-85 of the GST Act if it is a supply of: (a) an education course; or (b) administrative services directly related to the supply of such a course, but only if they are supplied by the supplier of the course. The term education course is defined under section 195-1 of the GST Act. That definition includes a number of different courses. However, of those, the course training that you supply could only fall into a first aid or life saving course. The meaning of the term 'first aid or life saving course' is provided in section 195-1 of the GST Act, as follows: first aid or life saving course means a course of study or instruction that: (a) principally involves training individuals in one or more of the following: (i) first aid, resuscitation or other similar life saving skills including personal aquatic survival skills but not including swimming lessons; (ii) surf life saving; (iii) aero-medical rescue; and (b) is provided by an entity: (i) that is registered (or otherwise approved) by a State or Territory authority that has responsibility for registering (or otherwise approving) entities that provide such courses; or (ii) that is approved to provide such courses by a State or Territory body that has responsibility for approving the provision of such courses; or The course is an accredited vocational education and training course that is specified in the Education Minister's determination under subsections 3(1) and 5D(1) of the Student Assistance Act 1973 - The Student Assistance (Education Institutions and Courses) Determination 2009 (No. 2) (Determination). To be GST-free as a first aid or life saving course, as defined in section 195-1 of the GST Act, the course must satisfy both of the following requirements. | Detailed Reasoning - First Requirement: The first aid or life saving course must be a course of study or instruction that principally involves training individuals in one or more of the following: (i) a first aid, resuscitation or other similar life saving skills including personal aquatic survival skills but not including swimming lessons. (ii) surf life saving; or (iii) aero-medical rescue. | Detailed Reasoning - Second requirement: The first aid or life saving course must be provided by a body that is: (i) registered (or otherwise approved) by a state or territory authority that has responsibility for registering (or otherwise approving) bodies that provide such courses; or (ii) approved to provide such courses by a state or territory body that has responsibility for approving the provision of such courses. Based on your description of the course, it is considered that the course you deliver is a first aid course. We now need to consider the second requirement, whether a Registered Training Organisation (RTO) is making the supply. A first aid course satisfies the second requirement of the definition in section 195-1 of the GST Act if it is provided by a RTO. A RTO is a body that is registered with the relevant authority to provide first aid courses. The registering body is the Australian Skills Qualification Authority (ASQA). To be supplying a GST-free education course you must be the supplier of the course. Indicators of whether you are the supplier of the course include who administratively controls: • the selection and enrolment of the participants, • the course content, course accreditation and issue of any qualification, • the regulations and procedures for the conduct of the course, and • marketing and quality assurance of the course. In your circumstances: • The students enrol for the course with you and you invoice the students for the training and qualification, • You do not pay any of the enrolment fees paid by the students to the RTO, • The RTO charges you a fee per student for reviewing the assessment and issuing a dual branded certificate, • The RTO charges you an initial fee for putting the specific course or qualification on scope. This involves reviewing your training subject matter, subject assessments and qualifications of your instructors, • You set the course fees to be paid by the students, • Upon completion of the assessments by the students, you forward the results to the RTO and notify the RTO of the students who have successfully completed the course. The RTO provides qualifications based on your assessment of the candidates. Therefore, the courses that you deliver under the Licence Agreement with the RTO to the students are supplied by you. The RTO in return for a payment only assists you in certain aspect of the administration of the course such as a fee to review the assessment of the students and issue a certificate or an administration fee to review your training subject matter, subject assessment and qualifications of your instructors. The RTO is not the supplier of the course in this instance. The licence only provides you with the right to use the materials and conditions when you provide the training based on the licenced materials. The licence does not provide you with the registration or approval to satisfy the requirements under the GST Act to be an approved provider of the relevant courses as a RTO. For the supply of a first aid course to be GST-free, the supplier must be a RTO and the first aid course must be in the scope of the suppliers RTO registration. As you are not a RTO the supply of training in the relevant courses is not a supply of a GST-free education course.