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Edited version of private ruling
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Ruling
Subject: GST and Tourist Refund Scheme
Question 1
Can you be considered to be the registered entity for the purposes of the A New Tax System (Goods and Services Tax) Act 1999 (GST Act) and the A New Tax System (Goods and Services Tax ) Regulations 1999 (GST Regulations)?
Answer
No, you cannot be considered to be the registered entity for the purposes of Division 168 of the GST Act and the GST Regulations.
Question 2
Does the invoice aggregation service operate in accordance with the GST refund provisions under Division 168 of the GST Act?
Answer
No, the invoice aggregation service does not operate in accordance with the GST refund provisions under Division 168 of the GST Act.
Facts
You are a financial services company.
You will provide an aggregation service at a shopping centre by allowing tourists to combine their purchases made from multiple retailers on to one tax invoice.
Tourists would be able to select their purchases at various retail outlets within the shopping centre and purchase these items from your service desk. All items purchased would then be amalgamated onto the one tax invoice.
Question 1
Summary
You cannot be considered to be the registered entity for the purposes of Division 168 of the GST Act and the GST Regulations.
Detailed reasoning
Subsection 168-5(1) of the GST Act provides that an entity is entitled to a refund of the GST that was payable on the supply of goods to it, if:
§ the entity makes an acquisition of goods the supply of which is a taxable supply (paragraph 168-5(1)(a) of the GST Act)
§ the acquisition is of a kind specified in the GST Regulations (paragraph 168-5(1)(b) of the GST Act), and
§ the entity leaves Australia, and exports the goods from Australia as accompanied baggage, in the circumstances specified in the GST Regulations (paragraph 168-5(1)(c) of the GST Act).
Regulation 168-5.01 of the GST Regulations provides that, for paragraph 168-5(1)(b) of the GST Act, the acquisition must be a kind of acquisition in accordance with Subdivision 168 of the GST Regulations.
Regulation 168-5.03 of the GST Regulations provides that the goods must have been acquired from a registered entity.
Regulation 168-5.04 of the GST Regulations provides that if 1 item has been acquired from a registered entity, the purchase price paid by the acquirer must be at least $300. If 2 or more items have been acquired from the same registered entity, the total purchase price paid by the acquirer for the items must be at least $300.
Regulation 168-5.05 of the GST Regulations provides that the acquisition must be an acquisition for which the acquirer holds 1 tax invoice only.
The dictionary of the GST Regulations defines 'registered' to mean registered under Part 2-5 of the GST Act.
Section 23-5 in Part 2-5 of the GST Act outlines who is required to be registered and it provides that an entity is required to be registered if:
the entity is carrying on an enterprise and
the entity has a GST turnover that meets the registration turnover threshold.
According to your proposed arrangement, the customers select the goods they wanted to purchase from various retail outlets in the shopping centre and purchase these goods from your service desk. You will then amalgamate all items purchased by each customer into the one tax invoice.
Based on the facts presented to us we do not consider that you are the registered entity for the purposes of Division 168 of the GST Act and the GST Regulations.
Question 2
Summary
The invoice aggregation service does not operate in accordance with the GST refund provisions under Division 168 of the GST Act and the GST Regulations.
For the same reasons as explained in response to Question 1 above, we do not consider that the invoice aggregation service that you propose operate in accordance with the GST refund provisions under Division 168 of the GST Act and the GST Regulations.
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