Edited version of private ruling

Authorisation Number: 1011807320720

This edited version of your ruling will be published in the public Register of private binding rulings after 28 days from the issue date of the ruling. The attached private rulings fact sheet has more information.

Please check this edited version to be sure that there are no details remaining that you think may allow you to be identified. Contact us at the address given in the fact sheet if you have any concerns.

Ruling

Subject: GST and special education courses

Question 1

Is your supply of tuition programs to students with learning disabilities GST-free?

Answer

Those programs that are specifically designed for students with disabilities, or for children with disabilities, satisfy the definition of special education courses. Your supply of these programs will be GST-free.

Those programs that are specifically designed to meet the needs of students who do not have disabilities are not special education courses and your supply of these will be subject to GST.

Question 2

Is your service of assessing clients for Irlen dyslexia a GST-free supply?

Answer

No. As the persons carrying out your screening services are not recognised professionals in one of the specified health services listed in the table in subsection 38-10(1) of the GST Act, the service that you provide of assessing clients for Irlen dyslexia will be a taxable supply.

Relevant facts and circumstances

You are registered for GST.

You provide tuition to school age children, many of whom have various learning disabilities. Others, whilst not having a disability, attend because they are having trouble keeping up with their schoolwork or they are gifted students who want to achieve a higher level of excellence in their work.

The learning disabilities result from impairment in one or more psychological processes related to learning, in combination with at least average abilities essential for thinking and reasoning.

They are specific, not global, impairments and as such, are distinct from intellectual disabilities.

The learning disabilities affect the acquisition, retention, understanding, organisation or use of verbal and/or non-verbal information.

They range in severity and invariably interfere with the acquisition and use of one or more of the following important skills:

· Oral language (listening, speaking, understanding)

· Reading (decoding, comprehension)

· Written language (spelling, written expression)

· Mathematics (computation, problem solving)

· People with learning disabilities may also have difficulties with organisational skills, social perception and social interaction.

Your programs are specifically designed to address the needs of each student and to improve their confidence and ability.

The tuition is delivered by qualified teachers.

Your understanding is that the tuition programs that you supply are special education courses.

You also screen clients (students) for Irlen dyslexia.

The screening is carried out by (two) Certified Irlen Screeners. Neither screener has a health related qualification.

You invoice the clients for the screening service.

Question 1

Is your supply of tuition programs to students or children with learning disabilities GST-free?

The supply of an education course is GST-free under section 38-85 of the A New Tax System (Goods and Services Tax) Act 1999 (the GST Act). An education course is defined in section 195-1 of the GST Act to include, amongst other things, a special education course.

A course meets the requirements of a special education course as defined in section 195-1 of the GST Act if:

• it is a course of education
• it provides special programs, and
• the special programs are designed specifically for children with disabilities or students with disabilities (or both).

Goods and Services Tax Ruling GSTR 2002/1 provides guidance on supplies that are GST-free as special education courses.

Course of education

GSTR 2002/1 explains at paragraphs 15 and 16 that a course of education is a course or program of study that involves systematic instruction, training or schooling in areas of scholastic and academic pursuits, vocational skills or personal development that is delivered to a group of children or students or to an individual child or student in the form of a series of lessons or classes, or a unit or module that forms part of a larger course.

Paragraph 17 of GSTR 2002/1 further explains that the systematic instruction, training or schooling needs to have elements of interactive teaching, for example, delivery by an instructor or teacher, ongoing support and guidance, assessment of child's or student's progress, monitoring or supervision and provision of feedback.

From the information provided by you, we consider that the programs you supply meet the requirements of a course of education.

Special programs

Paragraph 19 of GSTR 2002/1 states that a program is a special program if it is:

· · designed specifically to meet the special needs of children or students with disabilities

· · designed specifically to reduce or prevent the impact of disabilities for children or students with disabilities, or

· · not made available to people generally.

Paragraph 20 of GSTR 2002/1 explains that the program as a whole must be recognised as a special program, though it is not necessary that every part of the course is 'special'. For example, the course's content may mirror that of a curriculum-based school course, but it may be delivered in a way that makes it suitable for children or students with disabilities.

You have stated that all the programs that you provide are specifically designed to address the needs of each student and to improve their confidence and ability.

Whilst some of your students have a disability, others do not have any disability, but attend at your organisation because they have trouble keeping up with their schoolwork or they are gifted students who want to achieve a higher level of excellence in their work.

Therefore, not all of your programs will satisfy the requirements of a special program.

Only those programs that are specifically designed for students with disabilities will be special programs.

Designed specifically for children or students with disabilities

Paragraph 6 of GSTR 2002/1 states that a GST-free special education course must be designed specifically for:

· children with disabilities, regardless of whether they are students; or

· students with disabilities, regardless of their age.

GSTR 2002/1 further explains at paragraph 30 that for the purposes of this Ruling a child is someone who has not yet attained the age of eighteen. A student is someone who is enrolled, or will enrol, in a course or program of study involving systematic instruction, training or schooling in the areas stated at paragraph 15 of this Ruling. A student can be someone of any age and may be enrolled on a full or part-time basis.

GSTR 2002/1 also states that a disability exists where an individual has difficulty in executing activities or has problems being involved in life situations because some body function or structure is impaired. It is accepted that a child or student has a disability if he or she has a learning disability/specific learning difficulty/dyslexia, autism spectrum disorder, physical disability, an emotional disorder, a language disorder, a hearing impairment, a visual impairment or an intellectual disability that causes him or her difficulty in executing activities or problems in being involved in life situations.

You have stated that some of your students have one or more of these disabilities and as all your programs are specifically designed to meet the needs of each student, those that are designed for students with one of the listed disabilities will satisfy the requirement that the program is 'designed specifically for children or students with disabilities'.

However, those programs that are specifically designed for students who have no disabilities but attend at your organisation because they have trouble keeping up with their schoolwork or want to achieve a higher level of excellence in their work will not satisfy the requirement that the program is 'designed specifically for children or students with disabilities'.

In conclusion, only those programs that you specifically design for students with disabilities satisfy the definition of special education courses, the supply of which will be GST-free. All programs that are specifically designed to meet the needs of students who do not have disabilities are not special education courses and are subject to GST.

Question 2

Is your service of assessing clients for Irlen dyslexia a GST-free supply?

In accordance with section 9-5 of the A New Tax System (Goods and Services Tax) Act 1999 (the GST Act), you make a taxable supply if:

(a) you make the supply for consideration; and

(b) the supply is made in the course or furtherance of an enterprise that you carry on; and

(c) the supply is connected with Australia; and

(d) you are registered, or required to be registered.

However, the supply is not a taxable supply to the extent that it is GST-free or input taxed."

Your supply of screening services satisfies elements (a) to (d). Therefore, your supply of these services will be a taxable supply unless they are input taxed or GST-free.

In your circumstances, there is no provision of the GST Act under which your supply of screening services will be input taxed.

In accordance with subsection 38-10 of the GST Act, which deals with various health services, a supply is GST-free if:

(a) it is a service of a kind specified in the table in this subsection, or of a kind specified in the regulations; and

(b) the supplier is a recognised professional in relation to the supply of services of that kind; and

(c) the supply would generally be accepted, in the profession associated with supplying services of that kind as being necessary for the appropriate treatment of the recipient of the supply.

A person is a 'recognised professional' if, as per section 195-1 of the GST-Act:

(a) the service is supplied in a State or Territory in which the person has a permission or approval, or is registered, under a State law or a Territory law prohibiting the supply of services of that kind without such permission, approval or registration; or

(b) the service is supplied in a State or Territory in which there is no State law or Territory law requiring such permission, approval or registration, and the person is a member of a professional association that has uniform national registration requirements relating to the supply of services of that kind; or

(c) in the case of services covered by item 3 in the table - the service is supplied by an accredited service provider within the meaning of section 4 of the Hearing Services Administration Act 1997.

Your screening services are carried out by (two) Certified Irlen Screeners. Neither of the screeners has a health related qualification.

As the persons carrying out your screening services are not recognised professionals from an appropriate field in the list above, the services you provide in assessing people for Irlen dyslexia will not be GST-free.