Edited version of your private ruling

Authorisation Number: 1012485408620

Ruling

Subject: GST and supply of first aid or life saving course

Question

Are you making a GST-free supply under section 38-85 of the A New Tax System (Goods and services Tax) Act 1999 (GST Act), when you supply the first aid courses?

Answer

No. You are not making a GST-free supply under section 38-85 of the GST Act, when you supply the first aid courses.

This ruling applies for the following periods:

Not applicable

The scheme commences on:

Not applicable

Relevant facts and circumstances

· You carry on an enterprise of providing first aid courses and other courses to business's and to the general public.

· All the courses provided by you have first aid component to them.

· You are registered for goods and services tax (GST)

· You are not a registered training organisation (RTO). But you have a partnership arrangement with a RTO to use their training materials and certificates.

· You have signed a service agreement with the RTO for the delivery of first aid courses and the Service Agreement states that nothing in the agreement contained will be deemed or construed as creating a relationship of partnership or principal and agent or joint venture between you and the RTO.

· The Regulatory body only approves RTO to provide the first aid courses. Other providers are encouraged to form partnership arrangements with an approved RTO to enable them to deliver nationally recognised training.

· You are an accredited provider approved by the RTO to provide first aid courses. You are required to complete a yearly professional development program to ensure that you meet the accredited standards to provide the course.

· You did not complete all the competencies required for first aid or life saving course under Schedule 12 of the GST Regulations or training qualifications in relation to life saving.

· You advertise the courses to businesses and students and enrol them for courses. You also deliver the first aid courses to the clients or students of the RTO.

· You pay the fees for the purchase of training materials (units) from the RTO and then you add a margin on top of the fees charged to provide the training courses to the students.

· The RTO is allowed to outsource their training and/or assessment services to another organisation.

· After the course is completed you mark the work books of the students and enter the students' details including the enrolments into the RTO's website. The RTO will issue the certificate direct to the students based on the information provided by you.

· The RTO must manage training and assessment provided on its behalf by monitoring the implementation of the partnership agreement and making improvements when required.

· You are responsible to supply the necessary training equipments other than student learning materials which are supplied by the RTO for delivery of the training. .

· You wanted to know whether the supply of first aid courses is GST-free under section 38-85 of the GST Act.

Relevant legislative provisions

A New Tax System (Goods and Services Tax) Act 1999 section 38-85.

A New Tax System (Goods and Services Tax) Act 1999 section 95-1.

A New Tax System (Goods and Services Tax) Regulation 1999 - Regulation 195-1.02

Student Assistance Act 1973 - subsection 5D(1)

Reasons for decision

The supply of an education course is GST-free under section 38-85 of the GST Act. An education course is defined in section 195-1 of the GST Act to include, amongst other things, a tertiary course and a first aid or life saving course.

Tertiary Course

A course must satisfy the Education Minister's Determination under subsection 5D(1) of the Student Assistance Act 1973, to be considered as GST-free tertiary course. The Education Minister's Determination No: 2002/1 provides that an accredited vocational education and training programme, conducted by a higher education institution or a registered training organisation (RTO), is a tertiary course. You are making a supply of an accredited vocational education and training course that is specified in the Minister's Determination. However, you are not a RTO and you have a written service agreement with a RTO to provide the first aid courses.

For the purpose of the Education Minister's Determination, it is not sufficient that the supply is made by the associate of a RTO; the course supplier itself must be the RTO. If you are acting as an agent for the RTO, then the RTO would be making the supply of the course and the requirement in the Education Minister's Determination would be satisfied.

The service agreement clearly states that you are not acting as an agent for the RTO. The service agreement does not create a partnership or a joint venture with the RTO. You are conducting the course in your own right by using the training materials acquired from the RTO and have an arrangement with the RTO to issue the certificate in their name. You are not making the supply on behalf of the RTO or as an agent of the RTO or an associate of the RTO. Therefore, the supply of the first aid course, Occupational Health and Safety and specific course, does not satisfy the definition of a tertiary course under section 195-1 of the GST Act.

First Aid or Life Saving Course

The definition of a first aid or life saving course is specified in section 195-1 of the GST Act. For a first aid or life saving course to be GST-free, the course must satisfy both requirements under paragraphs (a) and (b) of the definition of first aid or life saving course in section 195-1 of the GST Act.

The first requirement under the definition states that a course of study or instruction that principally involves training individuals in one or more of the following:

· First aid, resuscitation or other similar life saving skills including personal aquatic survival skills but not including swimming lessons;

· Surf life saving; or

· Aero-medical rescue.

The first aid courses provided by you would satisfy the above definition under section 195-1 of the GST Act. The other courses such as Occupational Health and Safety and specified course would satisfy the above requirements provided they are approved by the relevant State or Territory authority as first aid or life saving courses.

The second requirement under the definition states that the first aid or life saving course must be 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

(iii) that uses, as the instructor for the course, a person who holds a training qualification for that course that was issued by Austswim Limited (ACN 097 784 122); or

(iv) that uses, as the instructor for the course, a person who holds a training qualification for that course that was issued by Surf Life Saving Australia Limited (ACN 003 147 180); or

(v) that uses, as the instructor for the course, a person who holds a training qualification for that course that was issued by The Royal Life Saving Society - Australia (ACN 008 594 616); or

(vi) that uses, as the instructor for the course, a person who holds a training qualification for that course that is a qualification (in life saving) specified in, or of a kind specified in, the regulations.

The GST Regulation specifies the meaning of qualification that is required by the instructor to make the supply of first aid and life saving course as GST-free. Paragraphs (a) and (b) of 195-1.02(1) of the GST Regulation state that the qualification specified in paragraph (vi) of the definition of first aid and life saving course is the qualification that is provided by a registered training organisation under the National Training Framework; and certifies the attainment of all the competencies mentioned in column 2 of the table in Schedule 12, with the unit codes mentioned in column 3 of Schedule 12.

You confirmed that you do not hold any of the training qualifications in relation to life saving course specified in the definition of first aid or life saving course under section 195-1 of the GST Act. You also did not complete all the competencies listed in Schedule 12 of the GST Regulation as you are only approved by the RTO to provide first aid courses. Furthermore, you are not registered or approved as a RTO to provide such courses by a State or Territory authority.

As the course provided by you does not satisfy the second requirement of the definition, it does not amount to a first aid or life saving course as defined in section 195-1 of the GST Act.

Accordingly, you are not making a supply of a tertiary course or first aid or life saving course, nor are you making a supply of any other type of education course as defined in section 195-1 of the GST Act. Therefore, you are not making a GST-free supply under section 38-85 of the GST Act when you supply the first aid course.

Additional Comment

The ATO ID 2003/1036 is not relevant to this case as you are not an associate of the RTO. The service agreement confirms the details of your relationship with the RTO. Therefore, it is considered that the facts in relation to ATO ID 2003/1036 are different from this case.

The facts provided in relation to the Private Ruling that you mentioned confirm that the instructor for the course holds a qualification of the type referred to in subparagraph (b)(vi) of the definition of the first aid or life saving course in section 195-1 of the GST Act. Your facts are different to those ones.