Edited version of private advice

Authorisation Number: 1051878805678

Date of advice: 09 August 2021

Ruling

Subject: GST and special education courses

Question

Is the supply by Individual X (you) of the Course to a Student GST-free under section 38-85 of the A New Tax System (Good and Services Tax) Act 1999 (GST Act)?

Answer

Yes, the supply of the Course by you to a Student is GST-free.

Relevantly section 38-85 of the GST Act provides that the supply of an education course is GST-free. The meaning of an education course in section 195 of the GST Act includes at paragraph (f) a 'special education course'.

GSTR 2002/1, Goods and Services Tax Ruling Goods and services tax: supplies that are GST-free as special education courses (GSTR 2002/1) explains the term 'special education course'.

According to paragraph 6 of GSTR 2002/1 one of the requirements of a GST-free special education couse is that it needs to be designed for:

•                 children with disabilities, regardless of whether they are students, or

•                 students with disabilities, regardless of their age.

As your Course is designed to specifically meet the special needs of children and/or students with disabilities we consider that you meet the above requirement.

In addition, consistent with the views in paragraph 17 of GSTR 2002/1 we consider that your supply of the Course to a Student provides systemic instruction, training or schooling and has elements of interactive teaching. This is on the basis that you provide ongoing instruction, support, assessment, supervision and feedback to Students.

On the basis that you have met the requirements of providing a special education course, you have made a supply of an education course for the purposes of section 38-85 of the GST Act. According the supply of your Course is GST-free.

Relevant facts and circumstances

You, are a qualified school teacher, hold a Masters degree in Education and have training in literacy and numeracy intervention to assist all students, but particularly those with dyslexia, dysgraphia and other Specific Learning Differences, as well as dyscalculia.

You are registered for GST as you carry on an entreprise of providing education services to students.

You are a specialist literacy and numeracy intervention teacher. You understand learning difficulties, the impact these have on students and how to remediate and provide appropriate intervention. You help parents to understand their child's learning difficulty and how to help their child learn in a way they understand. You also guide and advise parents as they advocate for their children on this often overwhelming and confusing journey.

You attend professional development and training events each year to keep up to date with research and inform your practice.

You are engaged to provide education services to childred and/or students (collectively referred to as the Students) with disabilities. In particular you teach Students with dyslexia and dysgraphia. As part of the program you deliver to the Students you use the source material of the program (Program X). For the purposes of this request we refer to your program as the Course.

Effectively you acquire the software program known as Program X, together with any relevant workbooks, which are then used by you to deliver your Course to Students.

Prior to working with a Student, you conduct an assessment to ascertain current reading, spelling and comprehension ages as well as phoneme/grapheme knowledge and/or challenge areas/gaps in maths (if applicable). This provides a snapshot of where a Student is at, allows you to plot a way forward and provides a benchmark for you to consider progress against down the track. Assessments take approximately 60-75 minutes and parents are asked not to be present.

All results are analysed and a Student's current literacy levels attained. A report is written and provided to the parent. Once the program has been completed, a post-assessment is conducted and another report written for the parents outlining the student's progress and next steps, if necessary.

Either before the assessment or on the assessment day, you ask that copies of all school reports. As well as analysing the assessment results, you also look at past reports (school and any specialist reports) and take into consideration anecdotal evidence.

Typically, you utilise evidence-based programs to inform your lessons which are then tailored specifically to each Student.

Each level of the Course you teach has a workbook and each level also follows a specific, systematic sequence. Relevantly, each unit is systematically and sequentially introduced and worked through and each unit builds on the next unit.

During the session with the Students you review the previous unit with the Student, and the work they have done for homework. This is where any areas the Student is struggling with can be addressed and remediated. You then introduce the next unit of work and set the homework for the coming week.

For the purposes of this private ruling you have provided the scope and sequence for the entire reading program together with an example assessment that a Student completes.

Lessons ordinarily take place at either your home office, however, as a result of a pandemic you are teaching all lessons either online via online conferencing or in person at your office (or a combination of online conferencing and face-to-face). For all lessons, you require a parent to attend the lesson with their child (either in person or online).

Different levels of the Course have different durations. For example, they can range up to 30 weeks to deliver.

The consideration (or cost) you charge a Student is determined on an hourly basis but charged per school term. Invoices are issued at the start of each term. Although the Course is structured to be delivered over a set number of weeks, your students are atypical and frequently come to you with comorbidities (needs/diagnoses in addition to dyslexia, dysgraphia, dyscalculia, such as Autism, Anxiety, Working Memory issues). This means that the program needs to be tailored to the pace of the individual student.

Relevant legislative provisions

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