The developers are charging an 18 per cent GST on maintenance bills, despite the fact that monthly bills below Rs 5,000 are exempted from the tax net.
Residents of high-rise societies in Noida have a reason to see red! The developers have slapped an 18 per cent GST on all household maintenance bills — even for those that amount to less than Rs 5,000 in a month.
However, according to norms, and in the words of Alok Kumar, FedAOA president, "If you are paying less than Rs 5,000 per month as maintenance charges, and if the total collection of the cooperative housing society is less than Rs 20 lakh a year, the society will not have to register under the GST."
Residents have been crying themselves hoarse over the issue, but to no avail. Not only this, some builders are also levying GST on electricity bills, which has been kept outside the ambit of GST.
Dhiraj Kumar, a resident of Divine Meadows, said, “The monthly maintenance charge in Divine Meadows is between Rs 1,500 and Rs 3,000 per month for all households. As per guidelines, we don't invite GST, but the developer is not willing to listen.”
Surender Kushwaha, president of the homebuyers’ association of the society — since an AOA has not been formed yet — told City Spidey, “We are paying 18 per cent GST on maintenance and electricity bills from July. The residents of the society have no clue where to go, or where to raise the issue. No GST is to be levied on electricity bills!”
"The maintenance is in the hands of the developer, and he’s slapping GST on all flats, even those that pay less than Rs 5,000 in a month, complained Nisha Rai, secretary of Prateek Wisteria.
Kumar added, “Builders are only looking at profits, so they will always try to extract the GST. That's why residents should form an AOA at the earliest and take over maintenance.”
Rajesh Kumar Rana, superintendent engineer of UPPCL, told City Spidey, that during a public hearing held in September several complaints were received about the builder charging GST on electricity bills.
He added, “Soon we’ll release a circular about it. And action will be initiated against developers if they continue to charge GST on electricity bills.”
