One of the leading dailies citing a document released by the Ministry of Finance (MoF) says that monthly maintenance charges payable to cooperative housing societies of Rs. 5000 or less shall not be eligible for additional GST tax levy.

At an earlier stance, courts had on a continuous basis held that no service tax can be levied on different charges payable to a CHS or cooperative housing societies by its members.

As an explanation to the rule, the principle holds good as the society offers services to itself and that cannot be taxed. The earlier service tax is now a part of the GST regime and the tenet held in respect of service tax shall now also be applicable when the new GST regime is being followed.

One of the experts said, "However, even if you are paying more than Rs 5,000 per month as maintenance charges, if total collections of the CHS are less than Rs 20 lakh a year, the society will not have to register under GST. Consequently, it will not be liable to impose GST on taxable services - such as maintenance charges, parking charges, et al. Smaller societies with lower annual collection (revenue) are likely to be out of the GST ambit".

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