GST net widens for real estate firms The Directorate General of GST Intelligence (DGGI) is understood to be sending notices to various real estate companies, demanding that GST be paid for a clutch of transactions among group companies or joint venture partners.

The move is seen as part of a strategy to widen the tax net for the sector. Fees for management services and royalty charged for use of brand names are among the services that the DGGI finds taxable at 18%, the GST slab for most services.

These intra-group and intra-JV transactions are common among large real estate firms, as part of their operational strategies, and cash management and joint venture arrangements. Tax experts are divided on the legal tenability of the current set of tax demands.