The West Bengal Authority for Advance Ruling has delivered a comprehensive ruling on the GST treatment of international passenger air transport services, resolving five distinct boarding scenarios for Biman Bangladesh Airlines Limited and adding a sixth ruling on the transportation of human remains — holding that the latter falls entirely outside the scope of GST as it is neither a supply of goods nor a supply of services by virtue of clause 4 of Schedule III to the CGST Act. The ruling (Order No. 06/WBAAR/2026-27, decided 20.08.2026) is the most detailed AAR-level analysis of Sections 12(9) and 13(10) of the IGST Act in the context of international air carriers operating from Indian branch offices.
The ruling turns on a careful analysis of where the "place of supply" falls in each scenario, with the key determinant being the first point of embarkation for a continuous journey. The Authority also made an important conceptual distinction — absent from many earlier rulings — between a "transit stop" (a brief intermediate landing, typically a few hours, where the passenger remains on the same aircraft or in the transit area without leaving the airport) and a "stopover" as defined in Section 2(3) of the IGST Act (where the passenger disembarks, changes conveyance or breaks the journey). A transit stop does not break the continuity of a journey; a stopover does. This distinction drives the outcome in the multi-leg scenarios.
The five passenger scenarios are resolved as follows. First, where a passenger boards from outside India and travels to India (Dhaka to Kolkata): the location of both recipient and point of embarkation is outside India; Section 13(10) applies; place of supply is outside India; no GST. Second, where a passenger boards from India and travels abroad (Kolkata to Dhaka): both supplier and recipient are in India; Section 12(9) applies; place of supply is Kolkata; intra-state supply; CGST + SGST at 5% (economy class, no ITC) or 18% (other classes). Third, continuous journey under single ticket from a foreign country to India with a transit stop (London to Kolkata via Dhaka): place of embarkation is London; Section 13(10) applies; transit stop in Dhaka does not break continuity; place of supply is outside India; no GST. Fourth, continuous journey under single ticket from India to a foreign country with a transit stop (Kolkata to London via Dhaka): place of embarkation is Kolkata; Section 12(9) applies; transit stop in Dhaka does not break continuity; intra-state supply; CGST + SGST applicable. Fifth, continuous journey between two foreign countries with a transit stop in India (Dhaka to London via Kolkata): place of embarkation is Dhaka; Section 13(10) applies; Kolkata is only a transit point; place of supply is outside India; no GST.
The human remains question produced the most legally clean ruling. The Authority held that transportation of deceased persons by air falls within clause 4 of Schedule III of the CGST Act — "services of funeral, burial, crematorium or mortuary including transportation of the deceased" — which is expressly deemed to be neither a supply of goods nor a supply of services under Section 7(2) of the CGST Act. The taxable event for GST is simply absent. No classification question arises, no place of supply question arises, and no rate question arises. The SAC codes proposed by the applicant (996531/996532) are accordingly inapplicable since there is no taxable supply to classify. The ruling also corrected the SAC: international scheduled air transport services fall under 996425 (not 996422 as the applicant had submitted).
2026-juristway.com-2359-AAR(West Bengal)-GST | Authority for Advance Ruling, West Bengal | WBAAR 02 of 2026-27 | Order No. 06/WBAAR/2026-27 | 20.08.2026
