GST Case Laws December 2025
The goal of this article is to cover all recent GST case laws December 2025. All latest high court judgments on gst and all the latest Supreme Court judgments on gst issued in December 2025 have been covered in this article. All the latest GST case laws of December 2025 in this article have been classified by name, date, judge, counsel, GST concept, GST section, etc. In addition, a PDF of the GST case law is provided with the case law so that the user can download it for further study.
GST Case law on Exemption from GST on leasing of residential premises used as hostel accommodation
Supreme Court says Leasing of a residential premises to an intermediary who uses it as a hostel for students and working professionals is “renting of residential dwelling for use as residence” and is exempt under Entry 13 of Notification No. 9/2017–IGST (Rate) for the relevant period.
| High Court Judgement 2025 |
| Name of case: The State of Karnataka & Anr. Vs. Taghar Vasudeva Ambrish & Anr. |
| Date of Judgment: 04-12-2025 |
| Appeal No: Civil Appeal No. 7846 of 2023 with Civil Appeal No. 7847 of 2023 |
| Judges: Hon’ble Mr. Justice J.B. Pardiwala ,Hon’ble Mr. Justice K.V. Viswanathan |
| Counsel Name: For Revenue (Appellant): Mr. V. Chandrashekara Bharathi, Advocate , For Respondent No. 1 (Assessee): Mr. Arvind P. Datar, Senior Advocate |
| Fact of the Case: Respondent No. 1 was co-owner of a four-storey residential building in Bengaluru consisting of 42 rooms with attached washrooms and common areas. The property was classified as residential in municipal records. On 21.06.2019, the co-owners executed a lease deed in favour of M/s DTwelve Spaces Pvt. Ltd., a company engaged in running and managing residential premises and sub-leasing them as long-stay hostel/PG accommodation. The lessee, in turn, licensed/sub-leased the rooms to students and working professionals for stays ranging from 3 to 12 months, with an average stay of about 8 months. The assessee sought an Advance Ruling to determine whether rent received from DTwelve was exempt as “services by way of renting of residential dwelling for use as residence” under Entry 13 of Notification No. 9/2017–IGST (Rate). The AAR and AAAR denied the exemption, holding that the lessee-company was not itself using the property as a residence and that hostel accommodation was more akin to commercial/“sociable” accommodation. The assessee challenged these rulings before the Karnataka High Court, which allowed the writ petition. The State appealed to the Supreme Court. |
Held by court : The Supreme Court upheld the Karnataka High Court and dismissed the State’s appeals. It first held that the subject building constitutes a “residential dwelling”: it is classified as residential by the municipal authority, designed as long-stay accommodation, and, in common parlance, any residential accommodation meant for long-term stay qualifies as a residential dwelling. Hostel use by students/working women is residential use and not akin to hotel/guest house type “temporary stay”. On Entry 13, the Court held that three conditions must be met: (i) service of renting; (ii) of a residential dwelling; (iii) for use as residence. All were satisfied: the premises were rented, the property was a residential dwelling, and it was used as residence by students/working professionals. The Notification does not require that the lessee itself must reside; use by sub-lessees as residence is sufficient. Entry 13 is an activity-specific exemption, and once the residential dwelling is ultimately used as a residence, exemption applies. The Court rejected Revenue’s attempt to rely on the 2022 amendment and 2023 Explanation to retrospectively deny exemption for 2019–18.07.2022. |
| In favor of : Assessee |
| Topic of GST : Exemption – Renting of residential dwelling / Hostel & PG accommodation under Entry 13 of Notification No. 9/2017–Integrated Tax (Rate). |
| Section of GST: Section 7 & 9 CGST Act 2017 & Notification No. 9/2017–Integrated Tax (Rate), Entry 13 |
Download PDF of the Supreme Court Judgement of Taghar Vasudeva Ambrish
