Issue
Is the entity, a supplier of home brew products, making a GST-free supply under section 38-2 of the A New Tax System (Goods and Services Tax) Act 1999 (GST Act), when it sells dried malt extract as an ingredient for making alcoholic home brew?
Decision
No, the entity is not making a GST-free supply under section 38-2 of the GST Act when it sells dried malt extract as an ingredient for making alcoholic home brew. The entity is making a taxable supply under section 9-5 of the GST Act.
Facts
The entity is a supplier of home brew products. The entity sells dried malt extract that is packaged, labelled and sold for use in making alcoholic home brew.
The entity is registered for goods and services tax (GST). The supply satisfies the other positive limbs of section 9-5 of the GST Act.
Reasons for Decision
Generally, a supply of food is GST-free under section 38-2 of the GST Act provided that it does not come within any of the exclusions listed in section 38-3 of the GST Act.
Food is defined in paragraph 38-4(1)(d) of the GST Act to include ingredients for beverages for human consumption. In this case, dried malt extract is used as an ingredient to make alcoholic home brew. Therefore, it falls within the definition of food as it is an ingredient for a beverage for human consumption.
However, under paragraph 38-3(1)(d) of the GST Act, the supply of an ingredient for a beverage is only GST-free if it is an ingredient of a kind specified in the table in clause 1 of Schedule 2 to the GST Act (Schedule 2).
Item 6 of Schedule 2 (item 6) provides that malt extract, if it is marketed principally for drinking purposes is GST-free. It is necessary to determine whether dried malt extract used as an ingredient for making alcoholic home brew falls within item 6.
An accepted principle of statutory interpretation (the noscitur a sociis rule) states that words take their meaning from the words with which they are associated ( Fox v Warde [1978] VR 362: Supreme Court of Victoria). As such, the meaning of the words 'malt extract, if it is marketed principally for drinking purposes' can be derived from the context of the surrounding words used in the items in the category 'tea, coffee etc' of Schedule 2.
The products referred to in items 5 to 9 of Schedule 2 are all non-alcoholic beverages. Therefore, only non-alcoholic beverages are covered by item 6. Accordingly, dried malt extract that is used as an ingredient for making alcoholic home brew is not covered by item 6. As such, the sale of dried malt extract that is packaged, labelled and sold for use in making alcoholic home brew is not a GST-free supply under section 38-2 of the GST Act.
The entity is registered for GST and the supply satisfies the other positive limbs of section 9-5 of the GST Act. Furthermore, the supply is neither GST-free under Division 38 of the GST Act nor input taxed under Division 40 of the GST Act. Therefore, the entity is making a taxable supply under section 9-5 of the GST Act when it supplies dried malt extract that is packaged, labelled and sold for use in making alcoholic home brew.