Hindustan Motor Finance Corporation Ltd. Vs Commissioner of GST & Central Excise (CESTAT Chennai)
The dispute before the Customs Excise and Service Tax Appellate Tribunal Chennai concerned the valuation of demo vehicles supplied to dealers by the appellant. Multiple appeals were filed against Orders-in-Appeal passed by the Commissioner of GST and Central Excise (Appeals), Chennai. The central issue in all the appeals was whether the discount given by the appellant on demo vehicles supplied to dealers could be excluded from the assessable value under Section 4 of the Central Excise Act, 1944.
The appellant argued that the department had raised demands on the ground that discounts offered on demo vehicles were not deductible and therefore should be included in the assessable value. According to the appellant, demo vehicles were not different from normal vehicles cleared to dealers. Although Rule 6 of the Central Excise Valuation (Determination of Price of Excisable Goods) Rules, 2000 was invoked by the department, the appellant contended that no additional consideration had been identified or quantified by the authorities. The appellant stated that the discount was provided to compensate dealers for losses incurred when selling demo vehicles that had been used for demonstration purposes. Therefore, such discounts should not be treated as additional consideration.
