Pfizer Ltd. Vs Commissioner of CGST & CX (CESTAT Mumbai)
The CESTAT Mumbai considered four appeals filed by M/s Pfizer Ltd. and M/s Wyeth Ltd. (since merged with Pfizer Ltd.) concerning refund claims for service tax paid under the Finance Act, 1994. The claims related to services rendered between April 2013 and September 2014 and involved refunds of ₹7,32,07,683, ₹76,66,164, ₹7,83,72,568 and ₹30,13,679.
Pfizer and Wyeth had rendered services to each other and discharged service tax under Section 66B of the Finance Act, 1994. Following acquisition of Wyeth’s overseas parent group by Pfizer’s overseas parent, amalgamation of the Indian entities was proposed. The Board approved the merger on 23 November 2013, while the scheme provided an appointed date of 1 April 2013. The Bombay High Court approved the scheme on 31 October 2014 without changing the appointed date. Refunds were subsequently claimed on the basis that, retrospectively from 1 April 2013, the service recipient had been subsumed into the service provider and service rendered to oneself was not liable to service tax.
The original authority rejected the claims on various grounds, including limitation, the fact that the tax had been discharged when Pfizer and Wyeth were separate entities, and Section 73A of the Finance Act, 1994. Certain claims were also rejected for failure to challenge the assessment and on limitation under Section 11B of the Central Excise Act, 1944.
