On Further hearing in the case of J K Mittal & Company Vs. Union Of India & Ors. on 18th July 2017, Delhi High Court has held that till further orders, all legal services provided by advocates, law firms of advocates, or LLPs of advocates will be continued to be governed by the reverse charge mechanism unless of course any such legal service provider wants to take advantage of input tax credit and seeks to continue with the voluntary registration under Section 25 (3) of the CGST Act and the corresponding provision of IGST or DGST Act.
Relevant Extract of Delhi High Court Interim Order dated 18.07.2017
13. Considering that the Respondents are seeking more time to address the important legal and constitutional issues that arise in these petitions and it is asserted in the Court on behalf of the Respondents that as to date, in fact, no coercive action is taken against the lawyers, law firms or providers of legal services, Limited Liability Partnerships (LLPs), for non-compliance with the legal requirement of the CGST, IGST and DGST, the Court directs that till further orders:
(i) no coercive action would be taken against advocates, law firms of advocates including Limited Liability Partnerships (LLPs) of advocates providing legal services for non compliance with any legal requirement under the CGST, DGST, or IGST Act; and
(ii) Any advocate, law firm of advocates, LLPs of advocates who are providers of legal services, who have registered under the CGST, DGST, or IGST Act from 1st July, 2017 will not be denied the benefit of this interim order.
(iii) In view of the Press Release issued by the Ministry of Finance as shown to the Court today, and the instructions given to Mr. Narula to the effect that the legal position that existed under the Finance Act, 1994 as regard legal services being amenable to service tax under the reverse charge mechanism continuing even under the CGST, DGST or IGST Acts, till further orders, all legal services provided by advocates, law firms of advocates, or LLPs of advocates will be continued to be governed by the reverse charge mechanism unless of course any such legal service provider wants to take advantage of input tax credit and seeks to continue with the voluntary registration under Section 25 (3) of the CGST Act and the corresponding provision of IGST or DGST Act.
