Case Law Details
DLF Home Developers Limited Vs State of Kerala (Kerala High Court)
As all these revisions involve a common issue, they are taken up for consideration together and disposed by this common judgment. O.T.Rev.No.105 of 2019 pertains to M/s. DLF Home Developers Limited for the assessment year 2009-10 under the Kerala Value Added Tax Act [hereinafter referred to as the ‘KVAT Act’]. O.T.Rev.Nos.106 of 2019 and 107 of 2019 pertain to M/s. DLF Southern Towns (P) Limited for the assessment year 2 008-09 and 2009-10 respectively under the KVAT Act. The aforesaid three O. T. Revisions have been preferred against a common order of the Kerala Value Added Tax Appellate Tribunal dated 10.07.2019. O.T.Rev.No.3 of 2020 pertains the M/s. DLF Home Developers Limited for the assessment year 2007-08 and impugns the order dated 25.09.2019 of the KVAT Appellate Tribunal.
2. The brief facts necessary for disposal of the O.T. Revisions are as follows:
The petitioners are Limited Companies engaged in the activity of developing residential projects and selling fully constructed flats. In the Apartment Buyer’s Agreement that they entered into with various customers, they stipulated a price for the work undertaken by them which included a component representing the value of the undivided share in the land and building. For undertaking the construction activities for the customers, the petitioners engaged the services of independent contractors/sub-contractors. These contractors in turn procured goods/materials on their own and duly discharged the applicable VAT on the payments received by them from the petitioners for the work undertaken by them. The petitioners in turn deducted the applicable tax under the KVAT Act from the payments made to their contractors.
3. To maintain the quality of construction, the petitioners used to supply major components such as steel, cement etc. to the contractors on free of cost basis. The petitioners were therefore under the belief that they were merely engaged in the sale of finished apartments and had not entered into any agreement for construction with the prospective customers, and that therefore, they would not be liable to pay any tax on works contract under the KVAT Act. They therefore did not charge any VAT on the advances received by them from their customers and also filed nil returns with their respective Assessing Authorities under the KVAT Act.
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