Absence of three persons rules out agreement from scope of intermediary services: Refund granted

Columbia Sportswear India Sourcing Pvt. Ltd. Vs Union of India (Karnataka High Court)

Karnataka High Court held that absence of three persons straightaway rule out the agreement from the scope of intermediary services. Thus, refund granted as independent services provided qualifies as export of services u/s. 2(6) of IGST Act.

Facts- The petitioner in all the four petitions is M/s.Columbia Sportswear India Sourcing Private Limited, a company incorporated under the Companies Act. The petitioner is engaged in export of services to their clients outside India and have been filing service tax / GST returns for the same. The petitioner has entered into “Buying Support Services Agreements” with Columbia Sportswear Company, a corporation organized and existing under laws of United States of America, which is the service recipient for the services supplied by the petitioner – company. Since the petitioner in all the four petitions is one and the same and common questions of law arise for consideration in all the four petitions, they are taken up together and disposed of by this common order.

The petitioner is aggrieved by the impugned orders passed by the respondents rejecting the refund claim of Input Tax Credit (ITC) sought for by the petitioner for the relevant periods. The petitioner is aggrieved by the impugned order passed by the respondents confirming demand of service tax, interest, penalty etc., upon the petitioner.