SAP India Pvt. Ltd. (Appellant) is engaged in the provision of consultancy, licensing and maintenance or ERP software. The Commissioner, Service Tax had confirmed service tax demand of INR 20 crores on the Appellant under maintenance and repair’ service during the period July 2004 and January 2006. In addition to the service tax demand, the Commissioner had also confirmed interest and penalties against the Appellant.
M/s Coromandel Paints Ltd („the appellant?) are manufacturers of paints & varnishes, thinners falling under chapter 32 and 38 of the schedule to the Central Excise Tariff Act, 1985 („the Central Excise Tariff?). The appellant had entered into an agreement with M/s. Sigmakalon India Pvt. Ltd., Mumbai (SIPL) for manufacture and supply of paints. The paints manufactured by the appellant for SIPL were meant for industrial and institutional use, hence, in accordance with the provision of Standards of Weights and Measures Act, 1976, no MRP was required to be printed on such packages. Accordingly, the valuation of the same is not required to be done under Section 4A of the Central Excise Act, 1944 („the Central Excise Act?). Therefore, the appellant sold the said goods to SIPL by paying Central Excise duty on the transaction value i.e. on the landing cost of the raw materials and the production overheads. Further, the invoice amounts were adjusted against the advances paid by SIPL. The Department demanded duty from the appellant on the ground, that the goods were being manufactured by the appellant on job work basis and the same were required to be assessed in terms of Rule 10A of the Central Excise (Determination of price of excisable goods) Rules, 2000 („the Valuation Rules?). The demand was upheld by the Commissioner of Central Excise (Appeals). Being aggrieved by the order of the Commissioner (Appeals), the appellant preferred an appeal to the Customs, Excise and Service Tax Appellate Tribunal (“CESTAT?).
‘Rent-a-cab’ services utilized by the appellants for transportation of food articles from centralized canteen to appellant’s current factory premises needs to be gone into in detail, which can be done only at the time of final disposal of the appeal. On a specific query from the bench, the authorized representative submits that the amount involved is approximately Rs.8,000/-.
The Adjudicating Authority has proceeded on the basis of provisions of Rule 7 and Board’s circular which according to him, the credit distributor should have distributed the service tax credit to all units. We find strong force in the contentions raised by the ld. Counsel that the decision of the Tribunal in the case of Ecof Industries (P.) Ltd. (supra) where the provisions of Rule 7 has been analysed in depth and has been settled that the ISD can distribute the credit even to only one unit.
On a careful consideration of the submissions, we find that the issue involved in this case is the very same which was remanded by this Bench vide Final Order No 612/2009 dated 6.5.2009 . We find that vide Stay Order No 1093/2006 dated 06.10.2006 , this Bench had directed the appellant to pre-deposit Rs 14,00,000/- which was duly complied with. Since this amount is still lying with the department, we consider this amount as enough deposit to hear and dispose off the appeal. Application for waiver of the pre-deposit of the balance amount is allowed and recovery thereof stayed till the disposal of the appeal.
The impugned order confirms the demand against the appellant under the category Business Auxiliary Services without specifying which specific sub-clause covered the activities rendered by UTL. We find that no tax liability can be confirmed against a person without putting him/it on notice as to its liability. It is essential that the liability is indicated in the notice with reference to the specific statutory provision. In the instant case, the impugned proceedings did not allege at the show cause notice stage or find at the adjudication stage the specific provision under which the services rendered by UTL are classifiable.
On a careful consideration of the case records and the submission made by both sides, we find that the appellants have not made out a prima facie case for complete waiver of the dues adjudged against them. The impugned order sustained demand of service tax of Rs 7,67,673/, applicable interest, penalty @ 200/- per day or @ 2% of the tax confirmed per month for the period the tax was in arrears, penalty of Rs 5000/- under Section 77 of the Act and penalty of Rs 12,00,000/- under Section 78 of the Act. We find that a pre-deposit of Rs 1,00,000/- (rupees one lakh only) will be appropriate to hear and dispose the appeal. Hence we direct the appellants to pre-deposit Rs 1,00,000/- within four weeks from to day and report compliance on 20 th September 2010. Subject to such compliance, we order waiver of balance dues pending decision in the appeal.
Service Tax – Service tax paid on input services like house keeping/cleaning service, tours & travels, outdoor catering service, clearing & forwarding agent service and custom house agent service eligible as CENVAT credit in view of consistent decisions of CESTAT – Prima facie case for full waiver of pre-deposit
M/s Flextronics Technologies (India) Pvt. Ltd. Vs. Commissioner of Central Excise (CESTAT Bangalore)- On a conjoint reading of Section 11AB of the Act and that of Rules 3 and 4 of the Credit Rules, we hold that interest cannot be claimed from the date of wrong availment of CENVAT credit. The interest shall be payable from the date CENVAT credit is wrongly utilized.
Recently in the case of Kbace Tech Pvt. Ltd. v. CCE/CST CESTAT ruled that the refund or CENVAT credit on input services is allowed only if the services are consumed in the output service. It is held that the Board’s Circular No. 120/01/2010-ST, dated 19-1-10 does not have the effect of amending the statute and cannot be seen as authorizing sanction of refund if the credit of service tax does not relate to services consumed for providing the output service.
