The Counsel for the appellant submits that for the purpose of calculation, Revenue is taking into account the entire receipts of the appellants whereas the taxable value should be taken after allowing abatement of 50% in terms of Notification No. 1/-90ST and once only taxable value is taken into account, the turnover is below the value as laid down in the small scale notification and they were eligible for exemption. The Assistant Commissioner set aside the show-cause notice but Revenue filed appeal and Commissioner (Appeals) has confirmed the demand.
Once the payment of service tax had been made by service provider to Treasury, assessee may not be denied the benefit of Cenvat credit, subject to appropriate examination of the allegation in the show-cause notice and proving use of the service in accordance with law. The original authority had to be satisfied that requirement of rule 9(5) of the Cenvat Credit Rules was fulfilled and service-tax paid was relating to input service that was ultimately used in manufacture of excisable goods. If he was satisfied that there was nexus, dependability, integrity, indispensability and inevitability, there may not be a difficulty to consider the claim of the assessee.
Appellant has rented out / leased the land along with the entire building, swimming pool and restaurant, bar, parking etc. with all the facilities as provided in the base building and the amenities and facilities under an agreement on monthly rental basis and a hotel is being run in the said building by M/s. Royal Orchid Banjara Pvt. Ltd. – in view of Explanation-1, clause (d) to the entry in section 65(105)(zzzz), it cannot be said to renting of immovable property.
Hon’ble Tribunal in the case of Commissioner of Central Excise, Rajkot v. Adani Pharmachem (P.) Ltd. – 2008 (12) STR 593 (Tri-Ahmd) cited by the appellants has held that in case where the sale is on FOB/CIF basis, the place of removal has to be load port only. Further in the case of Cauvery Stones Impex Pvt. Ltd. v. Commissioner of Central Excise, Salem -2010 (18) STR 73 (Tri-Chennai) has held that since the price of the goods exported was on FOB basis and therefore the ownership of the goods exported remained with the assessee up to the port of shipment and they also bore the risk of the goods up to the port of shipment. It was further held that the place of removal is the port and GTA service from factory gate to port of shipment is an input service and hence credit of service tax paid thereon is admissible
Bench held that When the transporter is same and recipient is respondent and there is no contradiction that tax was collected from the transporter, double taxation on the same transaction is inconceivable under the present provisions of Finance Act, 1994.
Expenses incurred to provide taxable services shall be part of assessable value if such expenses are inseparable and are integrally connected with the performance of the taxable services. Such expenses shall necessarily form part of the assessable value. Therefore, the assessee was not entitled to any relief on account of expenses not disputed, for inclusion while determining assessable value.
Prima facie coaching material has intimate connection with the commercial coaching provided by the assessee and the contents of the study material are relevant to the coaching to make the later fruitful and meaningful so that the enrolled candidates are benefited out of commercial coaching. There was no evidence to effect that these coaching materials are sold as text books by book sellers and no way useful to the enrolled students. So also there is no evidence to suggest that these coaching materials by any means enjoy exemption under law and not taxable.
Since the appellant prays that it has a case for consideration under Section 80 of the Finance Act, 1994 it is desirable to bring to record about the date on which liability arose, date of return ought to have been filed, date on which admitted tax liability should have been discharged and the date of discharge of duty liability. If these particulars neatly come out to record, that shall enable the authority to properly consider the plea of the appellant as whether it is entitled to the benefit of Section 80 of Finance Act, 1994.
The second issue involved in the appeal is levy of service tax on tickets sold before 1.5.2006 and used after 1st May 2006. The appellant’s contention is that the appellant sold the tickets to the passenger prior to 1.5.2006 and at that time there was no provision under the law of charging service tax Therefore, the service tax cannot be demanded from them of tickets sold prior to 1.5.2006. On going through the definition of the taxable service under this category we find that Section 65(105) indicates that taxable service would mean the services provided by the service provider to the service recipient as well as would also mean the services to be provided at a later date. The appellant being a service provider is required to make payment of service tax on the taxable services which were required to be provided on and after 1.5.2006. The levy of Service Tax has no connection with the receipt of payment and the service tax is required to be paid when the service is provided.
Even after the deletion of expression activities related to business from the definition of input services, the credit of Service tax paid on the sales promotion activities and on the services of sales of dutiable goods on commission basis would be admissible as credit. As such, it is the contention of the learned advocate that even after the activities related to business, stand deleted from the definition of inputs credit as per the Board’s Circular, the Service tax paid on commission on agent services would be available.