Service tax collected but not deposited – Financial Crisis not a Reasonable Cause to invoke section 80 of Finance Act

Ace Test Labs And Consultancy Vs Commissioner Of Central Tax & Central Excise, Cochin (CESTAT Bangalore) A plain reading of section 80 of Finance Act makes it clear that if the assessee proves that there was a reasonable cause for the failure in discharging service tax liability, then not withstanding anything contained in Section 76, 77 and 78 penalty shall not be imposable. The facts in the present case are that the appellant collected service tax during the period 01/10/2008 to 31/03/2013 from the service receivers but failed to deposit the service tax amount so collected with the Gover...