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2016 (9) TMI 1109 - CESTAT BANGALOREImposition of penalty without quantification of the penalty amount - Section 78 of the Finance Act, 1994 - contravention of the provisions of Finance Act, 1994 - non-discharge of service tax on the invoices raised in respect of Annual Maintenance Contracts (AMC) on their customers - service tax alongwith interest discharged before issuance of SCN - Held that:- Section 73(3) is very clear as it says that if tax is paid along with interest before issuance of show-cause notice, then in that case, show-cause notice shall not be issued. In this case, I find that the contention of the appellant that he bonafide believed that he is not liable to pay service tax but during the audit, the audit party informed him that he is liable to pay service tax, then he immediately paid the entire service tax along with interest. Except mere allegation of suppression, the Department did not bring any material on record to prove that there was suppression and concealment of facts to evade payment of tax. Consequently, in my opinion, the imposition of penalty under Section 78 of the Act is not justified and bad in law. Moreover, in the impugned order, the learned Commissioner (Appeals) has not recorded any finding on suppression of facts by the appellant with an intention to evade tax. In view of the above discussion, I set aside the impugned order. - Decided in favour of appellant
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