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2014 (12) TMI 326 - Commissioner - Service TaxRejection of declarations filed by the applicant under VCES - Section 106(2) - whether the declaration dated 17-7-2013, filed by the declarant, merits to be accepted under the VCES which has been rejected by the designated authority, in terms of legal provisions contained in section 106(2) of the Act - Held that:- both the letters dated 12-2-2013 and 27-2-2013 issued by the jurisdictional Range Officer to the declarant do not attract the provisions of section 106(2)(a)(iii) of the Act, as the relevant provisions/rules covered under Section 106(2)(a)(iii) of the Act have not been incorporated in these letters whereas in the said circular dated 13-5-2013 it has specifically been clarified that No other communication from the department would attract the provisions of Section 106(2)(a)(iii) and thus would not lead to rejection of the declaration. The harmonious reading of subsequent clarification by the CBEC on 8-8-2013 and 25-11-2013 also leads to the conclusion that the declaration are not to be rejected in a routine manner where certain information/documents have been requisitioned from the declarant without specifically quoting the statutory authorities, such as Section 14 of the Central Excise Act, as made applicable to Service Tax vide Section 83 of the Finance Act, Section 72 of Finance Act, Rule 5A of the Service Tax Rules 1994. In view the objectives of the VCES, which is to encourage disclosure of tax dues and compliance of service tax law by the persons who have not paid service tax dues for the period from Oct. 2007 to Dec. 2012, either on account of ignorance of law or otherwise. I further observe that VCES is the opportunity for such person to pay the tax dues and come clean. Rejection of the declaration merely on the basis of roving enquiries as in the instant case would defeat the purpose of the VCES, hence the impugned order needs to be set-aside to restore the right of the declarant to come clean by paying the tax dues. Further, after going through the VCES, I find that only the officers notified as designated authority are authorised for the purposes of this scheme. In the case of declarant the Deputy Commissioner, Central Excise Division, Sadashiv Complex, Ambala-Chandigarh Highway, Derabassi has been notified as the designated authority for the purposes of this scheme - The designated authority would allow the declarant to avail the benefit of VCES subject to fulfilment/compliance of other conditions including deposit of 50% tax dues by 31-12-2013. - declarant can amend the declaration by only following the procedure contained in clarification at Sr. No. 10 of the CBEC Circular dated 8-8-2013. The designated authority would consider such amended declaration if any, filed by the declarant in compliance of the VCES - Decided in favour of applicant.
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