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2015 (7) TMI 591 - AT - Service TaxValuation - Inclusion of reimbursable expenses - Inclusion of postage and other stationary expenditure - Held that:- appellant herein is rendering services of a 'Share Transfer Agent' and 'Registrar to an Issue' under the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Registrar to an Issue and Share Transfer Agents) Rules, 1993 and the connected regulations. The said service came under the tax net for the first time on 01/05/2006. Therefore, the question of demanding any service tax on reimbursement of expenditure would not arise at all prior to 01.05.2006, even though the appellant might have paid service tax wrongly under the category of 'Business Auxiliary Service'. Postage and other stationary expenditure, have been reimbursed on actual basis - service tax cannot be levied on an amount charged as tax since the same is not a consideration for rendering any service. Postage is an amount received by the postal department for transmission by post and cannot be considered as a consideration received by the person who is the sender of the postal article. Further, when the postage is recovered from the service receiver on actual basis by a service provider, he acts as a pure-agent and, therefore, the reimbursements made to a pure-agent is not includible in the value of taxable service rendered, as what is provided under Section 67 of the Finance Act, 1994 is only the consideration received for the value of services rendered. Same is the position with respect to the cost incurred towards stationary articles used for sending various items by post. Therefore, these reimbursements on actual basis cannot form the value of taxable service at all. Therefore, the service tax demand by including cost of such expenditure in the value of taxable service is clearly unsustainable in law. - impugned order is clearly unsustainable in law. Accordingly, we set aside the same - Decided in favour of assessee.
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