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2016 (10) TMI 42 - AT - Service TaxGoods transport agency service (GTA) - non-issuance of consignment notes - Commissioner (Appeals) held that individual truck owners are not providers of goods transport agency service and relying on Commissioner of Central Excise & Customs, Guntur v. Kanaka Durga Oil Products Pvt Ltd [2009 (3) TMI 130 - CESTAT, Bangalore] set aside the demand - Held that:- the decision in re Kanaka Durga Oil Products Ltd prevails. We are not impressed with the grounds of appeal filed upon the authorization of the designated Committee. Revenue contends that tax is leviable under section 65(105)(zzp) of Finance Act, 1994 for providing of service by goods transport agency which is defined in section 65(50b) and that with the recipient not being one of the entities listed in rule 2(1)(d)(v) of Service Tax Rules, 1994, it is the provider of the service who is the designated person liable to pay the tax. As per definition of goods transport agency in section 65(50b) of Finance Act, 1994, an essential characteristic of provider of the service is the issuance of a consignment note. Revenue has resorted to a circular logic by claiming that rule 4B of Service Tax Rules, 2004 requires the goods transport agency to issue a consignment note. This, according to us, is a specious line of reasoning as the provider of goods transport agency service being determined by issuance of consignment note under the statute, it is not within the ambit of a subordinate legislation to create the class of taxable persons by imposing a condition that would, perforce, bring such persons within the tax net. The intent and purpose of rule 4B has been misinterpreted by the reviewing authority. During the transportation stage, the respondent does not acquire any lien on the goods which is implicit in the issue of a consignment note. Therefore, no stretch of imagination can document issued by District Supply Officer conveying the goods transported be construed as a consignment note to render the respondent to be a goods transport agency. The demand of tax therefore, fails. - Decided against the Revenue
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