TMI Blog2018 (10) TMI 902X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ld be applicable from 2012 onwards - Held that:- The amendment made in 2015 cannot be said to be clarificatory and there can be no retrospective operation given to such amendment. The legislature felt the need for inclusion of the transactions within the fold of service and hence amended the Finance Act, 1994 by Finance Act, 2015. As a corollary it has to be understood that it was not taxable prior to the amendment. The assessees claim refund of the amount already paid on demand made by the authorities - The matter will have to be considered, especially, looking into whether the tax was collected from individual subscribers and if so collected, whether there could be any refund effected - appeal allowed by way of remand. - W.A.Nos.273, ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... tax, a batch of Writ Petitions were filed before the Andhra Pradesh High Court in which it was held that the chit fund business would not be covered under the Finance Act, 1994. Special Leave Petitions were filed before the Honourable Supreme Court, which was converted into Civil Appeals. While they were pending, a batch of Writ Petitions were filed before this Court, in which a learned Single Judge differed from the findings of the Andhra Pradesh High Court and held in favour of the Revenue by decision reported in 2013 (29) STR 557 (Ker.): 2012 (4) KHC 756, All Kerala Association of Chit Funds v. Union of India . Appeals were filed by the writ petitioners and the writ petitions pending and then filed, were posted along with the appeals. P ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... hit business demanding tax under the Finance Act, 1994, which led to the aforesaid litigation. The Andhra Pradesh High Court held that the deletion of 'cash management' from the inclusive definition would not enable the chit transactions to be taxed, since the said transaction would not come under the definition of cash management. The Honourable Supreme Court affirmed the view of the Andhra Pradesh High Court and elaborated on what exactly cash management is, finding chit transactions to fall outside such terminology. 5. In 2012, the inclusive definition of services was done away with and Section 65B(44) was introduced with a definition of services and a negative list, which would not be taxable. The same is as under: 4 ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... s upon the definition of banking and financial service contained in sub-section (12) of Section 65 of the Act and particularly sub-clause (v) thereof as amended in 2007. (emphasis supplied) Hence the issue whether between 2012 and 2015, the tax can be levied on the chit transactions is beyond the scope of dispute. The Honourable Supreme Court having held in the negative, the issue is no longer res integra. 6. Now, we come to the Finance Act, 2015, by which the sub-section (44) of Section 65B of the Finance Act was amended and an explanation was introduced in the following manner:- Explanation 2 .- For the purposes of this clause, the expression transaction in money or actionable claim shall not include- ( i) a ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ship Pvt.Ltd., (2015 (1) SCC 1) and holds in para 33 thus: The matter can be looked into from another angle as well. The aforesaid description of cash management as a management tool in any case, throws doubts on the claims of the Revenue and it cannot be claimed by the Revenue that the position as to whether chit fund business is cash management is specific or certain. We are dealing with a taxing statute and when we find that goods falls within the domain of uncertainty, it would be difficult to lean in favour of the Revenue. 8. Hence, the amendment made in 2015 cannot be said to be clarificatory and there can be no retrospective operation given to such amendment. The legislature felt the need for inclusion of the transaction ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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