TMI Blog2021 (3) TMI 293X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... gainst the declarant, the relief shall be calculated on the amount quantified on or before the 30th day of June, 2019. Petitioner s case falls within the ambit of enquiry or investigation , as the Petitioner was issued summons dated 10.05.2019 by the Anti-Evasion Group 4, Central Excise Service Tax. In respect of such cases, by virtue of the aforesaid circulars, the Respondents have clarified that the benefit of SVLDRS can also be given to those cases where the duty involved is quantified before 30.06.2019 - Since quantification has co-relation and is interlinked with tax relief under the scheme, and the Petitioner has not made a voluntary disclosure, but has rather approached for settlement in respect of case under investigation, there are merit in the submission of the Revenue that unilateral quantification by the Petitioner by writing the letter/communication dated 18.06.2019 cannot render him eligible. It would only be an admission of service tax liability of that amount, and such admission in itself would not rendered the petitioner eligible under SVLDRS. The quantification in the instant case was understood to be done on the issuance of the SCN. There is not much dif ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... reafter, by way of letters dated 21.05.2019 and 18.06.2019, the Petitioner sent its response to the summons, submitting, inter alia, month-wise receipts of service tax. Petitioner claims that vide the afore-noted communication dated 18.06.2019, it has quantified the service tax payable for the period 2014-15 to June 2017 as ₹ 20,08, 334/- for the period 2014-15 to June 2017. 5. On 01.08.2019, the Government notified the SVLDRS vide Sections 120 to Section 134 of the Finance (No.2) Act, 2019. 6. The Petitioner sought to take benefit of SVLDRS and filed online declaration, under FORM SVLDRS-1 [ARN LD0912190001228] on 09.12.2019. Therein, against Quantified Amount details , the Petitioner declared that duty/tax of ₹ 20,08,334/- was quantified, as declared by it in its letter dated 18.06.2019. The said application/declaration under FORM SVLDRS-1 was rejected on the ground of ineligibility, with the remarks - Demand has neither been quantified nor has been communicated to the assessee and Submit SVLDRS-4 of main noticee . In this backdrop, the present petition has been filed. 7. Mr. Sharma, counsel for the petitioner, submits that the decision of the authority i ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... the parties. 10. Petitioner filed a declaration on the premise that its case is covered under Section 125(1) (e) of the Finance Act, which reads as under: 125(1) All persons shall be eligible to make a declaration under this Scheme except the following, namely: (a) to (d) ............................ (e) who have been subjected to an enquiry or investigation or audit and the amount of duty involved in the said enquiry or investigation or audit has not been quantified on or before the 30th day of June, 2019. 11. This court had an occasion to examine the concept of quantification under SVLDRS in Chaque Jour HR Services Pvt. Ltd. v. UOI Anr., 2020 [42] G.S.T.L. 24, and therefore it would be appropriate to extract the relevant portion from the said judgment, as under: 13. The tax dues are defined in Section 123(c) of the Finance Act, 2019, as under: 123. For the purposes of the Scheme, tax dues means- ........................... (c) where an enquiry or investigation or audit is pending against the declarant, the amount of duty payable under any of the indirect tax enactment which has been quantified on or before the 30th day of J ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ase under audit/investigation/enquiry where the tax dues have been quantified on or before 30.6.2019, a show cause notice is issued after 30-6-2019. Similarly, a case, which was under appeal as on 30-6- 2019, may attain finality in view of appeal period being over etc. It is clarified that the eligibility with respect to a category in such cases shall be as it was on the relevant date i.e., 30-6-2019. B) Circular dated 27th August, 2019. 4. The relief extended under this scheme is summed up, as follows: (a) For all the cases pending in adjudication or appeal (at any forum), the relief is to the extent of 70% of the duty involved if it is ₹ 50 lakhs or less and 50% if it is more than ₹ 50 lakhs. The Same relief is available for cases under investigation and audit where the duty involved is quantified and communicated to the party or admitted by him in a statement on or before 30.06.2019. 10. Further, the following issues are clarified in the context of the various provisions of the Finance (No. 2) Act, 2019 and Rules made thereunder: xxx xxx xxx g) Cases under an enquiry, investigation or audit where the duty demand has been quantified ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... on of the Revenue that unilateral quantification by the Petitioner by writing the letter/communication dated 18.06.2019 cannot render him eligible. It would only be an admission of service tax liability of that amount, and such admission in itself would not rendered the petitioner eligible under SVLDRS. The quantification in the instant case was understood to be done on the issuance of the SCN. Petitioner points out that in the communication dated 18.06.2019, in fact, one of the relied upon documents was the SCN. That is quite obvious as the petitioner has taken a stand that to the extent of the amount stated therein, he admits the liability. It, however, cannot mean that the amount stood quantified before the relevant cut-off date i.e. 30.06.2019. In the category of cases where investigation or audit was continuing as on the introduction of SVLDRS, the benefit of the scheme would be available to only such cases, where, during investigation, the department quantifies the amount and not vice versa. 16. We have noticed that there is not much difference between the amounts as mentioned in the communication dated 18.06.2019 and the SCN issued by the department subsequent to the comp ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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