Service tax abatement for goods transport agency service cannot be denied for missing declaration on each consignment note.

Abatement under the service tax notifications for goods transport agency service could not be denied merely because the declaration of non-availment of CENVAT credit and exemption benefit was not printed on every consignment note. The notifications did not prescribe any mandatory format for such declaration, and a declaration on the transporter's letter-head, in payment bills, or by annual declaration covering consignments was treated as sufficient. In the absence of a statutory requirement for a declaration on each consignment note, the department's insistence on that formality was unsustainable. The denial of abatement was therefore set aside and the matter remanded for fresh decision.

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Issues: Whether abatement under the service tax notifications for goods transport agency service could be denied merely because the declaration of non-availment of CENVAT credit and exemption benefit was not printed on each consignment note.

Analysis: The notifications did not prescribe any particular format for the declaration evidencing that the transport agency had not availed CENVAT credit or the benefit of the specified exemption notification. The Tribunal followed its earlier view that a declaration on the transporter's letter-head or in payment bills, including an annual declaration covering the consignments, was sufficient, and that the department could not insist on a declaration on every consignment note in the absence of any such statutory requirement.

Conclusion: The departmental insistence on a declaration on each consignment note was held unsustainable, and the denial of abatement was set aside. The appeals were allowed by way of remand for fresh decision.

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