GTA service tax abatement applies to the tax-liable recipient when notification conditions and consignment note declarations are satisfied.

Recipients liable to pay service tax on goods transport agency services were entitled to the abatement under Notification No. 32/2004-S.T. when the prescribed conditions were met. The Section 37B clarification read with Circular No. B1/6/2005-TRU treated the exemption as available to the person liable to pay tax, and accepted the service provider's declaration on the consignment note as sufficient compliance. On that basis, the contrary view in the impugned order was inconsistent with the binding clarification, and the differential tax demand and penalty were not sustainable.

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Issues: Whether recipients of goods transport agency services were entitled to abatement under Notification No. 32/2004-S.T. when service tax was paid on the service received by them.

Analysis: The dispute turned on the scope of the abatement notifications governing taxable GTA services. The Board's Section 37B clarification stated that the benefit of exemption under Notifications No. 32/2004-S.T. and No. 1/2006-S.T. is available to the person liable to pay service tax, subject to fulfilment of the prescribed conditions and the procedure indicated in Circular No. B1/6/2005-TRU. The clarification also treated the service provider's declaration on the consignment note as sufficient for availing the benefit. The contrary view taken in the impugned order was inconsistent with that binding clarification.

Conclusion: The recipients were entitled to abatement of 75% of the value of the taxable service, and the differential tax demand and penalty were not sustainable.

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