Separate sale of study materials can be excluded from service tax value when supplied distinctly with no cenvat credit issue.

Separate receipts for books and study materials supplied to participants in Commercial Training and Coaching services were held excludible from the taxable value under Notification No. 12/2003-ST where the materials were sold separately and the prospectus reflected a distinct price. The Tribunal followed its earlier decision in the assessee's own case and accepted that the notification benefit could not be denied in the absence of any cenvat credit issue on those goods. On that reasoning, the denial of exemption was found unsustainable, and the exclusion claim was allowed.

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Issues: Whether the value of study materials and books sold to participants in the course of providing Commercial Training and Coaching services was excludible from the taxable value under Notification No. 12/2003-ST dated 20/06/2003.

Analysis: The dispute concerned whether separate receipts for books and study materials, their sale to students, and the stated price in the prospectus justified exclusion of that component from service tax valuation. The Tribunal followed its earlier decision in the assessee's own case on an identical issue and accepted that the benefit of the notification could not be denied where the materials were separately supplied and there was no cenvat credit issue on those goods. On the same reasoning, the impugned denial of exemption was held to be unsustainable.

Conclusion: The exclusion claim was allowed and the assessee succeeded; the Revenue's challenge failed.

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