CESTAT Bangalore Grants Full Pre-Deposit Waiver in Credit Card Service Tax Appeal

The Appellate Tribunal CESTAT, Bangalore, granted a complete waiver of the pre-deposit amount for an appellant appealing a case related to service tax on credit card services until the appeal's disposal. The Tribunal relied on a previous stay order and scheduled the appeal for a hearing, with no recovery of the pre-deposit even after 180 days from the order date. The judgment was delivered by S/Sh. T.K. Jayaraman and M.V. Ravindran, with representation from Shri Ananthan, C.A., for the Appellant and Ms. Sudha Koka, SDR, for the Respondent.

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The Appellate Tribunal CESTAT, Bangalore, in the case of 2009 (2) TMI 177, heard an appeal where the appellant was required to pre-deposit certain amounts including service tax, interest, and penalties. The appellant contended that the service in question, related to credit card, debit card, charge card, and other payment card services, was taxable only from 1-5-2006 onwards. The Tribunal noted that a similar issue had been addressed in bensh stay order No. 973/2008, where a stay was granted. The Tribunal, inclined to follow its previous decision, ordered a complete waiver of the pre-deposit amount until the appeal was disposed of, with no recovery even after 180 days from the order date. The appeal was scheduled for a hearing in due course. The judgement was pronounced and dictated in open court by S/Sh. T.K. Jayaraman and M.V. Ravindran. The Appellant was represented by Shri Ananthan, C.A., and the Respondent by Ms. Sudha Koka, SDR.

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