Service tax appellant entitled to small scale exemption after abatement calculation

The Appellate Tribunal CESTAT NEW DELHI held that the appellant, a service tax registered payee providing taxable services under 'commercial and industrial construction service,' is entitled to small scale exemption benefit based on the value of services after abatement. Relying on precedent cases, the Tribunal concluded that the exemption should be calculated after allowing the abatement. Consequently, the impugned order was set aside, and the appeal was allowed, granting consequential relief to the appellant.

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Issues:
Whether the appellant is entitled to small scale exemption benefit by considering the full value or the abated value of services.

Analysis:
The judgment by the Appellate Tribunal CESTAT NEW DELHI involved the issue of whether the appellant, engaged in providing taxable service under 'commercial and industrial construction service' and being a service tax registered payee, is entitled to small scale exemption benefit. The question was whether the exemption should be calculated based on the full value of services or the abated value as per Notification No. 1/2006. The appellant claimed exemption by considering the value of services after abatement. Both sides agreed that the issue was settled in favor of the assessee by previous Tribunal decisions, including those in the cases of Shri Ashok Kumar Mishra, M/s. Aryavrat Housing Construction (P) Ltd., and Alok Pratap Singh and others. These decisions established that the value for small scale exemption benefit should be computed after allowing the abatement.

The Tribunal, consisting of Ms. Archana Wadhwa, Member (Judicial), and Mr. C L Mahar, Member (Technical), referred to the precedent set by the mentioned cases and held that the value of services for small scale exemption benefit should indeed be the one arrived at after allowing the abatement. Consequently, the impugned order was set aside, and the appeal was allowed with consequential relief granted to the appellant. The judgment was dictated and pronounced in open court, providing a clear resolution to the issue at hand.

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