Newspaper registration and print media exclusion: advertisement space in newspapers was treated as outside service tax.

A publication registered and functioning as a newspaper was treated as print media for the service tax exclusion on sale of space for advertisement in print media. The Tribunal accepted the Registrar of Newspapers for India registration certificates, along with the periodic nature and character of the publications, as sufficient to bring them within the statutory exclusion. It rejected the view that registration alone was inadequate when the record showed the publications were newspapers in substance. The consequence was that the service tax demand on advertisement space was not sustainable and the tax confirmation was set aside.

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Issues: Whether the appellant's publications, being registered as newspapers, fell within the exclusion for sale of space for advertisement in print media under the service tax entry.

Analysis: The relevant service tax entry taxed sale of space or time for advertisement but excluded sale of space for advertisement in print media. Print media was defined to include a newspaper and a book, while excluding business directories, yellow pages and trade catalogues primarily meant for commercial purposes. The publications produced by the appellant were supported by registration certificates from the Registrar of Newspapers for India showing them as newspapers with monthly or bi-monthly periodicity. On that basis, the publications were treated as newspapers and therefore as print media within the exclusion clause. The adjudicating authority's view that RNI registration by itself was insufficient was not accepted in light of the character of the publications and the record placed before the Tribunal.

Conclusion: The appellant's publications were held to fall within the exclusion for print media, and the demand of service tax was held unsustainable.

Final Conclusion: The service tax confirmation was set aside and the appeal was allowed.

Ratio Decidendi: A publication registered and functioning as a newspaper falls within the statutory exclusion for print media and is not taxable as sale of space for advertisement in print media under the service tax entry.

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