Service tax valuation and subcontracting: TDS exclusion, abatement for free supplies, and normal-period liability only.

TDS already deducted from the payment cannot be added again to the gross contract amount for service tax valuation, as this would inflate the assessable value beyond the actual consideration. Works involving civic amenities, roads and similar infrastructure were treated as exempt or otherwise eligible for abatement under the applicable guidance, and free-supply material was excluded from the gross amount charged. A sub-contractor remains liable for taxable services rendered to a main contractor even if the main contractor has paid tax, but a debatable legal position during the material period may defeat allegations of suppression, limiting demand to the normal period and excluding extended limitation and penalty.

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Issues: (i) whether TDS could be added again to the gross contract amount for arriving at the taxable value; (ii) whether the disputed construction, electrical and road-related works were exempt or eligible for abatement, including denial of benefit under the relevant notification; (iii) whether service tax was payable by sub-contractors where the main contractors had discharged tax, and whether extended period and penalty were sustainable.

Issue (i): whether TDS could be added again to the gross contract amount for arriving at the taxable value.

Analysis: The taxable value had been computed by adding TDS to the gross amount shown in the contract documents. The record showed that TDS was already deducted from the amount payable to the appellant, so the amount paid itself represented the gross amount for service tax computation. Re-adding TDS inflated the assessable value and did not reflect any additional consideration.

Conclusion: The addition of TDS to the gross amount was impermissible and the demand on this count was set aside in favour of the assessee.

Issue (ii): whether the disputed construction, electrical and road-related works were exempt or eligible for abatement, including denial of benefit under the relevant notification.

Analysis: The works relating to storm water drains, small culverts, toilets, security walls, underground cable laying, wiring and rewiring of quarters, and road or path works were examined against the applicable Board clarifications, circulars and exemption entries. The construction of civic amenities and works relating to roads, dams and similar infrastructure were treated as outside the taxable net or otherwise covered by the relevant clarifications. For the shopping complex contract, the denial of abatement on the premise that free supplies were not proved could not be sustained because the value of free supplies was not to be included in the gross amount charged for the service. The legal framework applied the relevant exemption guidance, the notification granting abatement, and the principle that free supply material is excluded from taxable value.

Conclusion: The service tax demand on these exempt or abated works was unsustainable and was set aside in favour of the assessee.

Issue (iii): whether service tax was payable by sub-contractors where the main contractors had discharged tax, and whether extended period and penalty were sustainable.

Analysis: The appellant produced letters from the main contractors indicating discharge of tax on the contracts. The Larger Bench ruling on sub-contractor liability was followed to hold that a sub-contractor remains liable to service tax on taxable services rendered to a main contractor, and the existence of tax payment by the main contractor did not by itself negate the liability. At the same time, the existence of contrary views during the material period showed that the issue was debatable, so suppression could not be alleged. Consequently, extended limitation and penalty were not justified, and the demand survived only for the normal period, to be worked out afresh with interest.

Conclusion: The sub-contractor demand was sustained only for the normal period, while extended-period demand and penalty were set aside, resulting in partial relief to the assessee.

Final Conclusion: The demand was substantially reduced, with major components set aside, the sub-contractor liability confined to the normal period, and the matter remanded only for quantification of tax and interest for that surviving portion.

Ratio Decidendi: For service tax computation, TDS already deducted from the payment cannot be added again to the gross amount; free-supply material is excluded from the taxable value for abatement purposes; and a sub-contractor's liability survives notwithstanding tax payment by the main contractor, though a debatable legal position may preclude extended limitation and penalty.

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