Insurance auxiliary service levy fails where vehicle-sale incentives do not establish actuary status or intermediary classification.

Incentives received from insurance companies in connection with vehicle sales were examined for service tax liability as insurance auxiliary service. The Tribunal noted that the appellant was not established as an actuary under the Insurance Act, the Actuaries Act, or the relevant IRDA regulations, and that classification as an insurance intermediary could not be sustained when it went beyond the scope of the show cause notices. It also relied on earlier final orders in the appellant's own case and the principle of judicial discipline. On that basis, the service tax demand and penalties were held unsustainable, with consequential relief as per law.

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Issues: Whether the incentive received by the appellant from insurance companies in relation to vehicle sales was liable to service tax as insurance auxiliary service, whether the appellant could be treated as an actuary or insurance intermediary, and whether reverse charge liability could be fastened on the appellant.

Analysis: The appellant was not shown to satisfy the qualifications or status of an actuary under the Insurance Act, 1938, the Actuaries Act, 2006, or the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (Appointed Actuary) Regulations, 2000. The Tribunal noted that the earlier decisions in the appellant's own case had already held that the demand could not be sustained on the footing of actuary, and that treating the appellant as an insurance intermediary was beyond the scope of the show cause notices. In view of the earlier final orders and the principle of judicial discipline, the contrary findings in the impugned order could not survive.

Conclusion: The service tax demand and penalties were not sustainable. The appeal was allowed with consequential relief, if any, as per law.

Ratio Decidendi: A demand for service tax under insurance auxiliary service cannot be sustained where the assessee is neither established as an actuary nor can be classified on a new basis beyond the scope of the show cause notice, especially when the issue has already been decided in the assessee's own case.

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