GTA service - scope

[KISHOR DATTANI]

our client covered under courier agency service. they hire lorry from the open market, put the parcels in the lorry and then send it from one destination to another. Suppose from kolkata to mumbai. Lorry driver off load the goods at mumbai, collect their lorry hire charges at mumbai. lorry owner/driver neither issues consignment note nor any kind of invoices. My query is whether this will attract under GTA services or not. give reasons please.

[Vijay Chitte]

If, service provider does not issue c/ment note, then, it will not covered under GTA serivce as rule 4(b), If the transaction is specific for Hire then service provider will fall under the taxable service is "Supply of tengible goods for use".

[Rama Krishana]

In the query you have clearly stated that your client is a courier service agency. Therefore, they still require to pay service tax under the courier service agency category. To provide courier service, they hire a lorry / vehicle. It is immaterial that such lorry or vehicle is issuing any consignment note. Your service would remain be a courier agency service. Yes, the issue is there in case of lorry owner. Whether he would fall under GTA service category or under right to user of tangible goods. It is the nature of contract and arrangement which would be a deciding factor to establish the applicability of service tax on an amount paid by courier agency to the lorry owner.

AI Summary

GTA service classification depends on consignment note presence; courier agency taxability can remain regardless of vehicle documentation.
One advisory view treats GTA service as dependent on issuance of a consignment note, so absence of such a note may indicate a hire transaction subject to classification as Supply of Tangible Goods for Use. A contrasting view treats the courier operator's activity as a taxable Courier Agency Service even where the hired vehicle does not issue a consignment note, with the vehicle owner's classification depending on the contractual nature of the arrangement.