CESTAT allowed the appeal of the Appellant, set aside the...

CESTAT allowed the appeal of the Appellant, set aside the impugned order and quashed the demand for alleged short payment of service tax, holding that the Appellant validly availed Input Tax Credit of Rs.1,35,370 as supported by CA certificates and that a demand based solely on discrepancies between Form 26AS and ST-3 returns is untenable. The Tribunal found Revenue erred in raising demand without examining whether Form 26AS reflected gross receipts including exempted or abated amounts or whether differences arose from exemptions/abatements; Revenue must establish that the differential wholly constituted taxable consideration before presuming tax liability.

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