2014 (1) TMI 206

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.... 2. Shri Paritosh Gupta (Advocate) appearing on behalf of the appellant argued that the entire service tax alongwith interest was paid before the issue of show cause notice therefore no penalties were required to be imposed under Section 76, 77 and 78 of the Finance Act, 1994. It was his case that appellant got registered with the Revenue and started paying service tax and was also filing ST-3 returns regularly. However, due to some huge income tax liabilities they were not able to discharge full service tax liabilities and was not filing required ST-3 returns under the impression that their returns are required to be filed only once entire service tax dues are paid. As soon as the finances were available they paid the entire service tax l....

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....same was paid, alongwith interest, much before the issue of show cause notice. It was the case of the Revenue that there was a deliberate attempt to avoid the payment of service tax and non-filing of ST-3 returns as confessed by the director in his statements. However, it is observed from para 5 of the show cause notice dt. 29.06.2009 that no such confession by the director of the appellant was made to the extent that there was a deliberate attempt to evade payment of service tax. Further, it is observed from Annexure B to the show cause notice dt.29.06.2009 that appellant was discharging some duty and also paid interest for late payment before the issue of show cause notice. Appellant also filed ST-3 returns in the beginning and non-filing....

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.... object with which this enactment is passed and also keep in mind the express provision as contained in sub-sec. (3) of Sec. 73. The Parliament has expressly stated that against persons who have paid tax with interest, no notice shall be served. If notices are issued contrary to the said Section, the person to be punished is the person who has issued notice and not the person to whom it is issued. We take that, in ignorance of law, the authorities are indulging in the extravaganza and wasting their precious time and also the time of the Tribunal and this Court. It is high time that the authorities shall issue appropriate directions to see that such tax payers are not harassed. If such instances are noticed by this Court hereafter, certainly....