TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2014 (11) TMI 163
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....service tax on "Digital Signature Certificate (DSC) and "Secure Socket Layer Certification (SSLC) services. Two show cause notices dated 20.10.11 and 22.05.13 were issued proposing demand of tax along with interest and penalty for the period 01.05.06 to 30.06.11 and 01.07.2011 to 30.06.2012 respectively. The adjudicating authority by adjudication order dated 09.10.12 and 06.09.13, confirmed the demand of tax of Rs. 3,37,49,144/- and Rs. 1,75,17,694/- (total amount of Rs. 5,12,66,838/-) along with interest and penalty. 2. The Ld. Advocate on behalf of the applicants submits that the demands were raised on Digital Signature Certificates (DSC) and Secure Socket Layer Certificates (SSLC) under different heading for various periods as under:- ....
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....f SSLC, is not sustainable for the reason that SSLC is a voluntary activity and no Govt. license is required for certification. 3.3 Further, the adjudicating authority has accepted both the activities are similar in nature and confirmed the demand of tax under the IT services without considering Board's letter. It is seen from the said letter that the licensing authorities have stated that no IT related activity is involved in the present case. The demand of tax is barred by limitation. The applicants provided all the information in the year 2008 itself. So, the demand of duty vide show cause notice dated 20.10.11 is partly barred by limitation. 4. Regarding the demand of tax on IT service, it is submitted that the applicants entered ....
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....1 (S.C). 7. After hearing both the sides and on perusal of the records, we find that it is appropriate to reproduce the nature of activities of DSC and SSLC from the adjudication order as under:- "5.1 Digital Signature Certificate (DSC) DSC has acquired statutory recognition with the advent of the information Technology Act, 2000 (hereinafter referred to as "IT Act"). Further, any document which requires signature of a person can also be digitally signed and such digital signature is valid signature, as per Section 5 of the said Act. Digital Signature is defined under Section 2(q) of the IT Act. xxxx xxxx xxxx 5.3. M/s. Verisign (Symantac), USA, which is a glob....
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....n online purchase by visiting a website, the customer shall be assured that he is transacting with the relevant web server and the transaction has been protected. SSLC helps in setting up a encrypted channel between a client server over HTTP (Hyper Text Transfer Protocol). It enables transmission of data securely over internet, which is a public medium. During the process of setting up the encrypted channel, a session key is exchanged between the server and the client." 8. The relevant portion of definition of "Information Technology services" as defined under Section 65(63)(a) of the Finance Act, 1994, as follows:- Section 65(53a) - 'Information te....
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.... of and inclusion in other information technology software products, (vi) [providing] the right to use information technology software supplied electronically; 9. The Ld. Counsel drew the attention of the Bench the statement dated 29.09.2011 and 30.09.2011 of Shri Vijay Kumar M.K., Manager Finance, of the applicant-company, which is reproduced as under:- * His responsibility includes providing information security products solutions and services to SIFY's enterprise customers. * He is a specialist in Public Key Infrastructure (PKI). PKI is used for authentication and data integrity and data privacy by digital signatures and encryption and decryption of data.  ....
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....r to function". The same expression software is also defined in Britannica Concise Encyclopedia as "the entire set of programs, procedures and routines associated with the operation of a computer system, including the operating system". We have also considered the meaning of the word "software" given by the Merriam Webster Dictionary as "the entire set of programs, procedures and related documentation associated with a system and especially a computer system; specifically computer programs". 11. The essential ingredients of the definition of information technology software are that these are recorded in the machine readable form. Machines normally used for manipulating or providing interactivity to users by means of computer or automatic d....