TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2018 (7) TMI 262
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....value for discharging the service tax liability. 2. Show Cause Notice was issued proposing to demand the service tax alongwith interest and also for imposing penalties. After due process of law, the original authority confirmed the demand under Business Auxiliary Services and also imposed penalties. Aggrieved, the appellant is now before the Tribunal. 3. On behalf of the appellant, the Ld.Counsel Shri S.Murugappan submitted that the issue whether the ocean freight charges are subject to levy of service tax under Business Auxiliary Services is settlecd by the decision of the tribunal in the case of Bax Global India Ltd. Versus Commissioner of Service Tax, Chennai 2017 (9) TMI 1264 - CESTAT Chennai. 4. The Ld.AR, Sh.R.Subramaniyan, reitera....
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.... space or slots is a figment and freight is all that is transacted. This is a patent misconstruing of the usage of that expression. Freight, though used colloquially to describe all manner of carriage, is the nomenclature assigned to the consideration for space provided on a vessel for a particular voyage. Freight is charged by the entity that is in possession of space on a vessel from an entity that requires the space for carriage of cargo. 11. Slots may be contracted for by the shipper or its agent with the shipping line through the steamer agent. Implicit is a uni-directional flow of consideration because the space belongs to the shipping line. Steamer agent or agent of shipper may earn commission in such a transaction. Leaving that sit....
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.... activity. Such a contract forecloses the allotment of such space by the shipping line or steamer agent with the risk of non-usage of the procured space devolving on the appellant. By no stretch is this assumption of risk within the scope of agency function. Ergo, it is nothing but a principal-to-principal transaction and the freight charges are consideration for space procured from shipping line. Correspondingly, allotment of procured space to shippers at negotiated rates within the total consideration in a multi-modal transportation contract with a consignor is another distinct principal-to-principal transaction. We, therefore, find that freight is paid to the shipping line and freight is collected from client-shippers in two independent ....